hiving a swarm

[bhough]

When I registered my hive earlier this year, one of the questions on the form was whether I'd like to be placed on their "swarm help" list.  I checked yes.  I got called today to help a guy who had a hive in the wall of his barn.  He had drywall over studs and there was a large hive there. 

I've read several things here and in books about how to capture a swarm, but this was a little different as it was a mature hive with lots of comb.  There must have been 3 drapes of 6 X 4 foot comb.  I tried to put all the brood I could in a deep I had with a few frames, but it just made a mess of things.  I swept all the bees I could in the box, sealed it up and brought it home.  Now they are on top of the box, but don't seem to want to use the entrance as it is oozing honey.  I froze some of the beeswax and honey as it is late in the season and once I get them organized, i'm sure they'll want it back. 

How have you guys dealt with moving a wild hive into a langstroth?  Do you just basically decide you have to start all over and just feed them vigorously, or do you try to give them some of what they have made in their new hive?
Thanks again!
b

[JP]

I never put honeycomb in a super on a transfer for the very reasons you are seeing. The bees are stressed when you move them, some hives more than others, but still stressed. Its a lot for them to deal with, with ants trying to move in etc. If I transfer during a dearth, I feed and feed them sugar water, and let them build stores on their own. So, to answer your question, yes, its like you are starting over.

[TwT]

get empty frames with no foundation, cut the wild comb to fit inside the empty frames, get rubber bands and put around the frames to hold the comb in, put in hive and seal up then take them home, some times you can fill 2 hive bodies with the wild comb in frames, they will do fine this way, they still have there brood and honey, you can just add enough of the honey just to give them something to go on if you are in a dearth... then all you have to do is put frames and foundation in as you can, maybe one at a time......

[Michael Bush]

It's a standard cutout as has been explained in every bee book since Huber's New Observations on the Natural History of Bees.  It's described in L.L. Langstroth's Hive and the Honeybee.  It's how people from Huber until now have gotten brood comb into frames:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesferal.htm

Look at the section on "removal".

It's also been discussed many times on this forum.  Search on "cutout" and "feral bees" and maybe "removal".

Many pictures have been posted in the past.