my answer and thoughts...
i think if it's a NEW hive (like a newly installed package or swarm - say in the case of a new package - the queen arrives dead and it takes too long to get a new one)...they'll move on - maybe get "absorbed" into other hives? but seemingly when they go queenless mid-summer like this - there's not much they can do but STORE in-excess. as a beekeeper - i can't really BUY a queen at this late stage (nor would they have time for population buildup for winter anyway)
as to what happened?...they probably went queenless in the "swarming". when a hive SWARMS - it's splitting the population aka "go forth and multiply". the swarm leaves with the OLD QUEEN (old reliable) ...meanwhile the hive has VIRGIN QUEENS either hatched or about to hatch. that VIRGIN QUEEN still needs to be MATED to lay eggs.....and it's precarious - she may fly out and not make it back for some reason (eaten by a bird, taken out by machinery or car)....or she might make it back and accidentally go into the wrong hive which would mean her death.
as a beekeeper i've tried (in the past) to give a mid-summer queenless hive a couple frames of EGGS from another hive (they have to have a 3 day or less old egg to MAKE THEIR OWN QUEEN) and? they JUST DON'T....it's almost like they've forgetten how....(maybe they sense the lack of time?) sometimes this lack of a queen can "stimulate" a WORKER to lay eggs...which of course are INFERTILE....leading the hive to become full of DRONE (male bees - layed from infertile eggs)
- the best thing to do is to probably combine remaining populations with another hive for winter.....
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