I had a similar experience just a few days ago. The swarm, a very large
one landed on a small manitoba maple in the back yard and extended
themselves linearly along the trunk from ground level to about 1.5 m in
height. I moved a bottom board and two supers along side and started
loading them on the entrance. They dutifully marched in and seemed to be
doing well. Like you I didn't want to lose just a valuable resource.
 
Cheers, Doug Henry, Lockport, Manitoba
 
On Mon, 12 Aug 1996, Michael Lance High Sr. wrote:
 
> I had one of my hives issue a late swarm this afternoon.My wife came in
> to tell me she thought they were swarming.I went out & sure enough they were.
> They laned in a small maple in my yard.The wife asked if I would
> recapture them and I said no, I figured I'd let them go since it was so
> late in the year and, to the best of my knowledge, feral swarms
> hereabouts are extinct.Of course, as we looked at the swarm, she kept
> marveling at its size.It WAS a good sized one, I'd guess about 8 lbs.
> Anyhow, she kept on until I finally figured, why let them fly off &
> starve, so I hived them.It was such a swarm they overfilled a ready hive.
> I ended up puting a hive body full of capped honey on them.I figure that
> may hold them if the winter is'nt TOO bad.I could have let them go, but
> it was against the bee-keeper in me.I also have hope my hives will be
> mite free next year since,as far as I know, they were'nt exposed to mites
> and they arrived last spring mite-free.Time will tell....
>                      ML High
>
> "I take my chances,I don't mind working without a net,                           I take my chances,I take my chances every chance I get"                                   Mary Chapin Carpenter
>