OK, so we have done the cone thing (from the thread below) and taken away most of the bees. Unfortunately, we thought we had all of them and then the swarm turned out to be larger than we thought.
At this point, there is a broodnest about 12 feet down in the chimney and utterly inaccessible to us because of a bend and a narrow opening. They have few or no foragers and will starve in the next few months as there is already little forage left. It is a sad thought, but nature will take its course. (And, unfortunately, we did not get the queen who must be a real beauty to have produced this swarm and subsequent strong colony. Crying shame.)
I was thinking that I'd bring a nuc over and let them rob the remaining hive in the chimney, mainly so that the poor homeowners can get back to life as normal (they've been living with the bees for 6 weeks). However, I am told that bees won't normally enter a space like a chimney, unless they are scouts for a swarm. Not even to rob a really weak hive.
Any thoughts on this? Is it worth bring my bees over to rob the chimney or is it best to just let the colony in the chimney die out on its own (and then let the chimney sweep do his thing)?