Hey Bill,  sorry your haveing lousey weather! seems common this season.
I am not sure I would agree with the way you used the term dearth?  I have always understood it to be any time there is not adaquate flow of nectar or pollen,  and not as an adjective to describe hive activity.    In my area a long dry spell in the spring like that makes for good nectar as long as soil moisture is fair.
Despite that  if they were in dearth,  its not uncommon for Carni and russian type queens to shut down completly.  I notice that quite often here in the midwest in mid summer,  again,  only with Russian or Carni type queens.  This tends to be good for honey as when the pollen slows there are less bees to consume the stores,  but alas when the flow starts again the bees tend to be behind.   
For serious honey and pollination I run Italian types  they tend to not shut down at all.  The downside is big summer hives that run thru a surplus in nothing flat.  its kind of a wash,  the Carnis tend to smaller hives and decent honey stores,  the IT hives run larger and require more work to remove honey before thy consum it,  but they do not seem to shut down as nearly as easy as the others.
THe other factor is swarms,  those queens shut down 5-7 days before a swarm or abscond,  so sometimes a bunch of capped brood and no larve is pre swarm.
The other thing I see a lot due to stress is canibilzed brood.  If things are really bad such as during trucking or severe dearth like rain after almonds,  they will consume all the brood thats open in just a day or two.
Npot sure if that helps.
Charles

   

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