Hello All

I have two very strong hives each on two National Brood chambers in my back
garden with neighbours all around me. Neither hive has a marked queen. I
noticed swarm cells being built two days ago in the upper brood chamber of
the two hives. I destroyed these cells. Due to the presence of neighbours
nearby I did not examine the lower chambers.

I read somewhere that if a Queen excluder is placed such that the queen
cannot depart with the swarm, that the swarm will return to the hive. If
this be the case, I will not have lost the swarm and will not have to go to
possible trouble in the neighbourhood to retrieve it. But I am now under
pressure to resolve the situation.

My next steps in this type of scenario are not clear to me.

I could possibly use a Taranov Board to create an artificial swarm or maybe
split the hive.

Or perhaps I should split the hive in the first instance.

Has anybody used a queen excluder as described above or is it a hair brained
scheme?.

What happens drones in the above situation as presumably they will not be
able to leave the hive?.

Any comments most welcome.

Sincerely

Tom Barrett
49 South Park, Foxrock
Dublin 18
Ireland
Tel + 353 1 289 5269
Fax + 353 1 289 9940