https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/fo3z2p/my_bees_died_from_my_neighbors_spraying/
I’m looking closely at the bodies now, they look fairly well decomposed (ie they didn’t die recently) and the bottom of the pile looks more decomposed than those at the top, indicating this was procedural over a timespan. They’re very clearly bodies removed from the colony by housekeeping staff, almost certainly as they ran out of fuel.
I bet you if OP lifted the box it would be really light. I’m upgrading my certainty to 99% this is winter kill. As the colony runs out of fuel (honey) they’ll start limiting their numbers so as to ration the supplies (hence the die off over time).
This is the time of year that bees starve.
For those of you curious, bees don’t hibernate they store nectar as honey to be used as food for the winter. They stay alive and active all winter, consuming honey and vibrating to generate heat. If the winter is especially hard or if the beekeeper took too much honey, they starve. There’s a downward spiral that happens where as they run out some will die to make the reserves last longer - this is done voluntarily, for the good of the colony - but with fewer bodies generating heat the box gets colder and they need to consume more honey. Eventually the colony collapses and this is what we call winter kill.
It’s important for beekeepers to feed their girls in the early spring, when their stores are low but the blossoms aren’t out yet.
origin - https://www.pipiscrew.com/?p=17662 bees-died-from-my-neighbors-spraying-insecticide