Garth & all, Just a quick thanks for your replies on my queenless hive. I had the inclination to think they were in need of a queen, though entirely not sure since they gave me mixed signals (didn't group together in clumps and quite agitated) though, they did quiet down pretty quickly. They were moved into their new hive toward the end of the evening & I was pretty efficient in shaking those bees into their new home.. Yesterday I popped the top of the hive & found them clustered together in a swarm-like group (I left plenty of room between frames in one of the supers) and found they had eaten 1/2 gallon of sugar-water (in a day!), so I'll assume they might have found their queen again. Since I still am not 100% sure (following advice from Tom Elliot-Beekeeper) I shook some of their bees off into a NUC which I had grabbed two frames of eggs from other hives, and gave them the new queen. This might buy me a week or so to see if the newly-hived bees show they have a working queen or not. If she shows, or I see brood on new comb, then I'll keep the NUC for an observation hive. Otherwise, I'll combine them. Greatly appreciate your advice, as you've let me know I'm likely on the right track! Regards, Matthew Westall - Castle Rock,Colorado - USA