I’m wondering if there’s a wild colony somewhere around here, as this group had settled well away from my own hives. Unfortunately it was also about ten metres up in a sycamore tree so there was no way I could reach it.
I did think about chainsawing through most of the branch and then allowing it to fall gently to the ground using a rope to control it, but I couldn’t be sure it wouldn’t fall on a barn roof, so I had to let them go.