Swarm 50' in tree

[LandellApiaries]

I located a swarm about 50' up in a tree while putting my mower back in my shed. It is directly behind my bee yard, but I am not sure if it came from my hive or not. I did not see any swarm cells at all. The tree is kind of wimpy too. Any idea of how to get it? I have a few extra hives set up in my yard. Any way of baiting them into my hives?

[alpha6]

Bucket truck is the only way I would go after a swarm 50 feet up. No sense killing yourself over a handful of bees. You could try a bait hive in a tree that is located close to them at about 15 ft off the ground. Bait it with drawn combs and lemongrass oil. Can't hurt but hurry...those scout bees are looking for a new home as we speak.

[topdog17]

lemongrass oil in a hive with some frames. use a deep and leave a few frames out to give them the idea there is more space available.

[jrbbees]

30 years ago I has a massive swarm like this. It was huge but about 50 feet up on a 1" pine branch. The man who called me took a 410 shotgun and in 5 shots cut the branch in half and they fell to the ground. They drew out a 10 frame deep in 2 days. I have never seen shooting like that since.

[Ravenseye]

I had one like that last year. Backed my truck under it, put an eight foot ladder on the bed of the truck, stood on top of the ladder with ten foot length of 3/4" EMT and I was still only about 2/3 of the way there. Put the ladder back on the ground and put a nuc on top. Inside the nuc, I put a swarm lure. 20 minutes later I had a cloud of bees in the air and a bunch on the nuc. Came back at 9:30 PM that night and took them all home. Here's a pic:
IMG00028-20100611-1628.jpg

[Michael Bush]

It's good to have queens in alcohol or Bee Boost from Mann Lake and some lemongrass essential oil handy for such situations. Take a q-tip and dip one end in the "queen juice" (or use 1/4 of the Bee Boost strip) and the other in the lemongrass oil and put it in an empty hive at the base of the tree. More than half the time they will move in. And you don't have to fall off a 50 foot ladder...

[sqkcrk]

Get it? Forget it. Them's GOD's bees.

Occum's Razor says they came from your hive(s). The simplest explanation is usually the case.

[LandellApiaries]

I went to the store to get some lemongrass oil, but unfortunately when I got back they were gone. I did a pretty good inspection in the hive today and found 3 swarm cells on one of the frames. 2 were open and one was closed. Can I make a split out of the swarm cells?

[Mike Tuggle]

You may need the one closed swarm cell -- assuming that your old queen is 'off to the races' with your other bees. Did you see a queen in your inspection?

[sqkcrk]

I told you those were GOD's bees.

I hope you can keep the rest of your bees. You could make up some nucs, but they might still swarm. Once they get it in their mind, there is no stopping them.

[Michael Bush]

Just make sure every colony you're trying to make has a capped queen cell.