REGARDING RE>Secondary swarms Laura Downey asks: "Regarding secondary swarms, when it occurs, do the bees leave to join the original swarm, or do they take the remaining queen with them, thereby leaving the hive in a queenless state?" In my experience, secondary swarms may have several virgin queens. Occasionally all the virgin queens of a colony may leave with a secondary swarm, leaving the colony queenless, but with queen cells still in place. These cells may have been damaged by the virgins, so it could be problematical whether or not they will successfully emerge, mate and lay eggs. I have ended up with queenless hives due to this. Better to have prevented swarming in the first place! Ted Fischer