Hello Mats,
Sorry for the delay, but my wife of almost 60 years died on Monday, so I am
just now catching up on my e-mail.

Carnies are no different from any other race, except that they go to work in
late winter and very early spring several weeks before other races.  And it
is THIS fact that beekeepers just DON'T ANTICIPATE.  As Brother Adam has
written, "Carnies
EXPLODE in brood production and hive buildup in EARLY spring."  He further
states,
If Carnies did not have the high propensity of swarming, they might be the
best of all races of bees."

What do I do?
1) All of my colonies have 3 medium (6 5/8") boxes for brood chambers all 12
months of the year.  I start REVERSING brood boxes in late January and
continue that as needed until I super on April 15th.  I may have to REVERSE
3-4 time during this
period.  The whole idea is to provide empty laying space ABOVE the queen, so
she never thinks about going back downhill.  In February, perhaps you only
have to reverse once, but as the hive builds population, you may have to
reverse as often as every 7-8 days.
2) NO QUEEN IS EVER MORE THAN 12 MONTHS OLD, because an older queen cannot
produce enough queen pheromone to spread it among a big population.  I hate
spring requeening because it messes up me honey production.  Hence I requeen
EVERY colony
on September 1st, so their laying in January - April is fantastically good.
This is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to prevent swarming!  NOW, most highly successful
commercial beekeepers requeen every year and some even twice a year!
3) Put ALL your supers of DRAWN COMB (never foundation) on your colonies on
the same day!  Do NOT add a 2nd super when the 1st is almost full.  I put 5
empty supers on each colony on April 15th and that honey is removed and
bottled before
July 4th, and I average 132 pounds/colony where the official government
estimate is a measly 29 pounds/colony.

These 3 reasons are my secret of avoiding swarms.  Before my strokes, I had
135 colonies, and lost perhaps 2-3 swarms per year.

The BIGGEST SECRET is ALWAYS BE AHEAD OF YOUR BEES and never let them GET
AHEAD OF YOU.

I hope I have helped, and have a fine holiday season.

George Imirie
Certified EAS Master Beekeeper