Another reason not to listen to the books

[jeff33]

I inspected a hive about 8-9 days ago and found 2 Qcs. I thought fair enough the queen is 2 years old they must be superseding her as the cells have been capped for 3-4 days. fast forward 8 days, I open the same hive, half of the bees are in there, eggs, bias, 1 Qcs is open so the virgin has emerged and find several other Qcs in all stages throughout the hive as well as the virgin. I tear down every other Qcs and think bugger, they have swarmed but as I can see eggs the queen was there a couple of days ago.

The weather was crap for the last 2 days with rain so I am thinking they must have swarmed earlier today...I look around and lo and behold I spot a massive swarm hanging of a branch. A bit of swearing, quick drive back to the house to get an 8 frames bait box and the swarm is in...well half of it as its massive. I went back earlier to put them in a dble brood with a QX below the bottom box to avoid absconding. Spotted my marked queen.

Prime swarm leaving when the first virgin emerges, anybody had this before?

 

[DaveG23]

I have had this this year and last year both from the same hive. Both years I caught a swarm settled on a bush in the apiary. Found the only hive with queen cells (same hive both years), as I was inspecting and disturbed the bees, virgins start emerging.

This year they had days prior to the swarm that seemed OK weather wise for them to swarm. Both years were prime swarms