In a message dated 7/30/98 11:01:01 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
 
<< I have tried a variation of this where I requeened a hive with an old
 raggedy queen from a wild swarm, and withing a week they had built
 supersedure cells, and for all I know did not swarm. >>
 
    I suspect that swarming is a program built into queens in their second
year. The supersedure that follows once she is established and laying, is part
of the program. Often virgins go along with the swarm.
 
    We can delay our old queens here in South Carolina, by knocking them down
to 2 frames of brood in early spring, or shaking packages from them, but these
queens very often, (and maybe nearly always) manage to swarm later in the
season.
 
   I keep promising to requeen everything every year, except breeding stock,
but I often don't get to it, though I sure regret August, September and
October swarms.
 
[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