> No skepticism, so long as you've run marked queens to confirm that no swarming has taken place : ) After 45 years of beekeeping, I think I can tell if a hive has swarmed or not. If I can't tell (by the loss of honey production, for example) then it makes no difference. The loss of marked queen is not proof, anyway. A colony that supersedes without a loss in production is a winner. But seriously, I split the hives during swarming season (May) and they are not inclined to swarm then or later. This region gets the best flows in July-Sept, so you can make a full crop with a package, nuc, or weak split started in May. In fact the late flows are the most reliable. PLB *********************************************** 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