Looks what I found while walking the dogs.

[HK3-]

Originally Posted by SvilleKid

The cool thing about the "swarm" is that you can walk right up to it with an empty super (those wooden boxes used in bee-keeping), gently rake the swarm around until you can spot the queen, easily brush her into the super, and the rest of the bees will follow her in. Put the lid on the super, and you have the start of a colony.

Hard to tell without a reference, but they look big enough to be Italian bees. If they were wild bees, probably wouldn't be able to get close enough for those photos. Italian bees tend to be very docile, even when in a swarm. Mainly, they are looking for a home. I've helped capture half a dozen swarms in the past, all but one without the need of protection other than a bee hood. The one exception was a wild bee swarm. They tend to be a little more excitable.

I would imagine that somewhere within a mile or so away, someone is missing a colony out of their hive! As a rule, you would keep a "queen excluder" between the layer of supers with the queen and the super with the exit slot. This keeps the queen inside the hive, and the colony around to serve her.

Maybe a good opportunity for you to take up a new hobby??

Sounds like fun. I have messed around with some bees in the past but it was all just helping out for me. An old friend of mine from back home had a nice little colony. I remember having to go to the USPS to pickup a large humming box. I had no idea you could order bees online and have them sent to you. (I would imagine a mean joke could be played somewhere with these capabilities.) When it arrived the queen was inside a little wooden box with two or three drones to keep her safe, etc. Looks like it would be a fun hobby.