under-supering

[beetalkin]

will under-supering help in swarm prevention ? I have 3 hives from cut-outs & would like to rotate the tied-in comb up to crush & strain.

[wadehump]

if it was me i would leave the cutout comb and place the supers on top. the cutout comb is natural drawn comb the bees made no chemicals placed by man i have 7 hives 6 are cutouts 1 is a swarm on natural comb all 7 came out of winter alive and with plenty of stores for spring buildup. ;)

[beetalkin]

I meant to post this on the general page.

the top box (with the cut-out comb) is so badly cross-combed I can't pull any frames. the bottom box is drawn from starter strips. I under supered a medium of starter strips but I don,t know if that will prevent swarming.

[Kathyp]

it won't hurt and it should help you rotate out that comb.  as soon as the queen has started laying below or has moved more to the middle, you can start cutting out one frame at a time and replace. 

when or if they swarm depends on lots of things.  space is only one thing.  some hives just swarm.  keep a close eye on them for swarm cells.  make a nuc from the old queen if you find them and they may feel that they swarmed.  or...maybe not....  :-D