one of my colonies swarmed

[danno]

Friday afternoon I was about done with complete inspections of all my hives.  It had been alittle over 2 weeks sinse the last inspection.  Just as I was about to smoke the enterance of the final hive they swarmed.  This colony was just over 8 weeks old, a 3# package and was 2 1/2 stories with screen bottom and a top and bottom enterances.  I know many of you have witnessed this but  for the people that have only read about it, it is simply amasing!!!!!!!!   Bee's poured out like running water and blacked the sky.  They landed on a low bush.  I ran to the barn to get another box, bottom, top and drawn comb.  I opened the parent hive to get 1 frame of brood for this new hive.  The first frame I pulled had 4 swarm cells.  In the mean time the bees moved to a impossable spot right in the middle of a 10 ft high russian olive about 9ft up.  I got a ladder, a tub and pruneing shears.  Well to make a short story long I cut branches got the tub under them and shook them cover it and poured them into the new hive.  I moved them about a mile away.  The next morning I checked and they were gone.  I dont think there was anything else I could have done.  Had I found the swarm cells earlier things would have been different.  I'm going to let them raise there own queen.  I hope she will be as good as her mother.

[doak]

  I have never used brood for bait. If you don't get the swarm then you have wasted a frame of brood that would be needed by the parent colony that swarmed.
I will set up a box with sugar syrup and just wait it out, that is if they are over 6 or 8 feet high. I consider over 8 feet too high for my 67 years to contend with.
  If at all possible shake the swarm into the box they are going to hive in to begin with.
I have had to shake as many as 4 or 5 times to get the queen in, If the queen don't get in the box the bees won't stay.

  If the swarm comes from your colony there is no need to move them away from your yard.
99 times out of a hundred or more they will not return to the parent colony once they have swarmed and started a new house keeping local.
doak

[danno]

thanks doak
I did get the swarm in a tub but most likely missed the queen.  The next day they were gone.  As for the brood in the bait hive, it was the idea of our local old timer.  Moving it was also his idea.  I called him from my cell phone while it was happening. The next day I put the frame back in the parent hive.  It was still covered with house bees.  I did loose alot of bees and a really good queen but the experience of watching it happen, standing in the middle of many 1000s of bee's was one that I will NEVER forget. It was so loud and intense.

[sean]

there is a similar thread related to this one. Use a queen excluder on the swarm for a couple days. I have used it and not lost a swarm yet vs. losing about 3 or 4 not usingthe excluder.