Removing bees, they absconded into tree

[omnimirage]

I was removing a feral beehive recently. It's been there only for a few months, but has became rather large during that time. I cut out all the comb, and put the brood in my super attached to rubber bands. I didn't give it enough time, I'm coming to realise that with bee removal jobs, I need to complete it before night, as otherwise the bees aren't that mobile and instead of walking into the super like I want them to do, they just cluster up wherever they land. I even experimented with putting probably too much lemon grass oil, they responded to it but didn't move into the hive like I wanted.

So I left, and returned the following evening. There was a fair amount of activity happening in the super, decent amount of bees in it. However, the majority of the hive ended up flying and clustering in a tree just 15 or so meters away. Could it be possible that there was two queens, that one queen stayed with the super and the other flew into the tree?

I'm not sure why they decided to swarm. The super may not have been quite big enough for them but they still would have had a fair amount of space available. Is lemongrass oil not that effective in enticing swarms to move into a super? Is them flying off into the tree, an indication that they may have genetics that induces them to abscond and not stick in a hive?

[BeeMaster2]

A tiny amount of LGO helps orient the bees. Too much and they will move back out. It's like trying to date someone with way too much perfume.
Jim

[little john]

I agree with Jim - even one drop is a lot.  If you can smell the oil, then it will be overpowering the bees.  Their sense of smell is far more sensitive than any dog's - and dogs are a thousand times better at detecting smells than us humans.

You may find a frame of open brood will be more 'magnetic' in capturing an existing swarm than LGO.
LJ

[omnimirage]

Gah I probably put in like 50 drops of LQO. Silly me, I hope they don't end up swarming out of it again because of so.

[iddee]

I would change boxes to get rid of the LGO smell as much as possible. Then try to get the swarm out of the tree and into the hive. The bees in the hive likely stayed with the brood, and the bees in the tree went with the queen. Get them back together as soon as you can.

[BeeMaster2]

When I want to add LGO to a swarm trap while trying to get the bees in it I just wipe my finger or a q tip around the top of a closed bottle of LGO to get a kettle bit of scent and then I wipe it around the entrance. You can hardly smell it but the bees can.
Jim

[omnimirage]

The bees in the tree have already been merged in the LGO hive and were placed at an apiary site a few days ago. I'm not sure how they're doing, hopefully they stayed with the super. I need to check up on them shortly anyway because I'm not certain whether they have a queen or not.