Greetings all,
     First, I was saddened to hear of the loss of Andy.  Though I have only been on the list a short time, I recall serval posts  that he made to the list, and I found his website to be extremely valuable to a new beekeeper.  He will be missed by all.
     I live near St. Louis, Missouri, and today, upon opening a hive of Starlines, I found that the bees had built up rather quickly, and had well filled the two deep hive bodies.  Upon further examination, I found one capped swarm cell, two that were ready to be capped, and 4-5 others that had larvae!  One of my other Italian hives also showed a couple of swarm cells!  I contacted one of the members of my local association, who is a master beekeeper, and he said he had never heard or seen them preparing for swarming so early in the season!  I plan to split both these hives in about three weeks, as soon as my new queens arrive.  He was kind of at a loss as to what to do!  I cut out the cells, in an effort to gain some time.  ANY suggestions out there?  This hive also was trying to swarm from July through September last year too!  Cool weather finally stopped that.  Any ideas or solutions would be appreciated.  Thanks!
Scott Moser


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