Is it possible for a newly hived package to swarm?

[kade]

I installed my first two packages 10 days ago. One of the hives seems to be weak compared to the other. The stronger of the two is very active. I did my first inspection of the hives today and the stronger hive has what looks like swarm cells in the center of one of the frames. My question is, is it possible for the bees to swarm after only 10 days in the hive or is this likely supersedure? Is this likely just drone cells? They have drawn comb on 6 of the 10 frames. There is eggs and larvae in some of the comb. Most of the comb is full of nectar (probably the syrup I have fed them). I have only one deep on the hive now.

Secondly, if they are swarming should I cut the swarm cell out and move that frame to the weaker hive (this frame has larvae in it)?

Thanks.

[Batman]

Last year I took a swarm down that was so big, it took 2 deep hive bodies just to get them all in. I put them on brand new wax foundation and moved them to the country. When I went to check on them 2 weeks later, not only had they drawn out and filled all 20 frames, they had capped swarm cells on top of that! That was 14 days from take down til inspection, so from my experience, anything is possible. Maybe they don't feel the queen is up to par and want to replace her. You'd know if it was a queen cell (will go verticle down the frame) or a drone cell (will be horizontal like a workers cell, only a bit bigger), they look different.
My question to you is "have you looked INSIDE the cell to see if there is an egg or larva in it?" Bees tend to build queen cups even though they have no real intention of using them.

C2

[jrbbees]

Remember, most primary swarms contain the 'old' queen. So she is already at least a year old, maybe two.

[Michael Bush]

If you feed heavy enough, they might, but it's more likely a supersedure.

[eqnox]

swarm cells in the center of one of the frames

Swarm cells in the center of the frame are supersedure cells. I would guess the queen was poorly mated, damaged, or the just don't like her and want to replace her. I would not cut it out as it might be your only chance to keep a queen. If you can contact the supplier of the package and see if they will give you a new queen.

[delber]

From what I understand if they're superseding her let them go. The queen that they raise will often be better suited to your area and will be better than a queen that you'd get if you buy one (unless you pay pretty good for her) I'd let them sort it out. JMHO and research.

[Batman]

Remember, most primary swarms contain the 'old' queen. So she is already at least a year old, maybe two.

The second part is not true. Unless you marked the queen when she hatched, you have no idea how old she is. I have seen hives swarm several times in one year. Each one of those queens were not at least one year old.

C2

[Chrissy Shaw]

The key here is newly hived, so that is, along with the fact the cells are mid-frame, be supercedure cells if they are queen cells. Package bees, if in a good flow with a good young queen can swarm in as little as eight or ten weeks from installation. Neither supercedure nor swarming is based on a queens age, it is based upon capacity of the queen in supercedure and the amount of queen pheromones within a hives population; a crowded brrodnest congested with honey can cause those to drop adn the bees then (usually-but not always) make queen cells at the bottom edge of a brood frame.

Chris

[ginn68]

Its been a crazy year for me due to swarms. I have had a total of four hives swarm. One was a three week old package in a nuc. The others we're one year old spilts from last fall (new queens). I only caught one of the swarms. And that one was from the nuc. About the size of a coffe cup swarm. Crazy. Out of all the swarms none of the hives were left queen right. Anybody having similar results?