I just confirmed another hive loss and I would like to know what does a hive look like if the queen went missing in the fall?
What I saw: Thousands of bees dead on the SBB, no evidence of brood, no evidence of mite frass, comb perfectly clean and the odd thing is the bees that were between the frames were not centered in a cluster. They were jammed all along the perimeter of the hive walls. That was very strange to me. Hive chucked full of honey.
Wow - that's a weird and confusing scenario... I wouldn't have thought of your queenless question, but it's an interesting thought.