Approaching my first winter with bees.

[Mcedwar]

I’ve had pretty good luck with my first package this year. I currently have three hives. The original is two 10 frame deep boxes with no sign of a queen. I think she swarmed in early July. I introduced a new queen 2 or 3 weeks ago.

The other two hives are single 10 frame deeps, with queens, about half drawn, each with 2 full frames of capped brood.  Both queens are home grown.

I put a frame with eggs and larvae from one of the small hives into the large hive yesterday.  I’m thinking I might put a similar frame into a nuc box with a honey/pollen frame for insurance.

I also started feeding all three.

Am I to late to build a new queen and hope to get through the winter with all three hives?  Should I just combine the three hives into two now, and not wait to see if I am successful in getting a new queen?

I’m in central Illinois, where we have had really cold winters recently.

[Some Day]

In your double deep hive how many of the 20 frames are drawn comb, how many are foundation only, how many frames of honey, how many frames of pollen, how many frames are capped brood?  Are there any eggs or larva other than the frame you robbed from the nuc?  When you look into the hive from the top how many frames are covered with bees?

If I understand you correctly you have added a new queen to the double deep hive and then added a frame of brood 3 weeks later.  Is that correct?

Are you in a flow right now or have you been in a dearth?

Are your small hives building new comb right now?

My first instinct is to say that you should sample your hives for mites then act accordingly for dealing with them.  Second instinct is to divide the queenless double deep hive's resources evenly with the other two hives and try to get them built up for winter.  This is assuming the bigger hive is healthy and is indeed queenless.

Remember, this is the internet and there are a bunch of us arm chair experts out there.

[Lburou]

Combining seems like the best choice for your original hive if it is queenless.  The small hive(s) are not likely to make it through winter unless you make provision to feed during the cold months.  This video shows how to feed granular sugar over winter as an emergency food source. 
 
Consider combining your three hives into two hives, sharing the stored honey and brood equally between the two -make SURE you know where the queens are before you share brood frames, you don't want two queens in one hive and none in the other. 

Feed both with sugar syrup this fall, and over winter with granular sugar available in both hives.  If all goes well, you will enter next spring with two strong hives ready to make honey.  HTH   

[riverbee]

i agree with lee, combining would probably be my choice. how many bees do you have covering frames in each hive?
i am also concerned about undrawn frames,  how many undrawn frames?

[Mcedwar]

I went out to check on the hives in the 93° heat, and I found a queen in the primary hive. But when I walked past one of the smaller hives, it roared like it was queen-less.

I put everything back before I passed out from the heat, and I will go back later to check the rest.