here's the scenario. i did a removal yesterday. there was a small hive in a dead limb that fell in a storm. i opened the limb removed all salvageable comb & installed the comb into empty frames holding them in place with rubber bands. i did not find the queen ( does not mean she was not there ). the bees were left in a cardboard nuc overnight. this morning i installed them in a hive with 4 frames of their original comb, 4 frames of drawn comb, & 1 frame of honey. i put lemon grass oil extract & some of my ho-made queen pheremone in the hive & installed an entrance reducer. i left a nuc with drawn frames & lemon grass oil at the original location hoping to attract stragglers & returning foragers. i stacked all of the original hive pieces & put the nuc on top of them. this hive was quite small & had no honey stored. i doubt it would have survived the winter. so now to my question.......will they swarm without a queen? this afternoon i was going to prune a fruit tree that is within 25 feet of my apiary. on it was a mini swarm. by the time i walked back to the house, suited up & got my swarm bucket & tools & walked back they were gone. i checked the hive & most of the bees are gone. i guess that i''ll just combine any bees that are retrieved in my nuc with another existing hive.