Well last Thursday, May 29, my swarmy hive swarmed again, after
having returned to the hive the last time they swarmed. This time the swarm
settled 30 feet up in an aspen tree. I don't own a ladder but did manage to
get the swarm down and hived. I thought I would share the method that I
used.
 
        The materials are inexpensive and the construction is simple. My
technique is evolving. Handling the long pole requires a little technique.
 
        Materials needed:
 
        3 sections      1/2 inch electrical conduit pipe (24 feet total).
        2               conduit connectors
        2               1x3x10 inch boards as joint supports
        6               conduit clamps with screws
        2               photocopy boxes, one with cover.
        tape            for taping the box to the pole
        1               sheet to put under the receiving box
 
        I assembled the conduit and attached the box to the end of the
pole. Fully assembled it was about 24 feet long. I became obvious that the
two joints need to be reinforced so a cobbled together some clamps and
screwed them to some scrap lumber like so:
 
 
                    1 Board Section
      ___________________________________________________
     /__________________________________________________/|
    |                                                  | |
    |  |o|            ---------   |o|          |o|     | |
(======| |============  couple ===| |==========| |================)  1/2'
Pipe
 )=====| |============         ===| |==========| |===============(
    |  |o|            ---------   |o|          |O|     | |
    |__________________________________________________|/
 
      clamp                      clamp       clamp
 
.........................................................................
 
        Fully assembled pipes and box
 
                                                              ___
     6'        ___      8'          ___      10'             /  /|
==============|___|================|___|====================/__/ / box
                                                            |__|/
              board                board
 
 
        With the added weight of the boards and the box on the end of the
pipe it became obvious the I could not stand the pipe up from horizontal to
vertical without it bending. Two sections could be raised and the last
section added while vertical. The last section should be about your height
as you need to be able to handle the 18' pole and insert the last section.
I did this be leaning the pole against the tree to steady it.
 
        It was also clear that I needed to set up the receiving box two
pole sections away to be able to dump the bees into the box.
 
        To get the bees I positioned the box below the cluster and thrust
it up into the cluster. About 40% of the bees fell into the box. I removed
the first pole section and lowered the poles and then tilted the box over
to the open receiving box. A good number of the bees got dumped into the
box which I then covered. (The box had an entrance cut into the side as
well)
 
        Two more repetitions, dumping the bees on the sheet in front of the
entrance and I was done. The next morning I installed the bees in a newly
prepared hive.
 
 
 
        This swarm's position did permit me to stand directly underneath,
thus permitting the pipe to be vertical and able to support the added
weight of the bees without bending the full length of the pipe. Anything
above 30' would not seen practical given the current construction materials
and methods. Direct overhead access permits the 30' lenght. Less than
veritcal access would require the swarm to be lower.
 
 
        I hope this encourages others to attempt retrieval safely from the
ground rather that perched on the last step of ladder or out on the a limb
of a tree.
 
        Regards,
 
                Jim Moore
                Second Year Beekeeper
                5 hives (1 tbh); 1 Nuc