Mass ?

Being my first year and thus my first autumn/winter am a bit concerned at the scene I found at the weekend. I hadn't looked closely the last week or so.

What you can see in front of the three hives are dead bees. I knew from MrB that the male drones get "evicted" in preparation for winter but the corpses look like worker bees.

When I commented several weeks ago that the hives were at such different states of development and whether they had a chance for winter, MrB said the bees would sort it out themselves and I guess this is what has/is happening.

The top left hive with the most dead bees was the weakest hive in terms of numbers and particularly food.

The middle hive was fairly well but not fully developed and has losses but much less than the above.

The lowest right hand side hive was the best developed hive and has virtually no losses.

I assume therefore that the weakest hive with the least food has to reduce it's numbers the most. I am though worried that there are enough to keep the hive warm. Had a look inside and all three have activity. When I started brushing away the dead bees, it wasn't long before bees came out of all hives and seemed quite agressive. So hope all is well.

No doubt MrB will let me know.