> > >I haven't had a hive swarm in my home apiary in decades. You've clearly put a spell over your bees, Pete! We split all of our hives every spring, which greatly reduces swarming, but doesn't eliminate it by a far cry. I've seen plenty of colonies swarm in double Langstroth hives, with a full box of drawn comb below the cluster. I've seen plenty of 5-frame nucs placed into full deeps with foundation swarm--fewer when given drawn comb (as we nearly always do). Some seasons the swarming impulse is so strong that it's hard to talk the bees out of it. -- Randy Oliver Grass Valley, CA www.ScientificBeekeeping.com *********************************************** 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