Kevin,
   The hive can probably bee saved, however not as a large honey producer
this year.  What would help a great deal is if he can take a frame or two
of brood from another hive and swap frames with the weak hive.  Doing
this twice or three times with a week interval between each should help
keep the hive much stronger.  You might also reduce the entrance so as to
reduce the number of guard bees needed to keep the hive from being robbed
out by other bees.
 
On Sun, 28 May 1995, Kevin Roddy wrote:
 
> A novice beekeeper friend of mine who recently captured a swarm (april 29)
> found out last week (May 19) that his hive was queenless.  He thought that
> if his bees were bringing in pollen, everything was okay.  He was somewhat
> curious about a lot of bees just standing on the bottom board.  He opened
> up the hive to find that there was no brood--only cured honey and pollen
> stores. He immediately ordered and installed a new queen on May 23.  What
> are the chances that this hive can be saved?
>
> thanks for any and all opinions!
>
> kevin
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>