During the last inspection I did, I noticed a lack of eggs and larvae throughout the hive. Additionally, I saw 3-4 capped queen cells (one was toward the middle of the frame, the others were down low on the same frame). So I'm pretty sure my queen died and the bees have made arrangements for their new monarch to hatch in a day or so.
My concern is keeping the hive population from falling while the new queen is getting ready to start laying eggs, which could be a good 2 weeks or so out. This hive has always been a bit on the weak side and has developed slowly. I have another hive that is very strong, so I was thinking of taking a frame or two of capped brood from there over to this queen-less one. Is the timing of doing that particularly critical? Can I do that any time after the queen has hatched? Is there a better way?