Dear W. G.,
 
I have a hive that is dying.  History is it is one year old since
installation last spring.  Honey crop was good this fall of about 3
supers.  The hive is essentially unattended during the summer as it is at
a seasonal residence in Arizona.  On returning to Arizona this winter, I
removed the supers and installed apistan strips for about 6 weeks.  I
removed them and only then checked the hive for brood and activity.  All
this time, bee population seemed very good.  On checking, found only
capped drone cells.  No workers.  The queen either died or became a drone
layer, but not sure which.  I could not locate a queen so dumped all
frames on the ground and cleaned them of bees.  I installed a queen
excluder at the entrance so her majesty could not reenter the combs.  I
ordered a new queen and installed it in the hive about a week after doing
all the above and the queen was released by the bees.  I checked about 2
weeks later for activity, and could still find no brood.  So--she was
probably killed.
 
Now there are still a lot of bees in the hive but unless queened, it is
doomed.  I bought a new nuc and installed it in another nearby hive.  The
question I have is can I sucessfully place the old hive on top of the new
hive and in that way save the old existing workforce.  Or would I be
better to just let the old one die out or possibly dump the old bees on
the ground outside the new hive and it they go in and are accepted so
much the better.  I am concerned about just placing the old hive on the
new in case the old hive workers want to do in the new hive's queen.
 
I'd appreciate any suggestions.
 
Gordon S.