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The bad news is that one of my hives swarmed and I won't have honey this year. The good news is that I caught them. Here's what I did.
I found this method on THIS video. It's not in English, but the principle is simple. I haven't followed exactly because I didn't have the contraption built. I just used what I had.
This method is typically used when you can't reach to shake them, but I wanted to test it out. He're what you do.
1. Set a piece of cloth (used hive cloth) right above the cluster, barely touching the bees.
2. Once they migrate to the cloth, place them on top of hive body with open brood bellow.
What I learned is that your cloth can't be much longer than your contraption or hive body, otherwise it's difficult to get them into the hive body without making some uncomfortable. Also, the cloth must be located in the center of the contraption, otherwise you will get some on the side of the hive body like in the 4th picture. I just had to go later and sweep them inside.
Anyone else used this method before?
I found this method on THIS video. It's not in English, but the principle is simple. I haven't followed exactly because I didn't have the contraption built. I just used what I had.
This method is typically used when you can't reach to shake them, but I wanted to test it out. He're what you do.
1. Set a piece of cloth (used hive cloth) right above the cluster, barely touching the bees.
2. Once they migrate to the cloth, place them on top of hive body with open brood bellow.





What I learned is that your cloth can't be much longer than your contraption or hive body, otherwise it's difficult to get them into the hive body without making some uncomfortable. Also, the cloth must be located in the center of the contraption, otherwise you will get some on the side of the hive body like in the 4th picture. I just had to go later and sweep them inside.
Anyone else used this method before?