I posted a question about a hive I discovered in my backyard on June 18th, (I live in Temecula CA). On Thursday morning I discovered that the bees had left. It appeared to be a fairly large and established hive. I was wondering why they would just leave. Will ants make an entire colony leave the nest? There is a sizeable ant trail leading up to and into the honeycomb. Otherwise, I can't understand why they would go to all the trouble to construct all that honeycomb and then just abandon it. A dozen or so bees remained behind and I saw the ants attacking one of them. I was told I would probably have to have the hive removed as it was the safest thing to do, but I did not want to have it exterminated. Perhaps the ants did me a favor, but I feel badly for the bees. What should I do with the (nest) honeycomb now that it has been abandoned? And how far do they usually travel when they leave their nest?