Empty hive

[lindahwang]

Today I found my hive completely empty. The top 2 medium supers are full of capped honey. Can I extract this honey and reuse the frames? I will likely get new frames for the brood chamber. thanks for any advice!

[Mr.Beeman]

Yes you can.

[westernbeekeeper]

Yes. Have you any clue as to what happened to the bees?

[lindahwang]

Yes. Have you any clue as to what happened to the bees?

A few possible theories: 1) not enough space in the hive (was going to get into the hive this weekend and get ready for the warm weather); 2) lots of ants; 3) AFB. the more I look at photos online of AFB I think that's what happened. Just 3 days ago I took a look inside and queen had started laying brood above the bottom deep super, so I thought everything was OK.

what an awful feeling to lose the whole hive after they seemed to have survived the winter. this is my first year as a beekeeper and I thought I got through the first year.

[BeeGhost]

My guess would be a heavy mite load caused them to abscond. Just curious if you did any treatment or checked the mite drop in the fall?

I had two hives that succumbed to mites, one absconded and one died out. I thought it might have been AFB due to pictures I seen in books and on the Internet, but the ropy test showed otherwise.

[lindahwang]

I was pretty good about regular mite checks and doing powdered sugar application when the count was higher than it should be. But you're right- the pictures of varroa and AFB look really similar.

[JRG13]

How many bees were in the hive 3 days ago? If she was laying and population looked healthy, why would you suspect AFB and did you ever monitor for mites?