[honeyshack]

A few details have been left out of the original post.
1. where were the queen cells in relation to the frames...how many...did you knock them down?
2. how many queen cells
3. in the brood boxes, how much of the frames had full honey and pollen and how much had capped brood
4. Now at this time in the brood boxes is there space for the new queen to lay eggs? Have they started to back fill the brood nest with honey?

A hive, be it a package or a nuc or a split or a wintered hive will swarm when it feels like it. It is a bee's nature. And when we fail to keep up our end of the bargin they will swarm if they are honey bound and the queen has no room to lay eggs.
This is where feeding syrup is a fine line in the late spring and in summer. When we have to feed them after the early spring, we feed enough so they do not store. When they start to store that is when we get into trouble.

My guess is they did not move up to the honeysuper as fast as they should have

In your post, you said they were ready for super on the 14th but you did not add it until the 21. In less than a week, if there is a good flow on, they can honey bound themselves and go into swarm mode. Once that happens, the hive stops working and goes into swarm prep. Once this happens it takes us to manipulte the hives to give them the space they need making the bees think they swarmed.

If on the 14th they needed a super and you did not add one, count 16d. That is the time for a queen to hatch. Add few days there since a swarm queen will leave if there are more cells to hatch. Once the last cell has hatched, count 2-3 weeks. This is the time the queen mates and starts to lay eggs. That is about 6 weeks from the start of a cell to the time she starts to lay eggs....now go and start counting....

oregonbeek; there are a lot of educational resources available as far as printed matter and online material. Sounds like you slacked off on the learning end of this experience. If you had even the most rudimentary knowledge you would understand what happened to your hive. Get some knowledge! :lookout:

Fishstix is right! You need knowledge...you lack the knowledge to know what is going on in your hive....start reading

 

[honeyshack]

If the QC were on the face of the frames rather than the bottom or top bars it was a supercedure cell not a swarm cell.

Some of the things you might want to research is the difference between a swarm cell and a supercedure cell and an emergency supercedure cell.

You also might want to start to learn the "language" of your bees. Bees have a pitch that is basically standard. They also have a busyiness about them in the front of the hive. Bees coming and going.
When these pitches and the front of the hive starts to act different, learn these. They will tell you alot of what is happening.

If you are having trouble with the bees drawing on the plastic, coat the plastic frames with syrup 1:1 will do. Either by spray bottle or by a paint brush. Then place the undrawn frames in between the drawn frames. What i have done is place the undrawn frames from the outside in the center. My bees do not care what they have in place. They will draw on what they are given. Do they prefer wax better...sure. But the plastic will work, you just need to know how to make it work for you.

I think the definition of alot of space to lay eggs is relative. One persons space is another persons crowding.
To me, alot of space is 2-3 frames per brood box with very little in it. However, if the space is mixed with pollen or honey, then the bees sense not enough space...when a queen has to travel to find a place to lay eggs

A new package or nuc will swarm the same year given the right conditions.
Some of those conditions include hot humid weather, being hive bound due to inclement weather, and honey bound.

Lastly, if your bees right now are going about their business when you are in the hive, and if they are not butts to the wind when you open the hive, and if they are not scattering on the frames like chickens in a hen house that just got startled, and if they are not agressive, and they are quiet, you have a queen. Finally, if they are not packing in the brood boxes right now....you have a queen

 

[honeyshack]

Remove all bees if you add a frame of eggs and larva.
I would caution against this if your winter is setting in soon. When i say soon, I mean snow by late october or november.
Queens start to shut down as the days get shorter. The bees that are laid now are the winter survival bees. Shorting a hive on winter survival bees could be the difference between a hive surviving or a hive not making the winter because the cluster is too small.
Now is not the time to shore up hives. Now is the time to decide if your hive will survive the winter. If the answer is a maybe or maybe not, shake out the bees, ensure there is no queen and let the bees shore up your other hives, or combine with the other weaker hive. I know it sounds defeatest but that saying...live to fight another day...if you combine or shore up, and they survive, next spring you can split and make up the loss