Hi all - Someone called me last week about a bunch of bees running in & out of a whiskey barrel in their back-yard. I picked up the hive, barrel & all - though I could hear the comb fall to the bottom on the first tilt of the barrel. Today, I split apart the barrel & emptied all bees into a new hive, though I'm uncertain the queen wasn't killed in the previous move. There was some 10-15" of comb laying on the bottom of the barrel. I found several hundred dead bees both on the comb & immediately outside their old entrance. All the other hives I've pulled - the bees gathered around the queen several inches thick once I started taking apart their comb. This time, they were about 1/2" thick on the entire inside of the barrel - in a fairly uniform dispersion. Weaver Apiaries sent me a Buckfast queen which I was hoping to use on this hive, though it may be hopeless to try to find the old queen IF she exists - at least until they setup housekeeping & I can find their new brood frames, which could be another week or more wasted. Should I just add the new queen now, knowing at least ONE queen will reside? I'm not sure how long this new queen will last in her box - feeding drips of honey & water to her now & then -- & I'd like to make sure this hive doesn't start out queenless this late in the season. Or is it best to wait & see (this was a large hive, so the old queen was definately doing her job). Any suggestions are appreciated. Matthew Westall - in Colorado