In a message dated 99-06-23 11:46:08 EDT, you write:

<< I stacked the nucs on the
 original stand, since I operate my hives with multiple openings in all brood
 chambers anyway, and bees continued to go in and out into all the nucs.

 However, after two weeks when I examined the nucs, every one of them had
torn down
 the swarm cells and were busily storing nectar in all available cells.  I
decided
 to reunite the "nucs" and restore the original colony.  I was sort of
surprised
 that they didn't raise a single queen from all those swarm cells.  >>

    Young queens are a lot dumber than workers about drifting, and drifting,
for a young queen, can be fatal. We always spread out our queen nucs, and try
to leave lots of landmarks to help them locate their own.

    Also, was there a spell of bad weather, just about the time they were to
mate? We had a week of cold rain in late spring, and I lost almost every nuc
that would have been mating during that time.

Dave Green   SC  USA
The Pollination Home Page   http://www.pollinator.com
The Pollination Scene   http://members.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html

Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop on the Internet  (honey & beeswax candles)
http://members.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm