Bill's Bees

My beekeeping buddy Bill is on vacation in Florida this week. We have been having some very warm weather this week so I told him I would look in his two hives and feed them. When we last looked at the hive at his house they where in very poor shape. Upon inspecting them today found they had dwindled to less that a few hundred bees. Oddly enough I found the queen. She had not laid any eggs.
I took the remaining bees to his second hive which is at a friend’s house next to our church building. Upon inspecting this hive found it was doing better though not as populous as we had hoped it would be. Found the queen right away and saw good signs of brood and developing larva. Killed the old queen from his house hive and combined the two hives using a sheet of newspaper between the two boxes.
Put some medicated sugar water in the top feeder. Bill and I should try to inspect this hive again in ten days time. Hoping for the best and a lot more bees.