I have been in Maine, but I have not been without bees.
My buddies bees decided to swarm while we were having a rum and coke and walking through his bee yard. He panicked... I laughed at him. He got a little pouty. I convinced him to stand there in the middle of the swarm with me. Wide eyed and a little pale, he stood looking around and said..... wow!
Yep, a new initiate to the wonder of a bee swarm!
Now, to the hard part.... They clustered in a tree about 10 feet up. He had his son gather ladder, box, bucket, etc... Once they were well settled and I had set up the new hive to accept them, I laughed at the bee suit offered and climbed the ladder, and shook them into the bucket.
I had abpout 10 stings by the time I was on the ground. I dumped them in the hive, put the lid on, and walked away, having about 40 stings by then.... walked into the cornfield about 40 yards away, and I know I took another 20 or so stings getting there.
I have NEVER seen such aggressive bees while swarming...
He said they stayed in the box and they were nice as pie to work with... While I am glad they stayed and all the stings were worth it, I have to wonder WHY they were so angry?
Scraped all the stingers out.. two hours later I threw up, Twice... then I was fine, and went back to Rum and Coke....
Yeah, he laughed so hard he cried. My wife laughed, HIS wife laughed, the other spectators laughed... they all had a great time.. Sometimes entertaining everyone is painful! But, that IS the story of my life!