Hi Michael,
I do something similar.
I was wondering why - in the middle of summer here - the bees did not make a new queen? I can understand that late in the season they can't make a new queen.
These small hives had a queen, they had eggs/larvae. Obviously the queen died and I wonder why they did not succedd in making a new queen? I know s..t happens but i wonder if there is a pattern?
My proces to deal with laying Workers this time of the year is simple:
- I make up a few nuc's and give each nuc 3 frames with brood PLUS two frames from the laying worker hive with brood scratched. I shake the bees off some distance from the original hive.
- I place a few frames with open brood and some empty frames in the original laying worker location to catch any returning bees.
It seems to work for me and is using all the available resources.