Bees Despawning

I had around 20 bees in a bee statue, and then they were all gone. 

Action taken:

I broke a beehive with my bare hand.

Expected result: 

The bees would come out angry.

Viewed result:

No bees came out of the hive.

For more information, I had just emptied the 7 bee hives out with a bottle to get honey, and all of them had honey in them, signaling that they had all been inhabited.