Tons of Bees entrance?? - Swarm ready??

[Mapletop]

Observed last night one hive with tons of bees at entrance, some hanging down off bottom board. We've had a ton of rainy weather for a week to ten days so I haven't done much with the hives. I'm thinking it's prep for a swarm.
Should I do a split and start a nuc with five frames of food and brood, and if so, does the original queen go with the nuc? What's about the queen cells....leave them, destroy them?? I'll probably do a reversal of the brood chambers too....any advice is welcome... can the nuc remain in the same bee yard?
I should add this is a first year hive from a purchased nuc..installed in mid May. This morning, there weren't nearly as many bees at the entrance, it looked pretty normal. It was early and there wasn't much flight activity yet too.

[riverrat]

Is the weather hot out your way. It sounds like they are just bearding from the heat or they need more room. maybe even both. If room is needed add another super. Did you check inside for swarm cells. If you did and they are there dont destroy them. You will need them when you split.

[Mapletop]

Ity's been very wet and humid.....

[kayaxi]

One of my hives was doing the same thing and a few days later it swarmed. I was unable to catch them 'cause they were about 60 or more feet up in an oak tree. The odd thing is that I had just given them a new deep about 5 days before they swarmed. A local expert said there's been a lot of that lately but didn't give any details. Both hives generally have a beard on them at dusk and on nights that don't get much below 70 they often stay outside all night.
Cheers!

[Joseph Clemens]

Most of my hives, and even my Nucs, have been doing that since May, and none of them have swarmed yet this season. It doesn't necessarily mean they are preparing to swarm. It's called bearding - if you use the search feature you will find lots of threads on that topic.

[clintonbemrose]

You cannotstop a swarm by just adding boxes now. The boxes should have been added when the bees needed them and before they decided to swarm. I always add suppers when the top supper is filled with 7 out of 10 frames full or nearly full.
Clint

[Mapletop]

Just got chased out of the beeyard by some very pissed residents. I had intended on doing a split, but didn't think it was too cloudy to open up. Boy was I wrong..... got stung like never before..through my suit and gauntlet gloves. Couldn't get it closed up fast enough....will wait for a nice sunny day and hope they don't swarm in the meantime. ****, that hurts.

[riverrat]

never take the top off of a hive on a day you wouldnt want the roof taken off your house