Bad queen or swarm?

[BEE C]

Is there a way to tell if a hive has a bad queen or is simply doing a swarm for reproductive reasons?
I have some Hawaiian queens that did great laying patterns but now have big peanut shaped queen cells.  My worry is that I have split out the hive with the queen cells and left it to recover from swarming tendency.  I usually can't find the queen as she is not marked, if the hive has no queen and I take the queen cells, I take it that it sets that hive back.  I know i can combine the split once the queen cells hatch and i have a laying queen, but besides finding the queen is there something i can do to tell if there is a queen in there?  I don't see any eggs, just three frames with sealed brood.  Is there a timeline to wait to see if she starts to lay again?  Or should I just combine as soon as the split has a mated queen?

[pdmattox]

If you did not see any eggs but did see queen cells she may be slimming down to swarm.  You could make nucs with the queen cells and then combine afterwards.