[bob128]

I caught a large swarm that I couldn't get to for several days. When I picked it up at dark tonight I was surprised at the weight. It is much heavier than one I caught and let sit at hive site for 6 days. When I hived the 1st swarm the bees had drawn comb below the frames to base of the trap resulting in double long combs. This was successfully rehived (double deep) yesterday. I moved the new swarm 150 yds. to my hive site and put leaves etc. in front to get them to reorient. I'm sure this trap will be filled with comb and honey and am concerned they will be out of room. Usually I let them remain in trap in the new location for a number of days before putting them in a hive. Due to the congestion I am planning to hive them tomorrow (now today). Any idea if this will work or is sure to fail? The other swarm, also large, seemed to reorient for a long time after being put in new hive and I hope these will also.
Additionally is it worth trying to put broken comb with honey in the frames with rubber bands or is it too heavy?

 

[amk]

I always put a queen excluder on the bottom board now it locks the queen in. As for the comb new drawn comb is very fragile I’d imagine it would be next to impossible to frame up. Especially if your in a warm part of the world.

 

[Eikel]

Honey can be debatable if it's worth the effort but it also depends on where you're at in the flow too. If you do decide to put it in frames; rubber bands over the frames for vertical alignment in the frame and heavy twine or painters tape works well to hold it near the top bar.

 

[bob128]

Update. I switched bees to permanent hive this morning. I lucked out with the honey being in the frames and not below. One frame was drawn all the way to the bottom of the trap but was easily rubber banded into an empty frame in an almost perfect vertical dimension. I was able to spot the queen on a frame and installed it in the new hive. I left a wire refrigerator shelf in front of hive that I used as a reorientation trigger. Checked back at original trap site and noticed a relatively few stragglers and plan to put a box there before dark and try and reunite. I will post any events of interest that may still happen.