Thanks for the reply.
 
> I suggest that if the queen has not yet been
> released then either:
>         1.  There is a queen somewhere in the colony.
 
Very unlikely since I made a "package" from another hive and the location of
the marked queen of that hive was known.
 
>         2.  There are queen cells somewhere in the colony.
 
Even less likely, see above.
 
>         3.  The candy is too hard for the bees to remove.
 
Could be although it didn't seem hard and it appeared they didn't even try
to eat it.
 
I think the real reason was the bees were moved into a winter-killed hive
which had lots of honey in it, some leaking (and fermenting - yuk).
 
Regardless when I released the queen she seemed to be accepted since I
saw another bee feed her almost immediately.  All for nought, they were dead
a few weeks later.  I figure the bees were just plain too old to take care of
the queen (or even survive) before brood emerged once she finally had a chance
to lay.
 
-Mike