To swarm or not to swarm?

[bittybee]

I have a hive that I went through a couple of weeks ago and I found swarm cells.
After going through the hive a week ago, I found a super cede cell, but no swarm cells.
While going through the hive a week ago, I saw no larvae at all.
Help a young (13) newbee figure this one out.
Isn't this a little late to be swarming?

[Brent Bean]

Its getting late for the prime swarm season even here in Michigan, but they could still swarm. I have seen swarms as late as August. Because you now have a supersedure cell doesn’t sound like they swarmed.
The fact that you have no brood and a capped queen cell and if you seem to have a strong population would indicate they have lost their queen but are replacing her. Leave them alone for a week then check for brood.

[Michael Bush]

What did you do about the swarm cells? Did they swarm? They can have a new queen running around with no brood and no eggs:

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmath.htm

[bittybee]

After going through the hive tonight, my father and I have decided to requeen.
We saw frames full of comb, but no larvae or eggs.
My father did see the queen, but said she looked confunsed, running around on top of the other bees.
So I have decided to requeen, but now the major question is whether or not to leave the hive without a queen for a day before placing the new queen in the hive.
Any answers are greatly anticipated and appreciated.

[Michael Bush]

>My father did see the queen, but said she looked confunsed, running around on top of the other bees.

That is a CLASSIC virgin queen. She will be laying sometime in the next two weeks. She will also kill your new queen.