A while back I had a frame with 4 queen cells on it. 3 of the queen obviously emerged. One cell remained closed, wax removed from the cap but the cocoon intact. I moved the frame to another queen less hive in the hopes that it was just being held in the cell by the workers due to an older queen.
Well after a month I cut it off today and ripped it open.
(http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg634/nietssemaj/Bees/IMG_3930.jpg) (http://s1247.photobucket.com/user/nietssemaj/media/Bees/IMG_3930.jpg.html)
The queen obviously is dead, why wouldn't the workers have ripped that cell open and disposed of her?