Last year these people had a booming hive in their wall, I was supposed to remove it but I never heard back from them until about 3 weeks ago.
I went by and there was no activity then, so I told them to go ahead and seal every opening except the weep holes.
Yesterday they called and scouts were really checking the area out, so I left a swarm trap and a deep with drawn comb. Of course its difficult for the swarm trap and the deep to compete with a wall full of old comb and honey but hey it was worth a try.
This morning I got the call, a ball of bees on the window and bees entering the wall. I may have got the queen in the box on the first swoop but I knew if I did she was most likely a virgin cause they just weren't cooperating.
I bee quicked the wall from the interior and exterior as well as the soffit and this confused the bees thoroughly as there were bees in the deep and most in the swarm trap, but it was a chaotic scene to say the least.
Eventually most of the bees wound up on the trap and after looking and shaking and looking and shaking, I finally found her in the trap, caged her, then set them up in a deep and a medium with feed.
Two years in a row, swarms on Mother's day!
Pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/pyxicephalus/May102009#...JP