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i started out this year with 2 hives,now i have 9. all my swarms came from these 2 hives,as i witnessed it happening. my first swarm has already swarmed. these are doing fine. the fourth swarm does not seem to be producing very well. i have had them and the 3 swarms after them on a watermelon patch. all are drawing comb out in the supers except the one hive. i have tried pollen patties, sugar water at 5lbs. to 2 quarts water. the others empty entrance feeders in a couple of hours.these take several days, i would rather not combine hives if i can help it.when i first hived them, i had to use shllow frames in deep box, but changed all out but two frames that has brood, the other frames were still empty. i dont know if color matters much,but this hive is painted camo, whereas all the rest are white. should i try to requeen this time of year? move frames to a white hive ? also i can move hive to mom's house 20 miles away, where golden rod is very dense.( very sparse here) i hate to lose the hive over the winter. all have been treated with apistan strips and show no signs of infestation. i am using langstroth type hives. i live in coastal nc. if you'd like to e mail me : [email protected] thanks for all your help. david