I can see some drones starting to fly out of the hive… does this mean that they are getting ready to swarm…?
You need to inspect the brood box. Are they making queen cells? If yes, then they are preparing to swarm. If no, then they are preparing for Spring. 
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I have drones flying out my hives at all times- and they have yet to swarm ever. So the answer is no- simply seeing some drones on their own doesn’t mean anything and is normal. As Dawn said you must look inside to see what is actually going on.
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Thanks guys. I’m in Melbourne Victoria. I’m going to have a peek tomorrow (weather permitting) is it too early to put a second box on with wax foundation frames…?
I’ve got supers on now here. Next month or so provides the biggest flow of the year here in urban Tas for me.
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Hi Paul, still too cool in Melbourne to be putting additional space into your hive. How did you go with the inpsection?
Went really well… it is full of honey bees brood pollen and larvae… there were basically no cells left for the queen to lay… and there was a lot of honey and capped brood… plus I found the queen!!
I didn’t get this message until after the inspection and added a second brood box… I think they should be ok…? Tell me if they’re not lol…
There looked to be pollen and nectar coming in and there were a lot of bees… so to prevent them from deciding to swarm I just added another 8 frame brood box straight on top with wax foundation to allow for the population boom that is about to happen in there…
Open for criticism and advice though please…
