Think about the age of the bees in the colony.  Are they worth saving?  If
the colony swarmed 3-4 weeks ago, no brood was laid a week prior to that,
meaning 4-5 weeks ago.  With a gestation period of 3 weeks (21 days) for
worker bees and an average adult life of just 6 weeks - WHAT CAN YOU SAVE.

It is very difficult to get a group of foraging age bees to accept a new
queen, so you might be spending $10 for nothing.

This is why I always keep a nuc "hanging around" my apiary, so I have a free
queen to use as I see fit just in case I lose a swarm or, etc.

Hope I have made you think it out.  Good Luck!


                                George Imirie