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It depends on when, how, and why they died. If a normal winter die out, they are safe to use as is. If they died in summer or fall and still had brood, I would not use them without treating as if foulbrood was present.

Can you give more info on the death?

Bee Catcher said:

It depends on when, how, and why they died. If a normal winter die out, they are safe to use as is. If they died in summer or fall and still had brood, I would not use them without treating as if foulbrood was present.

Can you give more info on the death?

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Just normal die out.

If a normal winter die out, they are safe to use as is.

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What we have to watch out for in a 'normal' die out is Nosema.

N.ceranae is the virolent one of the two types, and shows no out ward sign, so if the die out was caused by Nosema then I deffinately would not reccomed using old comb as the spores on and in the comb last for a few years.

I would start with fresh foundation and let the bees build the comb.

Regards;

We have very little nosema ceranae, and nosema apis doesn't hold on like that. 99.9% of the winter die outs here are from mites or starvation, which is usually caused by mites weakening the bees.