Almost every day I've been called to collect swarms, some for fellow bee keepers others from members of the public. One couple live next door to a young lady who has decided not to inspect her bees. To date they have thrown a prime swarm and at least 4 cast swarms as a result. I managed to collect 3 of the 4 cast swarms but sadly 2 of them decided to abscond two days later.
Today I was called to collect this swarm. I wondered at the time if they would all fit into my nuc but decided to see what happened.
I returned at 22:00 this evening only to find a thick layer of bees covering the nuc as I suspected they would be. Tomorrow I'll go back with a langstroth deep hive and a frame of brood from one of my other langstroth colonies in the hope its will persuade them to hang around.
The home owner said she had never seen three grown men looking so scared when the swarm began to cluster 20 feet away from them in the tree.
Update
I've put together a video of this swarm.
