One of my hives went queenless about 2 weeks ago (I didn't see an egg or larvae anywhere, just capped brood), I did see an open queen cell however so I figured I would give it about 2 weeks and check back. Well 2 weeks happened today and I checked the hive hoping to see some eggs, but not 1 in sight. They have lots of pollen and honey, and I did see them bringing in pollen as well to. Just for fun I took 2 frames full of capped brood and eggs out of my other hive and put it in the queenless hive to see see if anything would happen.
I understand that's it's rather late in the season, but do you think their is a chance in the world that this hive may get a laying queen before winter comes? My only concern is the drone population at this time. How long should I wait to combine my queenless hive with my queenright hive or should I not combine at all? Thoughts anybody?