On 14 April, Dave Green wrote: "There are only two ways I know that are consistantly reliable [for control of swarming].  One
is to split the hives. The other is to remove the old queen, before they think of swarming themselves, and give them a cell or new queen". "Once there are swarm cells, it is time to bow to the inevitable and split them." 
Dave has it spot on.  The problem for hobbyists that splitting can mean bringing up spare boxes and roofs, or heavy lifting if the old brood is put on top of the new box.  I doubt any hobbyist keeps 20 spare sets for 20 hives, but swaming can come all at once. The Long Deep hive enables spitting to be done merely by rearranging the brood frames (up to 21) so the queen and broodless swarm are at one end and the parent nest is at the other.  Division is acheived by sliding in a vertical board the size of a brood frame and that is the only extra equipment needed. When a new queen is mated, she takes over and the clony does not swarm again that season. The heaviest lift involved is a half-sized super, 16 pounds. Brief details available by e-mail  if anyone is interested. 
Robin Dartington  

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