Transferring old bee colony into new hive

[Beeline]

I have a colony of bees in a double hive box that have been around my place for about ten years. The only thing I have done with them is move them around a bit. The hive box is rotting, so I bought a new one. When I opened the old hive I found that there were no frames in it, just a lot of combs (and a lot of bees). I put the new hive on top of the old hive, and a queen excluder with a super on top of that.

What I'm wondering is will the bees move up into the new hive? Any ideas for how I can entice them to move?

[BEES4U]

The old timers used a method called drumming that was used to transfer bees from gum logs into modern hives.
Ernie

[cow pollinater]

You could leave the excluder off and let them draw out the new foundation. The queen should move up and start to lay. When you see the first eggs (or preferably the queen herself) add the excluder under the new hive body. As the brood in the lower two hive bodies hatches you can pull out the empty comb and replace it with a frame at a time until all you have left is hive bodies full of frames with a queen laying in the top body. Then pull out the excluder and reverse the top and bottom hive body and you're all set.

[Beeline]

Thanks for the reply, but I have a few questions.
I think I've read that it takes 21 days for the brood to become bees. So is it correct that after the queen moves up into the new hive box and starts laying there and I put the queen excluder beneath the new hive box, that if I wait 21 days later then all the brood should be out of the old comb?

If this is correct, I think I'm OK to that point, but I have a little trepidation about removing the comb from the old hive box. Specifically, I think the old wood may have decayed to the point it may fall apart. Any suggestions?

[brooksbeefarm]

I would set the new hive box on a new bottomboard or sbb and discard the old comb after the brood hatches out ( yes 21 days from egg to bee) sounds like you've got it figured out good luck. Jack