To all:

On 6/13/99 I inspected a strong hive and found what I believed were  swarm
cells. They were on the bottoms of frames but there were also some in the
middles of  combs.  I did not see the queen nor do I recall verifying that
there were any new eggs.  I  destroyed all queen cells (I think), and I
shook all the bees on the ground in front of the  hive(a swarm stopping I
read about years ago).

On 6/19/99 I rechecked this hive and found no new brood and no queen  cells.
The bees were filling all the brood comb with honey.  I assumed at this this
point the I  had misjudged the week prior when I thought they were preparing
to swarm.  I now thought that  they were superceding the queen and I had
destroyed their new queen cells.  So I gave  them a frame of eggs and young
brood from another colony.

On 6/26/99 I went out to check them and found a swarm on the ground about
10 feet in front of this colony.  (I think they had tried cluster on some
tall grass which  then collapsed under the weight)  I'm sure this swarm came
from the colony in question as  their dark coloring matched those of that
colony and the only other one nearby are very  light colored.  I placed a
hive on the ground in front of the swarm, stirred them up with  the smoker
and they went in. (Sure beats catching a swarm 20 feet up in a tree).

I'm now trying to figure out where I misjudged what they were doing.  If
they were not trying to swarm when I first found queen cells, why did they
do it now that they  are apparently queenless?  Is it possible that they
swarmed with a virgin queen from a  queen cell that I missed destroying?  I
did not see a queen in the swarm but did not spend  time looking. Should I
try to reunite them?

I'd appreciate any ideas or suggestions!

Thanks,

George