Dropped wings--Nosema? Ants?

[kedgel]

My hive is a total loss and I'm not sure why.  I kept bees in TN and KY with no problems whatsoever.  Now I can't seem to do anything that works!  I was alerted to a problem when I noticed a lot of wings laying on the landing board and bees sitting on the ground in front of the hive with wings and parts of wings missing.  I had seen a lot of carpenter ants around the hive and expected the bees would keep them out. Later I saw an ant boldly walk into the hive, walk up to a bee and bite at him.  Darndest thing I ever saw!  The bee didn't do anything but try to avoid the ant.  I wonder if the ants were just a symptom of a hive weakened by disease?  I know that nosema will cause wing abnormalities, but I didn't think it made them drop off or lose parts of them.  I have never seen nosema or any other bee disease, for that matter, but from what I've read, it also causes bloated abdomens, but none of mine displayed this symptom.
Any ideas?

[Bee Happy]

is it possible they were attacked by something else and the ants were just there to feast on the helpless victims? - fire ants are evil, but are they evil enough to attack a whole hive like that?

[Joelel]

My hive is a total loss and I'm not sure why.  I kept bees in TN and KY with no problems whatsoever.  Now I can't seem to do anything that works!  I was alerted to a problem when I noticed a lot of wings laying on the landing board and bees sitting on the ground in front of the hive with wings and parts of wings missing.  I had seen a lot of carpenter ants around the hive and expected the bees would keep them out. Later I saw an ant boldly walk into the hive, walk up to a bee and bite at him.  Darndest thing I ever saw!  The bee didn't do anything but try to avoid the ant.  I wonder if the ants were just a symptom of a hive weakened by disease?  I know that nosema will cause wing abnormalities, but I didn't think it made them drop off or lose parts of them.  I have never seen nosema or any other bee disease, for that matter, but from what I've read, it also causes bloated abdomens, but none of mine displayed this symptom.
Any ideas?

I read one place fire ants will run a whole hive off. I think it happened to me one time. The bees can't keep ants out,that is something you MUST do.Put auto grease on the legs,it will keep all crawling bugs off the hive.