HELP! Emergency!

[Springtide]

Trying to do a trapout again after the last one failed. Long story short we were in a panic (I know, I know not the right frame of mind), and made a couple of iffy decisions. We tried to find a frame of the right age eggs in the cutout hive (I really wanted those genetics) but couldn't (looks like they already swarmed, waited too long). We got lucky this week and a swarm moved into the empty hive next door, all on it's own. Then we moved on to another hive (new nuc from Perry) found a queen and a queen cell on the same frame, ran into the house and got a queen clip and managed to capture her. Put her still in the hairclip queen cage, in the trapout box. Still haven't totally sealed up the trapout cone, so the bees are getting back in, somewhat. I think I already know what to do next: go back to the original hive I got this queen from, get the frame with the queen cell on it, replace it with an empty frame, put the queen back in her hive (assuming she's still alive) and put the queen cell in the trapout box. See you guys have helped already or me just calming down and writing this has helped me solve it. Anyone see any flaws with this plan?

[Perry]

Do exactly what you described. Get the queen out of the trap-out box and get that frame with the cell in! (The sooner the better).

[iddee]

All is for naught until you get the entrances all closed. NO plan will ever work if you are trying to fill a bucket with a hole in the bottom.

Then you can have a successful trapout with eggs, queen cell, or live queen.

PS. I do agree with your method in this particular case, but I would not move the queen cell until all entrances are fully closed.

[apisbees]

What Iddee said. How long has the queen been removed from her hive? More than a few hours and she will be considered foreign to them and needs to be reintroduced to them.

[Springtide]

Apis, about half an hour. I posted, then we went and did exactly what I said I would (thanks Perry  ) Came in, felt reassured. Then, we sealed off the trapout very shortly after that. We had gotten a lot of it ready the day before, used window screen and silicone caulk to restrict them to one entrance, etc. We try to learn from our mistakes 

[Springtide]

I'm going to clarify: when I said "Came in, felt reassured" I was reassured by what Perry and Iddee had posted in reply. 

[Springtide]

So, I checked this morning, everything still looks good (ie no holes where the bees can get back in and looks like lots of bees in the trap-out box). I really didn't expect these bees to survive the winter because I messed with them so much, but they were my strongest hive by far this spring. Is it possible that I made them stronger by what I did?
The swarm arrived last September, we removed most of their foragers through multiple failed trap-out attempts, by the time we figured out what didn't work ie expanding foam insulation and latex caulking and underestimating how many holes are in my 1870's mansard roof house, etc we had run out of time. This brought us to late September when my other 2 hives were kicking their drones out. If you are so inclined you can read the highlights in my "welcome" post http://www.worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/index.php/topic,2558.msg34632.html#msg34632

I actually have another question. Has anyone ever used Honey B Gone in a situation like this? I got some this spring, they don't sell it here in Canada, so I had to order from the US, it was incredibly expensive -- not only the shipping (which was more than the product) but the exchange rate. I'm thinking of using it if they decide to come out of a hole some distance away OR after I've gotten them all out, so I have no further troubles with swarms at that location. Thoughts?

[iddee]

If it's like Fischer's bee quick, it will dissipate in a few hours, and they will go back in. Best to stop all openings. No lasting effect also means it won't help with future swarms.