Hello Gary & All,
Gary said:
I had checked my hives last week, and added two honey supers each to my two
hives that made it through the winter, and added a second deep super to each
of my four package hives.  All the hives looked healthy, but none of them
seemed overcrowded.  I admit I didn't look at every frame to see if there
were queen cells, but this is so early I didn't expect them.

Basing swarms on time of the year is a common mistake. Many reasons for
swarming are known but the crowding of the brood nest is most common.
I believe  swarm cells were in the hives when you did your last inspection.

A complete teardown an remake of each hive in spring is the way the
commercial beekeeper handles the bees urge to swarm.

Overfeeding packages combined with not getting the second box on in time is
a sure way to cause packages to swarm.
Especially true of carniolan bees.

Gary said:
 As swarms go, it wasn't very large; perhaps the volume of a basketball.

My guess is a package  if your older hives are strong.

Gary said:
I was actually back in the bee yard at about 3:00 Monday when the second
swarm happened.
 Then the clouds parted and the sun broke through.
 They flew higher, spread out, and began to settle on some raspberry bushes
on our west fence line.  After about fifteen minutes, they had settled into
a cluster about the size of a bushel basket.

After a rain and the sun comes out and temps rise is the best time to see
swarms in the bee yard. A good time to catch swarms (in my opinion) as they
seem to usually move out to a low lying bush for a short while while scouts
locate a permanant home. Many relocate before the beekeeper can get to the
yard. The second move from my experience is usually a long distance.

A small amount of swarming happens. When large scale swarming like 10 out of
10 nucs such as happened to a  beekeeper from our area this spring then lack
of attention by the beekeeper is the blame.

Bob

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