At 07:35 AM 5/16/96 -0400, Ted Fischer wrote:
 
>If I see swarm cells during a late spring inspection, I will often cut them
>and search for the rest as well, but I realize that this hive will probably
>swarm anyway.  If the colony has been a good one, I save the queen cells and
>make a lot of splits from it, giving each split a frame with one or more good
>queen cells.
 
That's one way of selectively breeding good swarming stock!  If you don't
want swarming vigour in your stock, it's not a good idea to raise queens
from swarming hives.  (some people do want swarming stock, linking it to
increased honey production - if you can keep them out of the trees).
 
We rely on using beestock (our own) that does not show swarming tendancy as
one of our swarm control management methods.  Others include young queens
(<18 months), 2 queen hives, brood nest reversal and aimning to keep brood
nest congestion to a minimum.  A couple of frames of brood pulled and put
above a queen excluder can help reduce brood next congestion if all else
fails.  Just make sure it's not young brood or they might do a
swarm/supercedure cell on it.
 
Regards,
Peter Bray, Airborne Honey Ltd. Leeston, New Zealand
Fax 64-3-324-3236,  Phone 64-3-324-3569  [log in to unmask]