Do Hives Combine Themselves?

[BuzzinBerries]

New beek this year. Started with four nucs last month and have caught 3 swarms. Yesterday I inspected two swarms that had been hived for 12 and 14 days that I had sitting next to each other in the backyard. I opened the 14 day old one first. It was a 3# swarm (yes, I actually weighed it) There were bees on every frame. It was full. More bees than I remembered catching that day. All 8 middle frames were drawn out completely and the two outter frames were drawn out on the inner facing side. Capped brood in the middle frames, entire frames of larvae and eggs edge to edge on frame #2 where I saw the queen doing her thing. I smiled really big, put on a second brood chamber, closed it and went to the next hive. What a disappointment. Not even one frame drawn out and hardly any bees. Eggs were in the few cells that were there. Some with two or three each. No queen. I must not have gotten the queen in that swarm capture and there is a laying worker there. Am I right to assume that most of the bees realized they were queenless and moved in with the bees right next door? I thought about putting a couple of frames of eggs and brood into the extremely week hive to give them a boost and let them raise a new queen but I was afraid the bees would drift back. I shook all the remaining bees into the good hive and dismantled the other one. Forced combination although it seems to me that most of the bees had already combined with the neighboring hive. Did I do the right thing? Would the other way have worked or wouldn't the weak hive with the laying worker think they had a queen and just not bother to make a new one? Dang, my nucs don't make me think this hard...yet. Any ideas from all the experts on here would be much appreciated.

[tecumseh]

buzzin writes:
Am I right to assume that most of the bees realized they were queenless and moved in with the bees right next door? I thought about putting a couple of frames of eggs and brood into the extremely week hive to give them a boost and let them raise a new queen but I was afraid the bees would drift back. I shook all the remaining bees into the good hive and dismantled the other one. Forced combination although it seems to me that most of the bees had already combined with the neighboring hive. Did I do the right thing?

tecumseh:
the queenless bees moved to the nearest hive that smell of being queen right.

trying to salvage the weak hive would have been a waste of resources as far as I am concerned. maintaining or adding to it's dwindling population almost impossible.

you thinking (and actions) seem quite correct to me.

[BuzzinBerries]

Thanks for the reply and the reassurance. I didn't sleep well last night wondering if I did the right thing. I had my cell phone with me in the yard and called my bee mentor but he wasn't home so I had to actually think for myself and make a decision. I'm starting to figure these bees out...starting. Thanks again for the reply. I needed the confidence boost.

[tecumseh]

you are most definitely welcome.

and then buzzinberries writes:
I'm starting to figure these bees out...starting.

tecumseh:
yes I really suspect you are. also pat your mentor on the back for doing a good enough job that you had the nerve to make a decision when you need to do that...

and the best of luck to ya'...