>
> Is a shop-vac a solution to this extraction?  Can bees survive that sudden
> stop at the end of the shop-vac ride?
>
> Are there other non-invasive ways of gathering this colony successfully?
>
I am not sure your method would work but thinking out loud a bit you can use a
"bee vac" to reduce the number of lose bees and then transfer the brood
comb to a standard hive body. Leave the hive body near the original comb in
the atic for a day or two and then move them one night.

For a bee vac there are may plans around. I made one using a small shop vac
and a 5 gallon pail. The pail had a plastic "pull out" spout with cap. The
shop vac had a 1 1/2" hose that fit pretty snug inside the spout. I added
some duct tape around the joint to seal it and on the inside of the lid I
taped some window screen to keep the bees out.

I then took a larger diameter hose (2 1/2") and cut a hole in the lid the size of the
larger hose. This reduces the air speed being pulled into the pail. The larger
hose goes into its hole and more duct tape on the inside of the lid holds it into
place.

I have pulled down a number of swarms with this rig. The small shop vac is a
hand held portable that I got at one of the larger hardware chains.


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