1.   I agree with Aaron about the swarms not issuing when the queen cells are
first capped.

One of my most memorable beekeeping experiences was in a yard of bees about 40
years ago.

A sideline beekeeper had been suffering from poor health and my friend and I
went to do his bee work for him.  The colonies were plugged right out and badly
in need of supers.  On several occasions as we opened the top of a colony the
bees would be swarming out the entrance at the bottom.  As we examined the combs
in those colonies we would see virgin queens emerging as we held the frames.

In the end there wasn't much we could effectively do but super up the hives and
catch the swarms that stayed close by.

2.   Bees in queenless colonies DO collect pollen - or at least they do in
Alberta.  Because of the frequency of assertions to the contrary here I was
beginning to question my memory.  I recall noticing many times that queenless
colonies had a lot more FRESH pollen available than queen-right colonies.

This spring when I went to unwrap my bees all of the live colonies seemed to be
the same.  Essentially the same traffic levels and the same proportion of bees
gathering pollen.  However two of the colonies were hopelessly queenless but the
bees were quite industriously bring in pollen and storing it in what should have
been the brood nest.

Kenn