Another new guy question. Need quick advice on preventing a swarm.

[Fishing-Nut]

Ok. I'll try to make this as short as possible. I did a cut out about a month ago on a swarm that had moved in several days before.  It was small, and I put them into a 10 frame deep , they took off like wild fire. As bad as I hate to admit it I can't afford new equipment every time I need it. Tomorrow I'm going to pick up a bunch of stuff, but unfortunately I may be to late. I knew they needed another box, but I went through them today and there is a large uncapped Queen cell with a larvae in it. The hive is full of comb, bees, and brood. I didn't go all the way through it but I'm guessing they are about to swarm here soon. From some reading I have came to the conclusion that I should locate, and catch the queen. Put the frames with queen cells into there own box and  then place the queen and the other frames in there own box. That would simulate swarming. They are in a 10 frame box, should I just place them both in 5 frame nucs and then grow them? Or leave them in 10 frame boxes and fill the empty spaces with empty frames. I would really appreciate the advice. Thanks in advance.

[Fishing-Nut]

Also I did read to make sure both sides of the split have honey, pollen and brood. And to be sure to place the brood in the center, followed by pollen, and then honey. Does this sound right to y'all? Thanks.

[iddee]

One queen cell doesn't mean swarm. 10 to 20 queen cells mean swarm. One or two, even 3 or 4,  queen cells mean queen replacement, which is normal for a cutout or fresh swarm. Unless they make many more cells, I would just add another box.

[BeeMaster2]

What Walley said. What does the brood look like? Is it real spotty or is it pretty solid?
Jim

[Fishing-Nut]

Thank y'all. The brood looks pretty good. I was actually impressed with some brood frames. They were laid out pretty solid.

[cao]

+1 on what iddee said.  This time of year is starting to get late for swarming in my area.  I would tend to think supercedure not swarming.