Locating the same nest

[antmadmike]

I have a lot of Lasius niger ants around where I live, how can I tell witch colony are the same?
last week I needed to move a lot of queen, and male larva from out of the old step.
I put them in my compost bin, where there was ants and larva there but now they have all gone.
will they still be ok?

[Wood~Ant]

As foraging workers are probably from many different nests, basically you cannot tell which colony they belong to. The ants you moved into your compost bin may have found it a bit too mouldy, or even a bit too hot as the compost decays and produces heat.
This is why they have moved out to find somewhere more suitable, or may even have returned to the nest they were born into. 

[antmadmike]

There was queen and male larvae in my compost bin before I put them there, so it looked like a good place for me to put the ones from my step there.
I have not been using my compost bin, so I can see the nuptial flight start.
There is slabs under the bin so they must of moved there.
Thank you for all your help and info.