[Norcalguy]

Hello everyone. I have a second year hive that looks to be doing well. They seemed to overwinter well and used little of their honey in stores. This spring I did a split (a little too early I think) but robber bees killer the split. I thought the hive (2 Deep Supers with many open frames on top) would have plenty of room after the split.
About 2 weeks ago the hive swarmed/split and flew into a nearby tree. I watched it happen so I know it was from the original hive. I was able to catch it and the new hive seems happy so far.
This week..... I have found two hives in trees right next to the original hive. I have caught both. One was 5 days ago and it seems to be happy in its new box. The second I just caught and so far is staying put in its new box. I am not positive these came from my original hive, but am assuming they are.
So here I am, a guy with four hives out of one in 2 weeks. I guess thats good? I assume I need to take a look around for queen cells in the original hive and need to be way more proactive with that. Do I need to be concerned with the fact that it has swarmed so many times? What else am I doing wrong here? Anything I should do going forward?

 

[ericweller]

Those are afterswarms. You should keep only 1 or 2 swarm cells and destroy the rest. It is best to only leave swarm cells on one frame, that way, it is easier for the new emerged virgin queen to locate and kill any other cells. If you leave more than 2 cells, you will get afterswarms where the virgin queens take part of the hive with them. It is very possible for a hive to swarm itself to death by not leaving enough bees for a viable colony.