about 2 years ago i had experienced absconding swarms and for the life of me i couldn't figure out why they would abscond. they had no mites, no brood diseases, plenty of food, no predators. they left behind plenty honey and pollen, closed and open brood....its like they just decided to leave.
to further add to my problems, those absconding swarms tried to take over other nearby boxes. i meantioned before that one box was invaded by 6 absconding swarms and we had a heck of a time catching all 7 queens in the midst of the ensuing riot. i dealt with about 12 such incidents in a 2 month period then it suddenly stopped. last year the same thing happened to me...also around the same months as the year before...that was around august and september. i hope this year it doesn't happen again because i still haven't figured out whats causing it.