I have come to the conclusion that sick bees die and healthy bees swarm. I’ve tried almost all the “don’t let them swarm” suggestions over the years and when my bees are healthy they swarm.

This spring has been an exceptionally robust swarm season. Most of my hives were overwintered in 5 frame nuc boxes three or four supers tall. They were moved into eight and ten frame equipment after making splits and back filling with foundation. By the book swarm control! I have retrieved six swarms in the last two weeks, so much for that technique. All have been large and apparently healthy. Now all I can hope for is quality replacement queens. They are on their own there or will get combined as needed to keep the hives going. We shall see…….