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So I discovered my very first deadout on Tues (one of my three hives here in urban Greensboro). In hindsight, this colony had been on the decline for a while now - low activity, SHB, wax moths, mites, etc. I just denied it and thought they'd "come back around". They had TONS of food, but the dead cluster was really tiny - like a baseball.

I don't see any evidence of disease, so I broke it apart and am letting my other two colonies rob and clean it out this week before I put everything in the freezer.

I'm excited to get my swarm traps out and see if I can repopulate with free bees this spring!

I have had 4 of 6 this winter. Plenty of stores, suspect Queenless or mites. Few SHB. Have one strong , one weak remaining. Looks like strong is about to swarm, the next few days when it warms a bit.

Quentin, are you seeing drones or just large orientation/cleansing flights?

Hard for me to tell. Lots of activity outside the entrance, "cloud" of bees about 3' by 3' by 6' at various times. Haven't checked today yet. I'll see if I can tell more today.

Maybe just orientation/cleansing, did not see any drones this afternoon. The "cloud" outside the hive was much smaller today than before, may be cooler temps. Maybe longer than I think till swarm. I have had good luck catching swarms rather than splitting. Afraid to split this one as it is the only remaining strong hive I have.