I am curious: why is swarm tendency a big concern? Because most of the bee stocks locally are Carniolans (all I have ever kept), we teach our newbees that any colony coming out of winter in anything approaching good shape will begin swarm prep in early spring...mid April for the bigger ones, May for the rest (Pacific Northwest area).

Heck, packages acquired in March will often be in swarm prep by then as well. The old advice that packages will not swarm in their first year must apply only to uber-docile Italian bees.

If beekeepers inspect regularly and are aware of/alert to the early signs of swarm prep, they have early opportunities to split colonies and still be in shape to take advantage of the main honey flow here, the June blackberries.

In a decent year you can double your apiary. In better years you can triple. That gives you management options and probably nucs to sell...no sense letting those healthy bees and their overwintered queen fly off to bother the neighbours and then die out from Varroa infestation.

So...why is the swarm impulse seen as a disadvantage rather than an opportunity??

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