A hobbyist with one hive(at least it used to be one hive. Now, I either have three potential hives or none), yesterday my bees swarmed. I obviously underestimated my population as the major swarm is now hanging 40 feet up in one of my backyard cedars while I seem to have two more hives full of bees. When I noticed the swarm(s)...one was clustered on the southwest outside of the hive body(2 deeps, 3 shallow) and the other(the BIG one)in the aforementioned inacessible cedar. I rummaged around in the basement until I came up with ten deep sheets of foundation and assembled enough to get another BC. I went through the hive, inspecting almost all 20 of those deep brood combs and could spot no brood(mind you, I was some distracted by the swirling activity around me) but I did spot a couple of unopened queen cells(almost all other cells seemed to be empyty---just a few scattered pollen and honey cells around the outside perimeter and what appeared to be some uncapped fresh nectar) and I tranferred those combs to another BC which I placed elsewhere in the yard. Those of you who responded will remember my story a couple of weeks ago where a friend came over and removed 4 frames of honey from a shallow super I'd foolishly placed below the queen excluder and how I'd panicked at the exposing of brood in such cold weather and closed it back up. As expected, the bees had almost filled the empty space with big sheets of drawn comb. This shallow super was heavy so I knew it contained honey and it seemed also to contain a lot of the most calm bees of the batch. I placed it on a new bottom board,(after I'd removed the comb they'd built and inserted 4 frames with fresh foundation) placed a deep BC over it(the one with at least 2 unopened Queen cells, placed 2 shallow supers on top of that and put the whole thing on my roof. By the time I'd done all this rearranging my smoker had run out of fuel and the bees were becoming increasingly aggressive(managing to score on me many times through my clothing). My original hive, in the original location , now has one less shallow super(2 deeps, excluder, and then 2 shallow). With every hive body except that very heavy one, I've alternated fresh foundation with old frames(old on outside edge, then fresh comb, then old, bee populated comb, then fresh etc. etc.). My concern is that my only functioning Queen in in the centre of that inacessible swarm and that the other two hives don't have the material resources(honey/brood) to renew themselves. Not knowing what a swarm box looks like I took a couple of large cardboard boxes and, after making an entrance hole, set one flush on top of the old hive and one on top of the rabbit hutch next to it(i also placed a comb of honey in each, hoping to attract the swarm). That was all yesterday and today, that big swarm is still in the cedar. Since the vast majority of the honey stores seem to be gone from my hives, is it likely the final few thousand bees from each will join the swarm and they'll all live out the balance of the season hanging in their sheltered living alcove high in that tree where I cannot get at them? The possibility that the swarm is NOT my bees, exists(but seems unlikely to me as how else do we account for the missing stores). Another interesting point to me is the shape of the swarm. It looks just like a Queen cell(is that to attract a fertilized queen as she is programmed to seek out and destroy other queens by entering their cells?). The comb the bees used to fill the empty space caused by removing those 4 frames from the shallow super also appears to be in the shape of a Queen cell(I'm wondering about the pattern--a fat icicle--) Any advice or comments welcome. ...Stuart Point Roberts, Wa. PS As soon as I can get ahold of some more shallow supers and one more deep BC, I'll install them. ********************************************************************** Though argument does not create conviction, lack of it destroys belief. What seems to be proved may not be embraced; but what no one shows the ability to defend is quickly abandoned. Rational argument does not create belief, but it maintains a climate in which belief may flourish. (Austin Farrer on C. S. Lewis.) **********************************************************************