Is anybody here using the Warre hive design and associated beekeeping techniques?

Soooo...I thought my colony died/absconded over winter There was very little activity around the hive as cold weather set in here in North Texas. I bought Brood Builder Patties from Dadant as a supplemental food (probably overkill in hind sight), and except for opening up the super to check on the food, I left the hive closed. I never saw any activity around the bee patties (as opposed to a LOT of activity when I was feeding them sugar syrup last spring). When I opened the super again about 2 weeks ago (after a few very warm days), there was STILL no sign of activity and it did not look like the bees had touched the bee food all winter. There WAS however a steady stream of tiny ants marching through the hive to the bee food. I thought, "okay, the colony must have gotten irritated by the ants and just absconded." Then yesterday evening -- just about sunset -- there was a HUGE cloud of bees that seemed to appear out of nowhere and the front of the hive was almost completely bearded over. (See video below) This is behavior that I never saw all last spring/summer/fall. Is the colony getting ready to swarm?

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We're currently in Burleson but our destination is living in Erath County on 22 acres. Our goal is retiring and living on honey and honey product proceeds!