Thanks for the replies. I feel stupid not preventing the swarm. I just need to be more observant. (and gain more experience)
The queen I had seemed to be a great egg producer. When I first found her, I was surprised how long she was compared to the workers. When I looked for the new queen on Saturday I didn't find her, but I did find several small larva. The swarm took place on June 25th (Wed.) , so it's possible I don't have another queen and that the larva are from the old queen.
I did find a peanut shaped cell that had "hatched", but did not find a new queen. If I recall correctly, she looks like other female bees until she developed and "fills out". Am I correct in this statement ?
May be I was mistaken and the small larva I found on Saturday, was from the old queen. ...... If this is the case, do I now wait until the hive produces another queen?
The two supers that I have are not the same size as my brood boxes, but..... I have a spare empty brood box and empty frames. I could replace the smaller empty suppers with the empty spare brood box and place some of the honey filled larger frames in this third brood box. I could also place some of the new empty frames in the lower two brood boxes. When I was done, I'd end up with three large boxes. The two on the bottom would be for the colony and would include several empty frames and some frames with honey. The upper box (now larger) would include several partial frames of honey. I'm nervous about using the queen excluder again, seeing that is "encouraged" swarming. Does this seem like a reasonable plan?
I tried to look up checker boarding, but couldn't find anything on the web. Do you know of a link to the topic?
In spite of the loss, I must say I really enjoy working with the girls. When I take my breaks at work I walk down to the hive and check that everything is OK. It's a fascinating endeavor. The learning is more than half the enjoyment !!
Regards,
Tucker1