Hiving yesterdays swarm

The bees were still flying quite late yesterday evening so we decided to leave them until this morning. A board is put in front of the prepared hive and the sheet covering the open end of the skep spread out onto it. A sharp whack on the bottom of the skep plops the bees onto the board. A few brave souls venture into the hive to suss it out and then fan their scent glands at the entrance of the hive to let the others know which way to go. We love watching them crawl up the board into their new home which generally takes about 20 minutes.