OK, today my 2 year old grandson and I were shoveling chips from a tree that had been removed and as I looked up from the wheelbarrow, I noticed a swarm on a tree branch between mine and my neighbor's yard. Dylan and I went inside and put on our veils. He stood far away at the wheelbarrow while I walked over to the swarm with a cardboard box.
Just as I was one step away from the tree, the branch broke and fell to the ground. Frustrated, I picked up the branch and put it in the box but several hours later, all the bees had left the box and were on the ground or on cardboard leading to the box. I assume the queen was still on the ground.
I put both pieces of cardboard that I had set up to be a ramp into the cardboard box inside the box (with most of the bees, but a huge clump remained tangled in the monkey grass beside the box.
Clearly the queen is on the ground.
There's no way tonight to get these bees. If they are all on the ground in the morning, what should I do?
Thoughts:
Spray them with sugar syrup and slide a piece of cardboard under them (easier said than done in the tangle of monkey grass and a tiny evergreen tree.)
Throw my hands up and hope they find a good home without my help (I don't have anything but a nuc to put them in or several shallow supers covered with plywood as a top.)
What are your thoughts?
Linda T swarm challenged in Atlanta