Today, I inspected the hive (Langstroth 8-frame, 2 deeps, 1 super with top-bucket feeder) and was startled to find that there were still some reserves of honey but nowhere close to when I had last inspected the hive (9/22). I noticed there was also a larger number of hive beetles present (my 2 oil traps were nearly full) but the population of bees was 70%+ less than the last time I had checked. No queen was present nor did I notice any queen cells.
I checked the other hive and it was the same situation, no queen and nowhere near the honey reserves left.
What could have possibly happened? If they would have swarmed, wouldn't they have swarmed with the queen vs her flying off by herself? Was...