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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