Bad News

The green hive has died.

Sometime in the last 6 days, the entire colony has expired. 

I opened the hive to feed them the candy board and this is what I saw.

A pile of dead bees on top of the frames.

Even though I gave them fondant, I think they died of starvation.

Maybe they were too weak by that time, or the queen had already died.

The bee literature says that if you find them with their butts sticking out of the comb,

they probably died of starvation.

And none of the frames in the top box had any honey left in it. 

I guess I was too late in supplementing them.

Interestingly, as I disassembled the hive, I found 3 frames full of honey.

They were all on along the outer wall of the hive

 and it appeared the colony moved straight up the center of  the hive, and didn't 

migrate toward the colder exterior wall on one side.

 And in the 2 days between finding the dead hive and inspecting it,

a mouse had already moved in!

He'd chewed up the styrofoam insulation board and the entrance reducer.

I fed the other 2 hives candy boards.

Blue hive was deep inside the hive - I hope they are still alive.

I didn't check, it was too cold to be opening the hive for very long.

White hive huddled on the top super, like the green hive when last seen alive.

I hope they eat the candy board and survive.

Lessons learned:

Feed candy board early in the winter , probably December 1.

Add 2nd deep box on top of brood box during summer honey production for larger stores.