Sounds like they are dead. You can use a small knife or your fingernail to scrape the surface of the branch. If it is alive you will find a green cambium layer below the outer surface. If its not green, its dead. You can also just clip the end off the limb and look at the cut, is it green?

A few small branches being dead with a new plant is common and nothing to be concerned about, just trim them off. If some of the main branches are dead on the plant then you have reason to be worried.

RM

Dormant blueberry shrubs look to be alive, even though there are no green leaves. The bark will be colored red in places, on the newer shoots, and the buds will be swollen a bit. If the plant looks to be dried out and dead, it very likely is. My experience with blueberries is that they don't recover from this type of neglect.

so the top 1/3 seems to be dead in that case. Related, do you need to wait until after the last frost for planting blueberry plants or can they handle a few light frosts?

thank you for the answers and help

Blueberry shrubs can be transplanted as soon as the soil can be worked. An early spring planting time will give the roots a chance to get established before the shrub leafs out.