Delayed swarming??

[Grandpa Jim]

The Northeast like much of the country has had a full week plus of cool rainy weather.  But last week we had 2 days of upper 80's and sun.  The first day I lost a swarm, watched them go, a great experience, but better if they are not your bees.  The second day I got a swarm call and hived a bigger swarm, someone else's bees(I feel I am ahead right now). 

The question is if a hive had capped queen cells and was about to swarm, say last Wed, and than this rainy weather set in, what is happening inside the hive??  Are there several virgin queens and the old queen wondering around in there waiting for a warm day to swarm or can this weather change their mind about swarming??  I guess with all this rain I have too much time to think.   If I have to take government money to study this I guess I can force myself to do that :-D.
Jim

[Brian D. Bray]

In the case of prolonged rain or adverse weather and a pending swarm, the swarm maybe delayed until the weather allows the bees and the old queen to leave.  But as fas as the virgin queens are concerned, the longer the wait the less virgins you'll find, usually one in the end.  My concern would be for the surviving virgin queen being mated properly.

Then again, with that kind of senerio you could end up with a 2 queen hive.