>
>Temperatures in Maine in late fall and winter can fall down as low 
>as minus thirty Celsius or more and several feet of snow are normal.
>
>The bees did not abscond.  Bees simply do not abscond after October 
>in the north.  It is too cold and there is nowhere to go, except to 
>join another occupied hive. (I suspect that is where some of the bees go),
>
> From the facts presented, it is apparent that they simply dwindled, 
> leaving one by one.


Why is it that we try to read more into an event that we need to. I 
keep bees at the 45th too. I see colonies that dwindle in such a way. 
It's in the bees nature to leave the cluster when ill or comprised of 
old queenless bees.  It happens every year...and a hive empty of bees 
is found in the spring.

Combining weak colonies often results in dead colonies in the 
spring...without bees. Keeping bees in Nigeria or Dorset is not the 
same as Bangor, Maine or Burlington, Vermont.
Mike

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