> That is anyone that thinks they can prevent 
> swarming is obviously a neophyte.

Hehehe... hold my beer, ET... watch close, at no time will my fingers leave
my hands:

1)  Requeen every year in fall when queens are affordable and better
quality.  Mark 'em all.

2)  Requeen any colony not rated "exceptional", meaning you have just
requeened at least 80% of your hives.  No equalizing, just requeen.

3)  The hives that you do not requeen are carefully noted. I track stenciled
numbers on bottom boards (or on the pallets back when I had pallets) to
track each colony.

4)  The hives that you do not requeen are split in spring when building up
colonies for apples.

5)  (4) means that you are splitting in the snow some years.  Real
beekeepers keep bees wearing parkas.

6)  Maybe you also overwintered some nucs, good for you.

7)  By splitting your best, you maintained critical-mass populations for
thermal stability in the splits, and most all survive the random spring cold
snaps.

8)  By adjusting your criteria for "exceptional", you have enough spilts to
make up for losses, and you can meet all your commitments.

9)  Of course I am feeding stored pollen, pollen sub, syrup... heck, I'd buy
them all double-cheeseburgers if I thought they'd eat them.

10)  But swarming is not a problem.

Inshallah, and the creek don't rise, you have a "zero" chance of swarms
among the requeened hives, the sole exceptions being freak scenarios not
worth worrying about.
The hives you split are very unlikely to swarm because you split them before
they had a chance to even think about swarming.

TL;DR - Queens are about the cheapest thing I can put into a beehive, no
matter what they cost per hundred.
I do not presume to "breed" queens.
I don't design 'em, I don't build 'em, I don't fix 'em, I just fly 'em.

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html