Betty
I am sorry to hear of your loss. Beekeeping is a tough task. On the average bee colonies nation wide suffer 40% loss every year. I too lost 3 hives out of 5 this year. I think the cause of my losses were both an unusually cold December and a little too much neglect on my part.
The lesson for us to learn is to NOT give up, but keep trying to improve our methods and do better each year. If we truly believe that the saving the bees is important, then we just need to work harder, smarter, and keep on keeping on.
Stay the course, and the prize will be worth it.
My first year with bees and everything is quiet now. I suspected that my bees were gone for the last few weeks. No activity, no sound, etc. Today I cracked the lid and checked it out. Everything is gone. I took pictures last summer showing several honey laden frames, brood and lots of bees. Now I see empty comb. No honey, no brood, no pollen...I found about 100 dead bees at the bottom of the box. Nothing else, but some slugs. I have 4 frames of drawn comb (empty), 9 frames that formally had brood, pollen and honey and 2 frames with just foundation. (Layens frames--14 5/16" x 15 15/16)
I am assuming that they took off with the honey, or took off and it was robbed. The pictures I have seen of starved bees always showed butts sicking out of the comb.None of that.
I hope to start again this spring. I will have more than one hive this time.