On Wed, 15 May 1996, Laura A. Downey wrote:
 
>    Some comments were made about good management and swarm prevention.  I'd
> like to post a few questions regarding this subject.
>
>    I have also noted that some people here are convinced that cutting queen
> cells is useless since the bees already have it in mind to swarm and nothing
> will stop them.  If this is true, then how effective is it to cut swarm
> cells?  Is it even worth doing?  Does anyone have success with cutting swarm
> cells and preventing swarms
 Hi Laura ,It is like a dam filling up with water. If the dam has no way
of reliving the water when it gets to the top, it will go over the top.
Cutting queen cell is like taking out some of the water with buckets and
not changing the source or controling the way way the water can be
relived thru the dam. Cutting queen cells is using a bucket , getting in
and rearanging the hive and frames is changing the dam. You put in some
fresh foundation and break up the congestion of the brood nest. Yes it
will upset the hive. That is better that a swarm in a tree.
 I have been watching hive manipulation for a long time. My $ .02 is , it
will stimulate activity in the hive.They will spend time rearanging
stores and by the time they are done and you have given them more room.
They may not swarm. I have had good luck with this approach , It sounds
simple , but you have to use your head. Make shure the bees can cover the
brood and get out All the queen cells out if you want to go with the old
queen.Hope for a nice day to do it.Bee's that are in a good mood seem to
go along with the program much better.Beekeepers need to pay attention to
the weather , when they work bees. It is one factor that has a lot of
impact on the bees overall behavior.Try to load the deck in your favor ,
good weather if possible, open up the brood nest so the queen has room to
lay.The pros can't do all of what you do. They know what works for them
and they do more preplannig , so they are ahead of the bees.They know
what to expect, because of there knowledge of bee behavior.Then we have a
big change in weather and school is out for everyone. I'm 2 weeks behind
and slipping fast. We have sun this morning. The fist time in over a
month. This will be a long day , but I'm looking forward to it, so I can
get some work done with the hives.
 Box reversing is a book by itself. Many factors enter into the process ,
to do it right.My average is 125 pounds of honey without much box moving.
I do 200 to 360 pounds with 3 brood boxs and rotate them whem they need
it.They are the ones that have wintered well.You start in the fall. We
will talk about this some time later.
 Best of Luck
 Roy