Instructions
Examine the area that the bees have infested. If the bee's have just arrived, there will not be any kind of housing structure, like a comb. If the bee's have been there for a while, there will be a comb. If a comb has been formed, you are no longer dealing with a swarm, you are dealing with an established colony. This means that the bees will be aggressive. Call an experienced bee keeper to remove the bees for you.
Dress appropriately. The bees in southern California are often Africanized bees which can be more aggressive toward dark colors. Wear light colors with long sleeves and long pants. You may also want to invest in a white hat with a veil that covers the face and neck. To make your own, buy a basic white baseball cap and drape a piece of tulle over the top that hangs down over your shoulders.
Approach the swarm in the evening or early morning. Bees are less active at this time of day and are less likely to attack. The Africanized honey bees that are common in southern California react to both breathing and moving, so they most often attack the head and hands. Breath shallowly and approach slowly. Make every move slow, but deliberate.
Set a cardboard box that has a lid and hand holes -- like a copy paper box -- below the bee swarm on the ground. If the bees are on, or near the ground, just set the box on its side on the ground, so that the top opening of the box is pointed toward the swarm.
Shake the object that the bees are setting on. Shake it hard, downward to knock the bees into the box. It is essential and important that the queen be in the box.
Put a lid on the box closing the bees that you have captured into the container, when you are sure that the queen is in it. The rest of the bees will follow, walking or flying through the hand holds in the end of the box.
Move the bees to a prepared hive environment or call a bee keeper to take them away. They should be moved at least an hour after the queen bee is captured, but while it is still night.
How to Remove a Bee Swarm in Southern California
A bee swarm forms when a group of honey bees have multiple mature queens. One queen stays in the current colony home, and the other takes half of the worker bees and flies away to establish a new colony. Occasionally, a swarm of bees will settle in a location where they cannot remain, and they have to be removed; like between the walls of a building or on a tree in a front yard. Bee removal should be approached with care to avoid destruction of the bees and damage of the structure the swarm is inhabiting.