The first swarm doesn't wait until the new queen hatches. Any time after a swarm cell is capped they may swarm. My guess is that you already have a split. One half is in a tree somewhere. Even if they haven't, the swarm queen will be about the same size as a worker bee.
A couple of weeks ago I found swarm cells in a hive. The were about a day from being capped. I wanted to keep the queen so I planned to take a few frames of bees and the old queen and put them in a nuc box. I found her, but it was probably only because she was marked. She was slimmed down and ready to fly.
A couple of weeks ago I found swarm cells in a hive. The were about a day from being capped. I wanted to keep the queen so I planned to take a few frames of bees and the old queen and put them in a nuc box. I found her, but it was probably only because she was marked. She was slimmed down and ready to fly.