Greetings all:
     Three weeks ago, I had a hive swarm on me.  I didnt have replacement
queens yet, so I split the hive into 2 new hives, moved them, added a second
deep box of foundation, and moved some brood up, as everyone, and the books
told me. I checked them last week and found several nice queen cells, both
supercedure, up on the comb, and swarm, on the lower edge of the frames. I
wanted them to raise their own queen, which I would evaluate, and decide whether
to keep or not. I cut several of them and left 4 of the better looking ones there.  Yesterday, after
3 days of confinement to the hives due to the weather, I got to the yard to find
a swarm!  I found the hive they had come from, and in it were several queen cells
that the wax had been removed from, only the coccoon remained.  Curious, I
popped one open to find a live, fully developed queen, which hopped out, and  began
to move around the frame.  Upon further inspection, there were no eggs in the hive
yet, and they hadnt moved up into the new deep body.  I moved another frame up
in hopes that they would expand upward.  What went wrong with this?  Should I have
cut swarm cells low on the frame, and left replacement cells?  Will the other queens
in the hive kill one another, or will they keep swarming?

When hiving the swarm in the same yard, about 1/2 went back to the original hive.
Thanks all!
Scott Moser


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