Not sure why.
Concern when you said the hive smelled awful,....was
the inside treated with anything?

Perhaps sprayed bees too wet with sugar water,..not enough worker force to clean up....wet bees will die.

Did you see bees taking syrup from jar feeder outside?

Even without queen, bees should still be alive and well for a while, perhaps you still had the queen and both were killed by introducing a new one?

Did you feed your package when you got them?
Was there food inside the package?
If not, bees could have starved and were weakened to a point
that they couldn't recover at the time of installment.

The boards, particularly the bottom board was treated with some kind of chemical, that turned the bottom board green. The smell almost made me nauseous. Yes, they did have food in their package when I received them and I made sure they continued to have syrup the entire time up until the both colonies died. I switched to a feeder that I put on the inner board over the whole and yes, I saw them eating it but each day I found more dead bees until there were none.
I see you answer a lot of bee-related questions Konrad, and I want to thank you for the knowledge you share with everyone on this forum.

No problem..I like to help.
At this time it makes me to think it's a poison issue, [inside or outside of hive] since both hives dwindled in the same time.
Have bees gone out to feed?..If so, it could be from a spray pesticide. If so, check with your local source and talk to the owner, they can give notice, you can then lock your bees up by putting up a screen on the exit hole...about two day's?...but check this out first on the chemical data.

I'm pretty sure it wasn't any insecticides. Most farmers in this area are just now planting their crops, they are no where near ready to spray and my husband informs me that the crops in this area are seldom sprayed with insecticides, just herbicides. I may call up the people I bought the hives from and ask them about the chemicals they used to treat the hive. I'm pretty sure it's the same stuff they use to treat the lumber people use in the yards for elevated gardens etc. I'm just heart broke that I lost all my bees. I was so excited about the prospect of keeping them. I live on a 400+ acre farm with alfalfa, sanfoin and corn and our neighbors are going to grow oats so the bees would have been beneficial all around.

A couple of pictures might help,.. did you get your equipment
from a legitimate bee supply store?
I would just start over with new one's from another source.

I wish I could buy new but the equipment I bought cost close to to $300 and they were brand new off of an online store. They appeared reputable and the hives were in excellent shape and had been assembled the day I ordered and shipped the next day. I bought them from Mann Lake Ltd. You can see exactly what my beehive looks like from this page, http://www.mannlakeltd.com/ProductDetail.asp?idproduct=1631&idCategory=

Well yea...the bottom board looks green, I would think that Mann Lake [well know business] wouldn't treat the board with anything harmful, you could sign up at beesource and ask if anyone had trouble with this, I'm sure, allot of bee keepers there buy stuff from Man Lake.

Here is a link that might be useful: Beesource

Did you get your bees from a reputable business?
If not, get them from the same place your local bee keepers
getting it from.

My first hive I got from a hobby source...this hive dwindled down to nothing and it was confirmed by the local bee doctor that they had american foulbrood, I had to burn everything and start from scratch.

Oh, foulbrood is something I hope I never have to deal with. I actually did go through a local beekeeper to get my bees. He orders several hundred packages a year and added my measly 2 packages to his order. I spent an evening with him and his son learning how to put bees in hives and he has been very helpful. He is going to try and give me some of his bees this week and a queen to restart a colony. Our dandelions just started coming out in force this week so if the nectar flow is good he will set me up with two colonies. I think that's very nice of him. I do have another question off my main topic. I'm concerned about the varroa mite and I've read about the screens you can use on the bottom of your hive. Is this a bottom board with a screen and the sticky paper or screen on top of your board with the sticky paper in between? Given what I've learned about the menacing mite I won't to protect any future bees I have in every way possible.

This sounds good,...you should be on your way!
Are you using the same bottom board?
Here we don't run screen board for mites, so I can't help you.
I do check with sticky paper for mite check. I would think the
sticky paper would go on the bottom so mites can't climb back
up, some of you south with warmer weather have the bottom open, [under the screen] so mites can fall out of the hive.

I hope you'll try again, and report back. I am very much an amateur but have enjoyed three years. When I installed my packages yesterday I felt like my spring garden was finally alive. (I have had a difficult time getting the bees through winter alive)

I was also surprised at how 'unanxious' I was. I was able to go nice and slow and do it calmly. One sting, and that was because I wore a nylon textured sock and a bee got 'stuck' then stung. No biggie. Not even an itch today.

You have all that expensive equipment. So you really have no choice, you have to go on. Probably nothing worse than this can happen- it is all going to be better.

Marie

I am a year late but maybe you are going to try again this spring.
Bees will not forage, come out of the hive in cold snowy weather to collect food because there is none out there. You must feed them inside the hive. Honey and pollen. Borrow or buy two filled frames from a local beekeeper and dump your new bees right on those two frames with the new queen. They will clump up around those food stores and keep themselves warm and fed. yOU MUST KEEP THEM FED TILL FIRST BLOOMS IN THE SPRING. You must feed them in the hive, very near the central clump of bees. If they must break up the clump to get food they will get cold and starve.
Scrub down the hive internals with hot soapy water and allow to dry.
In freezing weather food must be in the cluster or just above it on the top bars and plentiful.
In really cold climes use carnolian bees, Insulate your hives, borrow frames of honey and pollen, scrub and rinse everything. Once established leave plenty of food stores in your hives for winter.
You can do it!