Please Help

[Bee-Haven]

Hey guys,

So I went out to check my beehive this past weekend and found a dead out. I am new so I was hoping you might be able to help. When I opened the hive I found a massive amount of dead bees in the top feeder. The were all stuck in the wire on both sides. I removed the top feeder and found the hive completely empty......completely empty. There were only a tiny amount of capped over cells directly in the center of a few frames. There were around 20 bees still in the hive walking aimlessly on the comb. No nectar, no honey, no brood.

I noticed that portions of the comb had been chewed through, shredded out holes. There were tons of bees on the ground in front of the hive and the dead bodies of some yellow jackets, but not many. The bottom board was covered in chewed wax and almost all of the cells were opened.

I also noticed that there were tiny worms chewing paths through the wax leaving some type of web in there wake. Also there were dead bees clinging to some cells. If I got robbed it sucks but a relief. I'm afraid there might be some disease and don't want to use the equipment again if that's the case. I am a newbee so any advice is welcome......ask ame questions and I will answer as best I can.

P.s.
I am freezing the frames to kill anything still living in the wax.

[iddee]

It sounds like the neighbors put sevin dust or similar on their plants and killed your bees. Then the robbers cleaned out the stores and many of them died, too. Then the wax moths moved in to finish the clean out. I would think about melting the wax and use new foundation in the frames, as their may still be some pesticide on the wax. I would also wash the woodwork with bleach water.

[chux]

iddee is probably hitting the nail on the head. The pile of dead bees at the entrance is a giveaway. The chewed wax is the result of robbing from a dead hive. The hive died from poison. The tiny worms are wax moth larvae. If you look closely, you will see smaller maggot-like worms crawling around in cells. They will also be in the wax debri on the bottom board. These are the larvae of Small Hive Beetles. When the colony weakens, these two pests begin to take over because the bees stop corralling them. As iddee said, you probably need to cut the wax out, and start with fresh foundation. You will probably also need to go into the sides of your wooden box and frames to dig out any cacoons of wax moth larvae.

[david45]

I guess, the colony was small and many bees drowned in the feeder.

[jayj200]

Down here we had a pesticide kill here also, a few years & tears  Ago. my mentor said through the frames and foundation only, into the pool. being in Fl everyone has a pool. I didn't. we just bagged the frames and placed all in a garbage can  filled it bag with water, and weighed  all down with patio stones.
left It longer than I should have. it smelled nasty.
Drained the stuff and then power washed frames and foundation.
the next year started a new hive on those frames