Attempted Abscond/Suicide Swarm-9/23/20

[Jacobs]

Around noon today, a weak hive I reduced to a nuc started to leave. After about 10 minutes, the small cloud returned to the nuc. I figured the queen did not leave with the "swarm" and I decided to wait half an hour to see if there was a queen and why the bees would want to leave. There was a queen and brood in the nuc, but absolutely no honey or nectar. I had a top feeder on the nuc and the bees had taken some over the last 7-10 days, but had not emptied it. I removed the feeder and replaced it with a homemade inner cover with a feeder jar hole in it. I gave the nuc a pint of 1:1 which they emptied in less than 2 hours. I gave them an additional pint late in the afternoon. I had figured the abscond attempt was either the result of starvation or small hive beetles. I was relieved to see that this one was the result of starvation--a problem easily remedied.

[quentin]

Any idea why they wouldn't take the sugar water from the top feeder?

[Jacobs]

No clue. They had taken some, but I spilled out some when I removed the top feeder. It was not moldy or fermented. The sugar water was the same in both feeder set ups. Perhaps it was the presentation they objected to.

[Jacobs]

Since the attempted abscond, this hive has re-queened. Today, I finally saw some eggs and larvae. It will be a long shot, but I am going to try and over winter this small nuc of bees.