"T & M Weatherhead" " As it is the end of the season, I would have thought
that the hive would not
> be in a mood to want to swarm.  I would have thought that they would have
> just stayed with the one virgin who got out first and knocked over the
other
> cells"

Biology books such as Mark Winston, Biology of the Honeybee, 1987 contain
charts showing a  secondary peak of swarming in August/Sep. The causes seem
not to be clear as such swarms have no chance of survival in the wild.  But
the fact of the behaviour has always made me cautious. However, Winston
implies such swaams are headed by an old queen - so if she has been removed
and we are considering just multiple emergency cells perhaps I should relax.
As bees never RELIABLY  do what is expected, my beekeeping operates in the
zone between 'probable' and 'possible'.  I plan for 'probable' and take
precautions against 'possible' as in UK we need to find better more reliable
methods for keeping bees in or near urban areas - it is difficult to be 3
miles from any houses and if you are there may not be forage all season. In
countries with much more space presumably you do no need to be so careful.

Robin Dartington

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