I forwarded the mail to my Nigerian friend asking whether African bees  
would abscond from a hive leaving stores etc but no bees.  Here is her  
response.
 
Chris
 
 
"Am afraid I have no sympathy for anyone combining a package with a swarm  
in this way, especially where they have had problems in the past. A weak 
hive  should be allowed to die out or the hive should be sized to fit the swarm 
using  solid boards. Mould indicates leaky hives. Really poor practice. 
Where did the  package come from for goodness sake? Bees don't sound weak to 
me. Not if  they managed to fill boxes in rainy weather. Sounds like something 
 environmental, either in the hive itself or immediate environment. May be  
transportation of mites and disease between old infected apiary and new  
site. 
 
Re your question, depends on the circumstances in the hive and what caused  
them to abscond. Invasion by pests into a hive full of bees & stores will  
probably not cause them to leave an empty hive. There would be sufficient 
bees  to defend a light invasion eg. by ants. And they would defend full 
stores &  brood vigerously. A weak hive may leave as the slightest provocation 
i.e  disturbance by man or beast. 
 
Really, there are no hard rules, it depends......"
 

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