Queenless and low on numbers

[Erich]

  I have a queenless hive with 2 to 3 frames of bees. I'm getting one package this Saturday, 4/16. My question is, how to bring the two together? Will the queenless bees accept a package?  There are no eggs observed so don't think there is a laying worker.  The number of bees makes me feel that it's too small to just install a queen. Hope that's enough info.
Thank you in advance,
Erich

[GSF]

If possible, reduce it then dump the package in the empty part. Take the other part, smoke them real good so they'll fill their belly. Then shake the old girls out about 10 yards in front of the new hive. The idea being the old girls will be accepted if they have full bellies.

[Erich]

   Thanks for the reply. Sounds easy enough to me. Hope it's easy enough for them.
Erich

[BeeMaster2]

If they are really queenless, I would smoke them and just add the package to them. Keep the queen in the cage as normal and they should be fine. The bees in the package are probably from several hives anyway.

Jim