In a message dated 98-02-09 19:11:15 EST,  [log in to unmask] (Nick The
Beeman) writes:
 
 <<Question:  Can anyone explain this?
 
 WE split a hive (very whell almost to nothing in brood)  yet it still swarmed
 about 1 1/2 months later >>
 
    Two year old queens are programed to swarm. Often you can delay that by
removing brood or bees to make a nuc, or jack up weak hives......  But they
often will eventually swarm anyway.  I had a few old queens last spring that
were knocked back to nearly nothing, came back like gangbusters, and
eventually a high percentage of them swarmed at midsummer.
 
    Younger queens are unlikely to swarm, unless they are very crowded.  I've
seen three or four week old queens swarm from nucs, when they were delayed in
getting into ten frame boxes.
 
    One summer I had a hive next to my honey house that kept getting added
bees from the supers that were brought in (there shouldn't have been too many,
because there was always a nuc next to the window bee escape, but some would
drift off the truck when I pulled the net). They swarmed three times during
the summer, much to my amazement. The first queen was a Buckfast of that year,
and each one after was one they raised. In the fall they appeared to have
superseded, but the new queen was a dingaling, and I had to combine them with
another hive.
 
[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