Yesterday I removed a bee swarm from a cabinet, about the size of good soccer ball. During such, many bees ran outside the cabinet, and I was unable to reach take them. Today, I get a phone call from the client saying that there's many bees still left in the cabinet; she said that they were about a forearm long, and half a forearm wide.
I'm not sure what to do now. Is it worth the drive back up there to fetch the rest of those bees? If not, can she simply spray them with insect killer? Is there a way of confirming whether I got the queen? Seems like there's a low-moderate chance that I didn't capture her. Should I wait until night, plug up the hive with the rest of the bees, take it up to the client's place and merge all the bees together? Or should I take an empty nucleus to the client's place for those bees? I've read that swarms can have multiple queens, so if I did it this way, I could potentially make get two hives out of it?
Advice much appreciated.
Again, if you have resources, take a broodcomb and shake brush the bees off it an put that into the cabinet if there's room. then pull it the next day when they've moved onto it.
Did you get the queen? Before you leave on cut out day bee vac. Unite later.
By the time I was able to finish the job, the bees had flown off elsewhere. Is this an indication that I got the queen? I might go open the hive that I caught and see if I can find her. It's not something I'm good at/particularly know how to do, but I need the practice :)
Might help if you are more specific with your location Australia is a big place