Thymovar and disappearance of bees

[thegrug]

Hi - New to the list and fairly new to beekeeping; greetings from British Columbia.

I had a prospering hive and began to notice a good number of mites on the bottom board but not on any adult bees. Following advice of local beekeeper I put two Thymovar strips in the middle of two deeps about two weeks ago. At the time the hive had plenty of bees, brood, honey, pollen and I noticed eggs when I added the strips.

Yesterday I took a look in the hive and the bees had absconded!! Completely gone other than a few stragglers and some yellow jackets.  :?

I can't think of any reason why the bees would have left other than the Thymovar. Has anyone ever seen or heard of this happening?

Thanks for any thoughts,

Greg

[Michael Bush]

>Has anyone ever seen or heard of this happening?

Yes, I have.