Good evening and thanks for the additional information and suggestions for how to proceed.  That's exactly what I was hoping for.  I knew that all the elapsed time, and the time of year, changed the math on how to proceed.  I'll keep you posted on what happens with this hive.  Thanks again.

Hi Naomi, thanks for your reply.  A few clarifications.  We know it was a swarm because the homeowners saw it sit on the brick wall and then watched as it started filtering into the top of the wall, on May 29th of this year.  I didn't find out about it until late June.  I set up the trap-out on June 27th and I've been working with various trap-out designs ever since.

My first box design had the super snugged up against both the brick wall and the overhang of the structure.  I abandoned that design because I couldn't see into the hive body very well to check on progress, even though I'd built full-width observation windows on the front/back of the hive box.  The bees also found all sorts of ways out of that box because I had a hard time sealing it up against the uneven surface of the overhang.  That's when I went with tubing from the entrance down to the vestibule, and again from the vestibule into the hive body.  Now I can open the hive and check frames whenever I choose to.  I've included several pictures to show those two designs.  My latest improvement was to increase the diameter of the tube running from the house nest to the vestibule, and improve the vestibule design.  I don't happen to have a picture of those improvements yet but I'll get some on my next visit.

On my latest visit yesterday, I finally saw some housekeeping activity in my trap hive.  Just to verify that it wasn't lingering robbers, I actually disconnected that tubing and watched as bees calmly walked down the tube from the in-house hive to my hive box.  So I reconnected the tubing, refilled feeders, closed everything up, and I'll recheck in a few days.  Maybe after all the obstacles we've had this year, and finally blocking off all the other entrances, they're starting to move into the hive box.  I'm going to leave it set up for a least another few weeks to see how this plays out.

That being said, I'm still curious whether leaving the hive up all winter long is a good idea, or a waste of time.  I've attached a few pictures of the first and second setups.

Greetings everyone.  I'm actually a bit north of most of you, up in western Washington just north of Seattle.  I joined COBA specifically because I've been working with a Price-style trapout this year, and I figured at least some of you would have experience with that.  I've had some issues and now I'm asking for input on options.

Back story: I'm on the swarm response list for my county, and I answered a swarm report at a residence in late June of this year.  A honeybee swarm had found a gap in a home's brick wall, and taken up residence behind it.  The homeowners are bee fans, but the new hive location was immediately next to their front door.  They wanted to know if the swarm could be relocated. They definitely did not want to do a cut-out.  So I set up a Price-style trap-out to try to lure the hive out of the wall. 

Long story short, I've had a list of issues with this trap-out.  First and foremost, each time I thought I'd found and closed all possible entrances to the hive, the bees found yet more gaps in the siding, the wall, the overhang above the wall, etc etc.  It was a never-ending cycle of closing up new entrances, and trying to lure them into the hive.  Here we are in late Sept, and I think I have finally closed off all those other entrances.  But my next issue has been repeated instances with robbing, starting in August.  I'm using internal feeders and reduced the entrance down to a single bee width.  I've even closed up the hive for a few days at a time to try to break the cycle.  But there's a massive feral hive not far away that keeps hammering on this hive.  I think those bees recognize my truck and materialize out of nowhere whenever I drive over to refill the feeders.  To be honest, I don't blame my target hive for not moving down into the trap hive.  I've tried combs of sealed honey, drawn comb, brood comb, and the bees I'm trying to trap are having none of it.

So now here we are in late Sept, and I'm debating how much further into the year I should pursue this.  The homeowners are still interested in the hive and want to see it "go to a good home", but we agree that it's a poor idea to try to lure the bees down in winter.  And they don't want to get into hard core masonry work on that wall to get the bees behind it.  The wall is against the bedroom of the family's resident elderly grandmother and they don't want to bother her either with all sorts of cut-outs and renovation work.  So we're thinking to wrap up our trap-out efforts for this year and maybe try again next spring.

I'd love to know from anyone who has experience with this approach, what your recommendations might be.  Do I pack up all my stuff, re-open their original entrance, and leave them alone until April?  Do I leave my box up and continue to try to feed them?  Something else?  I don't want to give up on this hive but I definitely need a new plan.  Thanks all.