Thanks for the encouragement, friends. I collected a nice swarm of bees this morning...after they endured pummeling by hail and a beating by storms all night long. Rather than being angry, they were extremely docile. Wet clusters of them were in the grass when I arrived at 6:30AM, but most were still waiting quietly on a low branch for me. I put them in a bee-worn, dry box with some old comb...they began perking up on the ride home, and they were soon flying around in their new yard. I'm calling them the "Hailey" hive.
-Liz