In the last week I have been called to collect a swarm from the same tree on the same branch 7 days in a row. On the first call I collected (and combined) 2 bivouacs hanging within a a little more than a bee space between one another and assumed it was 2 separate swarms (picture attached). They went into my swarm box together and were big enough to fill a single deep 10-frame Langstroth box. As these first bees were entering the box, a second swarm flew in and formed a smaller, but still good sized, bivouac. It was captured and taken away. On each of the subsequent 5 days smaller and smaller queenless bivouacs formed in, and were captured on, the same tree on the same branch. Yesterday, a queenless bivouac formed in the same tree on the same branch, but rather than allowing capture like the previous 5, it would disband and fly up when disturbed and then reform. I tried multiple time to collect them into my swarm box to no avail. I finally cut the branch, took it away and watched the bivouac form on a neighboring branch. Much to my surprise, the homeowner reports another softball-sized bivouac of honey bees this morning (picture attached). We have a commercial beekeeper who brings ~2000 colonies into our valley every spring after almond and Hood River apple & cherry pollination contracts. I am not aware of any backyard beekeepers anywhere near this tree, which is in the middle of the town of Wallowa, so I am presuming these bees are coming from pallets of commercial bees dropped somewhere in the vicinity surrounding the town (this commercial beekeeper tends to drop 5 pallets containing 4 hives each) or possibly from one or more feral colonies. The homeowner where this swarm tree is located is a grade-school teacher with a keen interested in saving bees, 2 bee curious school-aged children, and he also happens to have a severe allergy to honey bee stings. He is asking if this is normal behavior for honey bee swarms, could it be absconding, and are there are any recommendations you might have to encourage them to stop. We understand the concepts of primary and after-swarms, but this seems like something beyond typical behavior. Do you have thoughts about this behavior and how to encourage the bees to stop? I will also contact the commercial beekeeper (Jordan Dimock) to see if he has ideas. Thank you for taking the time to weigh in on this impressive phenomenon.