As a newcomer to beekeeping, I need a little advice.  As of two weeks ago,
I had one hive in which I had installed a package in in early April, and it was
doing quite well. I arrived home one sunny afternoon to discover a large
swarm in process; I did not observe if the swarm originated from my original
hive as I was so absorbed in watching the swarm settle on a tree branch
about 30 ft off the ground. Nevertheless, I was able to capture the swarm
and install it in a new hive. A recent inspection showed good egg
production in process in the new hive.
 
My concern is the old hive; during my recent inspection, I saw very few
capped brood and a lot of empty cells in the lower hive body. I could not
find the queen although I didn't spend a lot of time looking for her.
 
The upper hive body had a lot of honey/pollen and some capped brood. The
overall population is quite large and made me wonder whether the swarm
originated from my old hive.
 
If the queen in the old hive is weak, should I go ahead and buy a new queen
or will they produce a new one on their own?  I didn't see any queen cells
during my inspection, although I didnt check every frame.  There was some
burr comb on the bottoms of some of the frames, but nothing that looked
like queen cells to me.
 
Thanks for the advice.
 
BTW, capturing the swarm was an exhilarating experience!
 
Roland Gendreau