Ian Watson said
 
> > ...  The problem is this:  there are already swarm cells and
> > they are at the stage where they are finished, as in
> > closed at the bottom.
>
 
Aaron Morris said
 
> A sealed queen cell can be anywhere between 1 and 13 days old.
> However, once your bees are to the point of sealing cells, it's a safe bet
> they're gonna swarm and you need to take preventative measures.
 
 
If all is proceeding normally, and if the weather allows, the swarm will
immerge on or about the day that queen cells are capped. Cutting capped
queen cells, or otherwise messing with the colony after cells are capped
creates the real possibility that the hive will become queenless since
the old queen has left, and larvae with queen potential are maturing out
of that potential.
 
Dick Bonney