You may want to make an attempt to determine just what caused the death of the bees. If it was any number of mites and/or diseases, you're just wasting your money by adding new bees to the old hives, as the bess will surely become infected all over again. Your best bet would be to start all over with new equipment, but depending on what caused the deaths, you could also treat the hives.

Most likely your bees died from Varroa infestation. Did you get all of your bees from the same place?

Were you gone for a whole year? If so, with no management, most honeybee hives would die out, thanks in large part to mites and mite related viruses. I personally would not destroy all of my equiptment.

You would definitely want to rule out American foulbrood. Do you see any punctured cappings in your brood chambers? Please refer to a bee book about this, as punctured cappings do not ALWAYS mean foulbrood. It is too late now to test for foul brood, but if you see those cappings, I would either buy a test kit or send it off as the spores can live in a hive for 70 years! Having had foulbrood, I would not wish it on my worst enemy, but if your hives happen to be near any commercial beekeepers(like mine were) you may want to be extra careful.

I would sweep the dead bees out, order your 3 pound packages NOW and see what happens in the spring. Good luck!