Bit of a Bee Quandary

Last week D emptied the queens into their hives along with the 2 1/2 lbs of bees they each came with.
As he was putting the 3rd queen in, he realized she wasn't in the queen box. Somehow, she had escaped (because the cork was loose). After 3 days he went back to check the hives and see if the queen had perhaps fallen into the box or if she flew to a safe place.

FRAMES BEFORE

He found that in Hive 1 and 2 the bees were building out the frames and prepping it for egg laying.

In Hive 3, he found - AN EMPTY BOX!

That's right. NO QUeEN and NO 2 1/2lb of bees she came with.

All Gone.

Until he moved the hive and found all of the bees huddled UNDER the hive!

He dumped them back into the hive box again and waited until the next day to see if the queen was in the swarm

She was not. All of her bees have joined the other hives.

:(

It's okay though. It was a waste of money, yes, BUT we can wait a few more days and split hive 1 or 2 and the bees will make a 3rd queen for #3 again.