Congrats on getting them through winter!
Split and bait.
If they're bent on swarming, not likely you will stop them.
If you have queen cells, great time to split and get a free colony without climbing a tree on their time. If you don't have a hive ready, a modified cardboard box will do in the meantime.
Last year I did queen-less splits on my langston by taking the queen & frames into nucs and letting the hosts hive raise a queen. Hosts and two Lang nucs did well The other two were unsuccessful attempts of transfer to TBH. Two hives still swarmed and one of them became my top bar colony.
Lousy harvest, but could have been weather.
Many choices are available and all, some or none may work.
Split and bait.
If they're bent on swarming, not likely you will stop them.
If you have queen cells, great time to split and get a free colony without climbing a tree on their time. If you don't have a hive ready, a modified cardboard box will do in the meantime.
Last year I did queen-less splits on my langston by taking the queen & frames into nucs and letting the hosts hive raise a queen. Hosts and two Lang nucs did well The other two were unsuccessful attempts of transfer to TBH. Two hives still swarmed and one of them became my top bar colony.
Lousy harvest, but could have been weather.
Many choices are available and all, some or none may work.
