Oh where, oh where has #3 gone?

#3 Hive stand

 As with #2, I noticed a marked decrease in activity at the entrance.  I took a look inside to see what was up.  What I found, in a nutshell, was a dying colony.  Only a few hundred bees, no viable brood, no eggs or larvae, hardly any honey.  All activity, as it were, was in the top brood box and bottom super.  There was nothing but drawn comb in the bottom brood box.  I did see some ants in the box but could find no ant trail on the stand.
I took #3 apart and put the boxes with bees onto #2 using the newspaper combine.  I put the escape board below the super that had capped honey and will take the super off soon.  In the next few days I will also start collecting the supers from #1 for the honey harvest

#2 with deep and super from #3, with escape board and newspaper

The silver lining of this dark cloud:  the bottom brood box was damaged and now I will be able to repair it.
It looks like I may need my nuc after all. (Sorry Matt and Laura)