In a message dated 4/27/98 9:29:39 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [log in to unmask]
writes:
 
<< Today I look in the new hive (old queen) - most bees are all clustering
 (3/4 bees deep) on the two frames of brood. After a lot of looking I saw
 the old queen and a few eggs, larvae, and also ome more Q cells, some
 empty and one with a young larvae in ! Why ?
 
 I thought that doing this procedure would 'fool' the old queen and her
 mainly older bees that they had already swarmed. Any ideas ? Is this
 Queen failing perhaps ? >>
 
   It is possible that the queen is failing, and you mistook supercedure cells
for swarm cells.  Swarm cells are usually near or on the bottom of the frame,
and there may be 10-20 of them.  Supercedure cells usually are nearer the
center (because they are drawn out from an ordinary cell, just like an
emergency cell) and there are not usually many, sometimes only one.
 
    The other possibility is simply that they think they have already swarmed
and they are now superceding the queen. Most swarms, once established, will
replace the old queen that went with them.
 
    If they were truly swarmy, you did the right thing. Many hobbyists will
cut out cells, thinking this will stop swarming. Tearing the hive apart every
few days to find the cells demoralizes the hive, and, sooner or later, the
beekeeper will miss one cell, usually a small one that makes a lousy queen.
 
  Once you've got a young queen established in either hive, you can recombine
them, if you don't want the extra hive.
 
[log in to unmask]     Dave Green  Hemingway, SC  USA
The Pollination Scene:  http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html
 
Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop    (Varietal Honeys and Beeswax Candles)
http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm