How would you deal with this swarm?

[Eyeman]

It's in a public car park and it's around 1pm and bees are flying.
The area has been secured and Joe public has been temporarily removed.
Car park would like to re-open the area ASAP!
Would you smoke them into a 'skep': brush/scrape them off; put a cover over them; or something else?
Would you leave your 'swarm' box till evening to collect all the flyers?

 

[Finman]

.
When you get swarm into box, they are there. There will be much flyers after that.

Put a comb filled box over the swarm and they move in. Put there a frame wich has some open brood. Brood makes bees to move quicker and lead the queen there.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

I'm confused by the early-morning post of "it's 1pm" but just in case it's not a waste of time I'd get them good and damp then sweep into a nuc box drop in a frame or two then put it with the entrance facing out behind that steel grill I can see at the next level up and wait for the flyers to pick up the Nasonov scent. Smoke the blazes out of the yellow post to kill the Q scent. Might not all clear the area for a while though.

 

[Plenty of honey]

whenever i collect a swarm, i tend to brush or shake in the majority in and then the rest follow. Some initial flying, then if no fanning try again. No matter what you do, unless you vacuum them straight up, which in this case may be the best option for speed, then otherwise you will get lots of bees temporarily flying.
The pillar would work really with my swarm trapping box on top too. Always a million ways to collect a swarm.

Thats two hours of the day gone!!!

 

[B+.]

It's in a public car park and it's around 1pm and bees are flying.
The area has been secured and Joe public has been temporarily removed.
Car park would like to re-open the area ASAP!
Would you smoke them into a 'skep': brush/scrape them off; put a cover over them; or something else?
Would you leave your 'swarm' box till evening to collect all the flyers?

Never "smoke" a swarm. Use tepid water in a plant sprayer instead. Otherwise they'll all end up in the air or moving to another site.
If you have a box, place it ontop of the swarm. This will give them shade and they will move up into it. Better yet, if you have a frame, or two, of old comb, this will encourage them into the box quicker.
There will always be stragglers/scouts with a swarm, so, I would leave the box in place for as long as possible. Ideally, until dusk, but, that's not always possible.

 

[Finman]

Water spray onto a swarm is good. It cools down its sudden escape.

 

[Finman]

It's in a public car park ...

Would you leave your 'swarm' box till evening to collect all the flyers?
View attachment 15619

Surely not. Bees are not many flyers outside the swarm.
.

 

[beeno]

Win some lose some. Have had two instances of collecting from 'public' places. One at a public boys school where I certainly could not have left the box unattended. However, it was agreed that stragglers, not many at all could be left behind, becuase of the 'out of way' location of the small swarm. The other one was in a tree in a car park, where again I could not have left the box unattended. It was a long day. If there is room for the box to sit level with the post I would have left them to walk in. Perhaps scooping some into box initially if need be. Certainly look out for the queen to cage her.

 

[Karsal]

It's in a public car park and it's around 1pm and bees are flying.
The area has been secured and Joe public has been temporarily removed.
Car park would like to re-open the area ASAP!
Would you smoke them into a 'skep': brush/scrape them off; put a cover over them; or something else?
Would you leave your 'swarm' box till evening to collect all the flyers?
View attachment 15619

Spray them with water first so they huddle closer together.
I then make a cardboard scoop like a large dustpan and scrape them off in an upward movement on one side then slowly tip them into a Paynes Poly nucleus. Do that for the other side and if you have an opportunity place the nucleus nearby to catch the returning scouts.

 

[user 6228]

cardboard box make 1" x 2" hole in bottom in one corner. Place on box column overhanging with the hole just exposed, with either some swarm lurm or old comb in the box

 

[Eyeman]

Will post my success/failure later this evening when I can access my pics.

 

[BMH]

Interested to hear how it goes.

 

[MartinL]

. . . . then slowly tip them into a Paynes Poly nucleus. .

Don't see the need for any branded product when it's most likely you won't have any kit with you at that time?

There's bound to be a shop /supermarket close by with copious quantities of cardboard boxes perfectly sizes for the job.
Then label "DANGER KILLER BEES" & return later to collect, (maybe with an invoice for the carpark owner).
Could be worth 12 months free parking?

 

[REDWOOD]

Place a nuc on top of the post, open the lid and remove most of the frame, scoop the bees with your two hands and empty them into the nuc, replace the frames gently not to crush any bees, place the lid or crown board on leaving a small gap, return at dusk to seal them up

 

[Finman]

After all these preparations the swarm is gone.

 

[enrico]

After all these preparations the swarm is gone.

 

[Eyeman]

Removed several swarms recently from flat surfaces- walls/bollards
My technique is to spray the bees with water then scrape them off the surface either using my bucket or in this case using a dustpan.
They went in the bucket without any protest after 3 vertical scrapes.

Like other have said- best to avoid smoke in this situation.
I left the bucket next to the bollard and after 30 min nearly all were in the bucket so I look them away.

 

[mickbees23]

I hope you charged the parking company a suitable fee, imagine how much money they were losing, they are very happy to charge for their services