Randy wrote- Re maturity of queen cells at swarm issuance, I don't usually see the swarm take off until the cells are well ripened--curious about the observation of swarms leaving upon the sealing of the cells. Recently I read the same thing- swarms leaving at capped queen cell. I questioned that so I checked the books and they agree with Randy's observation, so also am interested. It seems intuitive (but nature does not follow all the rules we would like) that evolution would favor keeping the swarm bees around until just before emergence, so the gap, in the parent hive, would have the fewest broodless days. Leaving at capping adds a few more days, What is the advantage of that? Bill Truesdell Bath, Maine *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html