This hive swarmed the very next day. Then it went on to throw 5 more swarms that we know about. Today, (mid January, 2014) it’s still our strongest hive with no intervention.
Whenever the subject of making splits, pulling off queen cells, or otherwise trying to prevent the hive from swarming comes up at the bee meeting, I am always reluctant to entertain the idea. To me it just didn’t sound natural. What guarantee would I have that I am selecting the best queen cells. But I can’t argue with the more experienced beekeepers because, well, I’m a new beekeeper with no experience. Recently I came across an article in Simple Bees, written by John Haverson, a British Beekeeper. He presents some compelling reasons why we should let the bees decide for themselves. Swarming Bees Healthy Bees Haverson
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 
Personally I try to stop our bees swarming for two reasons 1) so as not to lose half our bees, 2) not to annoy our neighbours. As you are in a more rural location than me and are not aiming to produce any honey or gain more hives, as you say there’s no reason to worry about the swarms. Swarming is a good natural anti-varroa method.
When I see a swarm headed over the trees in the direction of my closest neighbor, I worry a little that I’ll get a phone call to “get these bees out of here,” so I know what you’re talking about. I only know of one other beekeeper who is a couple of miles away, so I can’t blame him for a stray swarm. 🙂 After reading that article about swarms, I realized I might be doing something wrong…that is, keeping the swarm in a spare hive. I called Hal, my unofficial mentor and proponent of treatment free hives who agreed to swap swarms. He lives about 25 miles away (40 km). That way the both of us will benefit from mixing up the gene pool.
Brilliant idea 🙂
Interesting! Thanks for another great post.