Greg (above) in Atwater Village called the Bee Rescue Hotline yesterday to say that he had a swarm in front of his house. This is right around the corner from me, and one of the two recent swarms that came into our yard took off, so I picked up the empty nuc box and headed over.
This swarm couldn't have been easier to reach. It was in a small shrub, about one foot above the ground and right next to the sidewalk.
I sprayed the cluster with some sugar water and eased the nuc box under it. The bees started marching down to check out the frames right away.
Since I didn't want to wait around for an hour or so, I followed Kirk's advice and gently brushed the whole cluster into the box with my hands. I put the box top on, gave the stragglers a few minutes to find their way in through the open hole at the end, and headed out with a new bunch of bees.
Here's a video clip showing a couple steps of the process.
