---------------Original Message---------------
Bee-listers,
 
It is swarming season in Santa Barbara. I have received 3 calls alone in
the past week to remove swarms from various sites around the town.
 
I learned my lesson on the method of transporting one swarm which I would
like to share with this list.
 
A local trucking company had a swarm move into its yard and collect on a
single branch 15 feet above the ground. Since the swam was right in the
midst of trucks and people, the manager wanted them out ASAP.
 
With the use of a fork lift, he lifted me up to the swarm.  I cut the
branch with the swarm and dumped it into a PLASTIC bag. Forgot to poke some
holes in the bag.  Big mistake!!  ByY the time I got to my apiary (10
minutes traveling time),  1/2 the colony had perished by suffication. I
found the queen but she was too far gone so I combined the remaining bees
with a new colony I had collected a week before.
 
My question is:
 
1)What methods are used to transport a swarm back to the apiary?
2)Would a burlap sack work better? Cardboard Box?
 
I am interested in experiences from members of this list.
 
Paul Cronshaw DC
Hobby Beekeeper
Santa Barbara,  CA
 
A cardboard box wrapped in an old bed sheet, (on which I place the box +
swarm while the stragglers join the main crowd).
 
Plastic bins or bags are always bad for swarms. No air, no heat escape,and
condensation of moisture inside. Also, plastic always  carries static
charges which make bees very upset.
 
Glyn Davies, Ashburton, Devon. UK