Regarding prayers and charms against a swarm – perhaps those are for people who aren’t beekeepers and don’t want bees in their chimney/roof?
Regarding swarming. The sources for my article are as follows:
Alston, F, Skeps, Their History, Making And Use. 1987. Northern Bee Books. Hebden Bridge.
Jones, S., Skeps, tools and accessories. 2007. IBRA. Cardiff
Keys, J., A Treatise on the Breeding and Management of Bees. 1814. London
I think they are all out of print now – the last one certainly is.
There is the old saying: – a swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay, a swarm in June – a silver spoon and a swarm in July ain’t worth a fly – in other words for a skep beekeeper the earlier the swarm, the bigger the honey crop (probably).
As a beekeeper you will know that nothing encourages swarming like congestion – hence the skep size thing to bring it on early. Keys also mentions feeding the bees in the spring to push things along.
Regarding getting the honey. They didn’t used to drown the bees – they would either ‘drive’ them up into a fresh skep by drumming or stupefy them with the fumes from smouldering pieces of dried puffballs. According to Keys, the bees would recover from stupefaction after 10 minutes or so and go about their business. He also says this is not the case with driving – after this the bees are bad tempered for 3-4 days.
A Youtube search for “heathland beekeeping Douglas Zeringue” will find a series of very informative videos of skep beekeeping in Germany including swarm catching and harvesting the honey.