James,
 
It is my understanding that with a swarm in a wall like this, you can only
count on getting the bees and not the queen.  I used a cone shaped screen
with a hole in the end only big enough for one bee.  Screen is used
because the bees will not identify the hole in the end as the entrance.
 So they will crawl around the outside looking for the way in.  Put the
larger end of the cone over the entrance and the empty hive just under it.
Then, intoduce a new queen into the hive.  The bees will gradually accept
her as they get more disoriented with their previous hive.
 
It's a crap shoot...
 
Wayne
 
On Mon, 22 Apr 1996, James Peterson wrote:
 
> Help!
>
> I recieved a "swarm call" today and when I got there the wife
> said that a great number of bees disappeared into a crack in the
> wall.  Sure enough there are bees going in  and out of a crack in the brick wall.
> I removed a brick and discovered it to be just the entrance to a hive
> in the wall some where.
>
> I have read about mounting a hive on the wall and covering the
> entrance of the wall hive with bee escapes.  I don"t remember what I
> should put in the hive.  If I put brood in it, they will build
> another queen and there will be another hive there to accept the bees
> that come out and can't get back in. Eventually the queen inside
> would loose all her subjects and die.
>
> Has anybody had experience with this procedure?
>
> Is there a better way of getting the bees out of there?
>
> Shall I walk away or be a good guy and help these people?
>
> Thanks for being here to ask!
>
> James Peterson Ph.D.
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wayne Clifford                             | Phone (360) 427-9670  X-581
Technical Administrator                    | FAX (360) 427-7798
Mason County Department of Health Services | PO Box 1666 Shelton, WA 98584
                                           | USA
[log in to unmask]                |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
""Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher
than you think."  Benjamin Disraeli