My collection process is pretty simple. I place a ladder under the tree and a 5-gallon bucket on top of the ladder. Note the sieve on the ground. It is used to cap the bucket while I move the captured bees to their new home.

Here is a closeup of the bucket and the swarm. I have done this a couple times, so I know I won’t get all the bees in the first attempt. My goal is to get the largest part of the mass in the bucket, as that is probably where the queen is.

All the bees that don’t go into the bucket will make their way back to the branch by the time I come back. for the second and/or third collection.

Shown here is the AZ hive I will be placing the bees in. I have a hive table with some carboard cutout to help contain the bees when I shake them onto the table.

The hive is filled with frames with wax foundation. Note how I have left the four center frames out of the hive. This is to make getting the bees into the hive as easy as possible. Once the collection is complete, I will smoke the bees to help clear the area and add the remaining frames.

I remove the lid (sieve) from the bucket and shake it (the lid) into the hive.

I then shake the bucket of bees into the hive.

It normally takes one or two shakes to get them all.

I cover the cardboard with a piece of wood to keep the bees from flying all over my beehouse.

Here I close off the area even more with some corrugated plastic scraps.

I then shut all the lights off in the beehouse and proceed to collect the next batch that have returned to the tree.

I proceed to the tree and shake the second batch into the bucket. These are shaken onto a platform I have in front of the hive.

If the bees near the entrance march inside, I am pretty sure the queen is in the hive area. If some of them start to fan outside the entrance, that is an even better sign.

I collect another batch of bees and dump them at the entrance. If another large cluster does not form on the tree, then I stop collecting.

At this point, I’m just waiting for the bees to march into the hive.

Note all the bees at the top of the entrance fanning. This is a very good sign.

The last of the bees march in.

While the other AZ hives in my beehouse got a little agitated. Everything seems to be returning to normal. There are a lot of stragglers that flew when they were dumped.

The stragglers eventually make their way to their new home.

The lips on my hive tables fit inside the actual hive.

I use a smoker and bee brush to remove any bees from the cardboard and start tilting the hive table up.

Here is the hive table fully retracted. There is room for the bees to squeeze back in if they are so inclined, but I also have vents in the beehouse for their escape.

I again, turn the lights off in the beehouse and let them settle for another couple hours.

I smoke the bees to remove any bees still on the hive table, then remove it and add my rear screens on the hive.

The last step will be to add foam to this hive.

The bees have settled into their new home and have started to build comb.

The foragers are bringing resources into the hive and some of the bees have even been promoted to foragers and were doing orientation flights today.

The Monkey 4 hive is born.