so me and my mom showed up at the beeyard today at just the right time. we were getting our equipment out when i looked at her and said "do you hear that? it sounds like tons of bees buzzing really loudly." sure enough, there was a big cloud of bees above us, and they appeared to have swarmed just a few minutes before we arrived.
they landed on the trunk of nearby tree about 15 feet up, and we used a ladder to climb up next to them and place a super with old comb in it on the branches next to them. since they weren't on a limb, there wasn't anything i could cut off and place on the super, as i've done with previous swarms. so basically i scooped up handfuls of bees and placed them on the super, hoping to convince several small groups that they should move in.
and it didn't work. they eventually got really mad at me and decided as a group to move to a different tree in a neighbor's yard, much higher up, and that was that.
what could i have done to get them? i don't know of a way to corral large groups like that when they aren't on a limb, especially since swarms are so sticky and soft.
i got one like that. they are a bit harder. i put a tarp and super under the tree, lightly sprayed them with some sugar water, and with my hand on the trunk pushed them downward until they began to fall onto the tarp. you have to do it kind of slowly so that they don't all try to fly away. i got lucky and knocked the queen down. after that, it was easy to get them into the hive. i think the key was to take time and work them off the tree trunk.