Hello, all. I've been lurking around this forum for a few months now but never had much to say, just lots to learn. I started out with my first 2 hives this spring and they did awesome. Mostly due to reading books and the internet. I found out about a swarm down the road from me and called to check it out. The guy had started out beekeeping by collecting a swarm from his brother's house and built up to 3 hives. But along the way, neglect set in and now he says his brood chambers are a mess but he keeps his honey supers in order and still manages a decent harvest. I was reading a post from "Moposcar" back in April of '02 and it was about a 10 year old hive in OK that had been neglected. The comment was made that there might be something to the disease resistance of such a "natural" hive. I am wondering the same thing about this swarm. Do you think it would be worth trying to let this newly hived swarm build up on its own in the brood chambers (meaning not really hassling them about keeping perfectly straight frames, etc.) but keep the honey supers manageable for extraction later on? Do you think that if he had at least swapped brood chambers occasionally they might not have swarmed in the late summer? I'm curious and really don't have anything to lose since I have the extra equipment right now. But the swarm could also come in handy for making a bunch of drawn out comb for this spring so I'm torn between what to do with them. Also, what are the odds of the swarm queen being a good one coming from such a hive? Sorry for such a long post my 1st time out. Thanks for any help.