Your mite management?
I’ve never seen or heard of this....Did you find any empty queen cells? I had a hive abscond last year after a new queen hatched. I think the queen went out to mate and couldn't find her way back into the hive so it decided to abscond.
It was weird. There were bees and some queen cells/recently hatched cells one week and the next week the nuc was empty with only a few (5 maybe) dead bees left in it. I had a robber screen on the nuc and I assume that the queen made it out to mate but couldn't get back in so they absconded. I had a jar of syrup on top of the nuc, didnt see any robbing, and the mites seemed ok in the source hive so I guessed that it had to do with the queen not making it back in after a mating flight. It could have been something else, but this was/is my best guess based on my limited experience.I’ve never seen or heard of this....
I am not sure. I accidentally killed the queen in the original hive in late july. After a week I took one of the frames with queen cells and put it in a nuc with a few other frames. I left another frame with queen cells in the original hive. One of the frames that I moved into the nuc had some stores and I shook in some additional nurse bee's. A few weeks after creating the nuc (2-3 I think) I added a jar with some syrup above the nuc when it seemed like they were getting light on stores. They absconded after I added the jar of syrup.In elmer fuds case could this be multiple after swarms? Newly emerged bees usually go through a progression of house jobs before they orient but I have read that with motivation they can fly at a much younger age in the absence of foragers. With no honey in the hive it is fly or die.
I did not realize they were emergency queen cells rather than swarm cells, so the multiple afterswarms scenario is unlikely. Absconding is something I have no first hand experience with. Just conjecturing. This is different than Homesteaders thread opening scenario, but also seems not typical for the reason proposed.I am not sure. I accidentally killed the queen in the original hive in late july. After a week I took one of the frames with queen cells and put it in a nuc with a few other frames. I left another frame with queen cells in the original hive. One of the frames that I moved into the nuc had some stores and I shook in some additional nurse bee's. A few weeks after creating the nuc (2-3 I think) I added a jar with some syrup above the nuc when it seemed like they were getting light on stores. They absconded after I added the jar of syrup.