I had a swarm a couple of weeks ago in the wretched privet hedge thicket. The situation was where I had to use the pole bucket at an angle to bump them into it. I also had not added the 10' conduit to the original pole so I was using a six foot stepladder. It was a nice little swarm amongst the privet branches...
I prepped the area by getting on the ladder and lopping off some of the branches that were giving me problems with the pole...up and down, up and down the ladder I went. On one occasion I heard a distinct ripping sound but kept on going trying to clear some limbs out of the way. Finally I managed to get the bees down and into the hive. I did the usual thing of standing there with legs spread, hands on knees peering down into the hive trying to spot the her majesty the queen. Eventually I put the inner cover on and continued to bump small knots of bees into the bucket and dump out n front of the hive. It was a fair size swarm...
Later that night I was at a meeting when I realized something...it was then that my life flashed before my eyes!!!! It could have been bad....very bad!!!!! Imagine the misery that could've taken place...bees love to seek out dark holes and crevices and I was standing over this open hive of bees with hundreds if not thousands flying around me!!!!! It's amazing that I had no problems...
A four inch rip....thank You, Lord, for lookng out for me!!!!!!
Ed
