Increase and Swarms ?

[talkingamoeba]

Hello, I'm reading Larry Connor's Increase Essentials and I'm confused about putting a swarm cell in the new hive. If most swarms send out the old queen with the swarm, why can't I make a split that puts the old queen in the new hive and put that hive in a different yard? Would this provide the new hive with the experienced queens leadership for rapid build-up like you would get with a swarm? What would be the disadvantage?

[iddee]

Moving the queen with the split will give you a better chance of a successful split. Moving the queen cell will give you a better chance of still getting a super of honey from the original hive.

[ScadsOBees]

I always thought that if the hive has swarm cells and is ready to swarm, you need to remove the queen(and bees) otherwise she will leave with the swarm. And even if you do split, they can still swarm.

The queen in the split will build up the split faster, since they don't have to wait 2-3 weeks before the new queen mates. But that will slow down the original hive by 2-3 weeks. So you sacrifice some honey surplus for a stronger daughter hive.

Rick