This is one of those many posts on the BeeL that screams for more information but I have to go on what I have 
been able to get from the participants, so you will be as informed as I, and able to guess with the same lack of 
clarity.

I know little about top bar hives, so it really put me at a disadvantage when I tried to answer the question of 
two new beekeepers in my area who lost their bees by absconding from top bar hives. Here are the specifics.

One got three packages of bees (from Texas that arrived in NY after 6 days and had to be moved to Maine) for 
both and built the hives for both. One was at one location and two at another located miles away. In both cases, 
a day after introduction, the bees departed from all three, leaving nothing behind. In all TBHs, there was no 
foundation of any kind, only wax across the bottom of the bar. However, in a fourth TBHs, a swarm was introduced 
and set up shop with no problems.

I know, in the location with two hives, the queens were released from the queen cage at introduction, and 
probably was in the second. In all cases, nothing was done to confine the bees to the TBH, including the swarm.

I have a couple of guesses, but would appreciate yours. The common features are - the same bees, same TBH 
(fairly new and treated with linseed oil), bees departed about the same time after introduction, and same 
practices by novice beekeepers but they introduced them separate from each other.

The only interesting thing is the swarm was introduced with no problems and is doing well, which seems to bring 
it back to the bees.

If it was not a TBH I would be on more solid ground and have a reasonable idea what might be the cause, but have 
no idea what dynamics take place with introduced packages in a TBH.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

****************************************************
* General Information About BEE-L is available at: *
* http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/default.htm   *
****************************************************