I agree with Jane.  Good hive management is a lot better tool for swarm
control than clipping wings.  I have used double brood supers and have
switched them whenI've found the queen in the upper brood chamber and
most of the frames filled with brood.  Keeping empty frames above the
area where the queen is laying seems to provide whatever expansion is
needed to prevent swarming.  I've found that crowded hives is what
induces the swarming instinct.   MIKE STOOPS   ([log in to unmask])
 
Michael Stoops
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Sugar Land, TX  USA
 
On Wed, 24 May 1995, Jane Beckman wrote:
 
> I suspect that clipped wings is only a marginal guarantee against swarming:
> if the queen can still fly, even badly, she may leave.  I say this because
> I obtained a swarm that had a queen with a clipped wing, and you will notice
> it didn't stop her from leaving, even though she was an imperfect flier.  I
> suspect it would require a *radical* clipping job to prevent a swarmy queen
> from leaving, and there would be other considerations, such as the tendency
> of the workers to starve the queen in an attempt to get her to leave.
>
> Good hive management is a much better tool, in my opinion.
>
> Just a word to the wise.
>
> Jane B.  [[log in to unmask]]
>