bees just vanished

[vince20]

hi everyone went up to check on my hives this morning one hive seemed very quite so i opened that one frist shocked all bees had gone left stores and all brood just up and left no queen cells noting they were been fed so anyone any ideas why they would just up and leave

 

[VEG]

was it an existing colony or a nuc/swarm

 

[Vergilius]

Unfortunately it sounds like they've absconded - this is when bees just decide that the location isn't good for them - and they all just randomly leave en masse...

Ben P

 

[vince20]

was it an existing colony or a nuc/swarm

it was an existing colony 10 frames full put another brood box on it 4 days so it was a double brood langstroth loads of room

 

[dpearce4]

Nicked?

 

[Vergilius]

it was an existing colony 10 frames full put another brood box on it 4 days so it was a double brood langstroth loads of room

Shame, it sounds like a decent colony... What you've got left may make a reasonable bait hive...

 

[vince20]

Shame, it sounds like a decent colony... What you've got left may make a reasonable bait hive...

it was thriving have all frames left in it i have 4 good thriving hives left so thats some thing to look forward to

 

[Hivemaker.]

Must still be some bees in the hive,unite that to one of your others.

 

[viridens]

Absconding of well established colonies is unusual.

Nicked?

Could this be a possibility?

 

[beeatshellards]

ARE THERE ANY BEES AROUND UNDER THE HIVE DEAD OR OTHERWISE, DOESNT SOUND NORMAL TO ME

 

[vince20]

Must still be some bees in the hive,unite that to one of your others.

noting every last bee gone all is there is stores and caped brood and eggs and larva no dead bees noting other 4 hive are fine no problem

 

[Hivemaker.]

noting every last bee gone all is there is stores and caped brood and eggs and larva no dead bees noting other 4 hive are fine no problem

If there is brood in all stages then there must be baby bee's emerging,plus one's which have already emerged...baby bees cannot fly,so there must be bees of some sort still in the hive.

 

[dpearce4]

got to be nicked cose nurse bees dont fly do they?

wonder if someone had a hive die and have decided your bees could be used to replace but diff style of hive so frames were of no use? maybe bees were shaken into box/nuc and taken away that way?

could this be possible? what do the more experienced beeks think?

 

[beeatshellards]

my thoughts were along those lines , if newly emerged bees were in the hive where are they ?

 

[nonstandard]

Surely if they were stolen by shaking into a box there would still be a few flying bees about that escaped.

 

[dpearce4]

not if you have the Q and leave the box there like you would a swarm to collect them.

 

[vince20]

not one bee left but yes they could be nicked as my hives are not far from a foot path well 100 yards or so dont think it would ever happen to you did not want to go down them lines will check in the morning to see if any bees have returned thanks guy and if there are any gals thanks to you to

 

[Hivemaker.]

not one bee left but yes they could be nicked as my hives are not far from a foot path well 100 yards or so dont think it would ever happen to you did not want to go down them lines will check in the morning to see if any bees have returned thanks guy and if there are any gals thanks to you to

All the brood must of been already dead then,before the bees vanished,if they had no young bees or emerging brood,if this was a well established colony.
If it was a swarm hived about eighteen or twenty days ago, then it could be possible for all the bees to vanish/abscond/get stolen.

 

[viridens]

The last hive which was emptied in this area was done at night using torch light or night vision gear. Only a few odd/newly emerged bees left.

 

[vince20]

last time i checked them was 4 days ago they were doing great and i added another brood box to keep them happy think it is just one of those things that we will never know