queenless in rhode island

[stonecroppefarm]

first year keeping bees. five colonies (much work) two nucs I purchased doing well, 1 removal and two captured swarms. the removal was done last august and survived the winter quite well. swarmed this spring, three times, i captured one of the swarms (fairly small). that colony is now queenless, not the swarm, the original colony that survived the winter, I do know not why there were three swarms, any suggestions?, well anyway, what to do? I tried introducing a frame with eggs that looked rather new (sticking straight up) with no luck. I can't find a queen locally to purchase, and I don't want to capture a queen from one of the other colonies to try to introduce, perhaps next years goal. I am thinking to combine the queenless colony with the swarm from that colony that I have, by stacking the boxes and separating the two colonies with a sheet of newspaper. my major concern is a laying worker in the queenless colony. If there is a laying worker that goes undetected (by the way how do ensure that there is not a laying worker?) will this wreak havoc with the colony with the queen? what else do I need to consider? thanks for any advice ....

Ron

[FRAMEshift]

Sometimes one frame of eggs is not enough to stop the laying workers.  If you haven't seen queen cells within a week of adding the eggs, then add another frame of eggs.  And if you don't see queen cells after another week, then add a third frame of eggs.  So much time is required because the open brood pheromone causes the laying workers to stop laying.... but not instantly.