What's Going On Datsyuk?

Ten days ago when I peeked into the Datysuk hive to see that all the queen cells were open and the hive behaved 'queen-right', but the population was diminished with no eggs or brood, I gave them a few more days and then rechecked... still no queen sighting. With so few bees in the hive it should have been easy to spot the queen but I didn't see her anywhere. I gave them one last chance by moving over two frames of eggs and more bees from the Dmitry hive so they could make a queen.

Another week goes by, and no queen cells present! There must be a tiny queen in the hive otherwise the bees would have jumped at the chance to make a queen. There are so few bees in the hive now that it should be very easy to spot her but again, I didn't find her.

I keep reciting in my mind the proverbial bee-keepers' saying: A swarm in May is worth a load of hay; a swarm in June is worth a silver spoon; but a swarm in July is not worth a fly meaning that the later in the year it is, the less time there will be for bees to collect pollen from flowers in blossom. The main nectar flow in my area is nearly over with most grasses, trees and shrubs past their bloom. I think this will be it for the Datsyuk hive, and like the Red Wings for which Pavel Datsyuk plays, they had a great start this year with every available opportunity but they just couldn't make it in the end.