"Michael Fry" > Dave Cushman has a nice visual representation of "number of
bees on a frame". >
> Could one generalize about which of those images would
> indicate that a hive might be ready to swarm?

Mark Winston deals very fully in The Biology of the Honeybee with the
condition of a hive when queen rearing starts as the prelude to swarming.
On Brood Nest Congestion he says 'many of the combs are covered by layers of
workers 2 to 3 deep, although peripheral combs do not have as high a worker
density.'
As the space between combs is only enough for 2 to 3 layers of bees, I
assume he is referring to the density in the seams between combs, not the
amount of bees you find on each comb when removed from the hive.
Whether you want to see swarming as caused by congestion - or congestion as
caused by swarm preparations (young bees hang as  an inactive cluster
waiting for the off, rather than move on thru the usual succession of
tasks) - depends on your outlook.  Science does not yet seem to know.
Winston: queen rearing and swarming are extraordinarily complex functions
involving well-timed and co-ordinated activities by thousands of
individuasls.  It is likely there are multifactorial cues for the initiation
of queen rearing.....'

Robin Dartington

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