RE:  early and plentiful swarms:
I visitied my bees, 100 km north of Ottawa where apple blossoms are still
a week away.  The hives were full of bees, so much so that I felt
compelled to put a super over one of them for fear of swarming - so
early!  Normally, I don't super until the beginning of June.  If the
weather holds, this could be a VERY GOOD YEAR!
 
Marc Patry