I caught my first-ever swarm today. I looked outside around 12:15 p.m. and there was a cloud of bees in a frenzy. I suited up and grabbed a 10 frame box and bottom board, 3 frames of comb, a sheet, and a 6-foot step ladder. I also found an empty 5-gallon bucket and my pole saw. I removed the saw end and attached the bucket.
By this time they had pretty well gathered into a cluster. Luckily they were only around 8 feet off the ground in the crabapple tree. I laid out the sheet and placed the box on top. Then the fun began as I climbed the ladder, tried to knock as many bees as possible into the bucket, scurried down the ladder, dumped bees into the hive and placed the lid on top. After doing that six times I took a break and looked at the front of the hive. I could see fanning bees so I assumed I had captured the queen and she was in the box.
The girls fan at the front of the hive to let their sisters know the queen is safe and they can all pile into their new home. They all soon crawled into the hive.
I left them until later that evening, then Frau Imkerin and I moved the hive down to the apiary they had swarmed from, about 6 feet away from the original hive. I added a frame of honey and some empty foundation to give them something to do. I also laid a leafy branch over the front of the hive, the theory being when they come out tomorrow they will need to re-orient to their new location and will return to their new home and not drift back to the original hive.