Hi Kel
 
I had a similar problem last year when I was called to pick up a swarm.
I borrowed a neighbours tree trimmer....a scissor-like cutting device on a
long pole, and operated by means of a spring-loaded blade, pulleys and a
rope running down to the other end.
 
You will need to somehow figure out some way of holding the branch
where the swarm/colony is while you cut it so it doesn't fall and risk
killing the queen and angering the bees excessively.  When I cut the
branch, I just let it fall, thinking that the whole swarm would fall onto
the white sheet I had positioned directly under the swarm.  Of course
I was wrong and they just took flight and settled on an even *higher*
branch....<grin>
 
Good luck,
 
Ian Watson    [log in to unmask]
real estate agent     gardener    baritone
beekeeper---> 10 colonies and counting
-----Original Message-----
From: Kel <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: February 23, 1998 8:18 AM
Subject: How to capture "wild hive"?
 
 
>I am a new beekeeper in Oklahoma and need some advice. My first hive
>swarmed while I was on vacation and until yesterday I had no idea where
>they went. Now I know that they built a hive in the top of a nearby
>tree among the branches. If my memory is correct, the hive is where a
>old plastic wal-mart sack had become entangled during a storm last
>spring. The hive is fairly large, aprox. the size of a man's torso.
>
>How should I proceed? I can get an Orchard ladder underneath, but there
>are no sturdy branches nearby & the hive is aprox. 18 feet off the
>ground.
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Kel Landrith
>