Late swarm

Got a call yesterday from an fellow beekeepers wife. They had a swarm on their fence and they didn't want it. He's been threatening for years to "get out of the business". I grabbed an empty box and went to get them on my lunch break. They were on a low weed. The old beekeeper gave me his old swarm catching box to use. It was a lightweight box with 1 frame in it and screened windows on all 4 sides. I was able to cut the weed at the base and put it right in the box. I placed the lid on leaving it cracked open on the one side. The rest of the bees were on the ground and in the short weeds. They quickly started marching up the side of the box. I thought that by the time I got off work, they would all be inside the box. They weren't. Most were but there were many that were still clustered on the outside of the box on one of the screened windows. I dumped them all out of and off of the swarm catching box directly into my langstroth. Came back in a couple hours and they were all neatly inside.

I took them home to combine them with another weaker hive. The huge swarm I had caught a few months ago absconded after a few weeks and left a small number of bees (and some Ginormous combs). I placed the box containing the swarm on top of the other hive with some newspapers between.

I think I also figured out why the other colony absconded. I went out to check on these bees last night after dark. There were ants all over the hive. Huge ants. They were gone this morning when I looked. They must just come out at night. I'll have to remedy that and soon. It's curious that they were not on my other two hives (top bars) just a few feet away.

I got some pics and video of the swarm that I should be able to post later.

Also - I took 2 stings for this one.