# Swarming as Success



## ycitybz (Jan 2, 2012)

Methow,

Correct me please if I am wrong, but, sounds like all you are doing is a SPLIT, minus putting in frames of brood.
I'm not judging by any means, thats what I would guess you are doing in a faster, shorter way...


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## MethowKraig (Aug 21, 2011)

Yes a split, but I mimic an actual swarm, ending up with most of the young bees in the new colony AND a queen cell there also. Hopefully the new hive will accept the QCs as supercedure cels. 

My hope and goal is to end up with two sister queens that I can combine at the honey flow as a 2Q hive.

I am concerned that the old hive will still have the swarming instinct. In that case, I might still have "afterswarms."


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## Solomon Parker (Dec 21, 2002)

Kraig, what you propose is an excellent solution to redirect the energies of a swarm. You might do one better by splitting the hive with queen cells further so that each new hive has a queen cell. There will be less possible honey production, but for the following year, you will have a bunch more hives.

Preventing swarming is most often a waste of time. Good honey production and the keeping of productive hives is achieved by redirecting or co-opting the swarming urge. One way to do that when other methods fail is what you're presenting, using the swarming urge to increase your number of hives after the bees have already initiated the final swarming countdown by making swarm cells.


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## Adrian Quiney WI (Sep 14, 2007)

Kraig, if your queen is marked it shouldn't be too hard to find her. If you can't find her, split into more than two boxes and you'll find her by a process of elimination. What you are proposing is a method very similar to one outlined in "Teach yourself Beekeeping" which, incidentally, has one of the best explanations of the components of a swarm I've read. Timing is everything, a manipulation of this kind will keep bees at home and not bothering the neighbors.


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