Post swarm how can you tell?

[tillie]

My three year old hive is sort of languishing.  I can't really tell that the numbers are down, but they have had an empty box on for a week and we are in the middle of the honey flow and they aren't drawing wax, not storing nectar - no action. 

I have wondered if they swarmed. 

I'm at work all day and when I'm not at work, I've been out of town frequently in the last month.  It's highly possible that a hive could swarm and I wouldn't see it happen. 

This hive is acting like a hive with a new queen - there's been about a one month pause in their growth and interest in building themselves up.

I figure the slow-down is a sign that they swarmed.  If I went into the brood box (five boxes down), I suppose I would see ripped out the side queen cells and at least one properly emerged queen cell.

Other than the apparent slow-down and what I suggested above, is there any other way to know for sure that they swarmed?

Linda T in Atlanta

[annette]

When my hive swarmed last year,  I knew they were going to because they had made swarm cells.

I never saw them swarm, but knew they did because the population went way down. This hive had been boiling over with bees before the swarm. This was the only clue I got from my hive without actually getting into the brood chambers to look more carefully. Well Linda you have contributed to the bee population with this swarm. I hope they get back on their feet soon.
Take care
Good Luck
Annette

[tillie]

My notes from last year say that on 5/12/2007 this same hive was not building up - maybe it's just a characteristic of this hive, but last year they were recovering from tons of viruses courtesy of varroa - deformed wing, etc. I also got lots of honey from this hive last year, but not until June or July.

Linda T in Atlanta

[Michael Bush]

Sometimes a very successful hive casts a medium sized swarm and you never notice a difference.  If your queens aren't marked you can't ever tell and even then, the marks wear off...

I'd say most successful hives that have not had something done for swarm prevention, swarm every year.