Salvaged a bungled tree swarm removal!
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I got a call about a swarm in a tree near my home that was about 15' high. I used a long pruner to trim some branches around the swarm and then used a long pool cleaner pole with a 5 gallon bucket tied to it to try to get the cluster. I was feeling good about it but misjudged the position of the bucket and managed to miss the majority of the bees, with most of them tumbling into bushes under the tree. I dumped the 10% that were in the bucket into a hive, then waited for them to reform on the branch. I then shook loose what bees I could and dumped them into the hive, and repeated this about 6 times. This managed to get a lot of bees into the hive, but they were buzzing angrily and not fanning the entrance so I was pretty sure I hadn't gotten the queen. Shoot. I started looking around in the bushes and noticed a small handful of bees clustered tightly around a leaf - there was the queen! I clipped the leaf off and put it at the entrance of the hive and watched her scurry inside. The bees immediately started to fan the entrance and I breathed a sigh of relief! A couple hours later it was dark and I picked up the hive full of bees.
