Todd asked about the possibility of stopping the swarming impulse by
splitting the hives.

Todd, we don't live too far from each other.  I suspect you are at or just
past the point of swarming difficulty.

I delay setting up hives for comb honey production until 'now'; I was doing
it this morning, in fact.  I take hives that have 3 deeps and 2 mediums and
shake them down to one deep, or one deep and a medium (depending on the
circumstances), and then put 3 Ross Round supers on top.  Rarely do I have a
swarm.  I learned this technique from the largest comb honey producer in the
US, who lives in Idaho.

As he likes to say 'after July 1, you can put a full hive in a shoebox, and
it won't swarm'.  There comes a time, and around here it is about July 1,
when it is difficult to get the bees to swarm, even though they get
overcrowded.  Don't know why.

But...if you want to make splits and be guaranteed to not have swarming, you
have the right thoughts.  But instead of making a two-queen hive, take the
queen and move her, a foot or a mile.  Move all the bees you want when you
move her, the foragers will go back to the original hive, and they won't
swarm with a new queen.  Introduce the new queen at least four hours after
removing the old queen.  I suggest you give the old location 6 frames of
sealed brood, and take any more than that and move it with the old queen.

If you want to use a swarm cell instead of a new queen, keep in mind that
you will go through a bloodless period of 2-3 weeks...and your new queen
might be poorly mated, eaten by a bird, etc.  My suggestion is spend $12 or
so and get a new queen.

Good luck!
Lloyd
Lloyd Spear, Owner Ross Rounds, Inc.
Manufacturers of Ross Rounds Comb
Honey Equipment, Sundance Pollen Traps
and Custom Printer of Sundance Labels.

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