I am re-thinking bait hives. I have stacks of supers with stinky old comb to by cycled out. Some supers have rotted corners that provide an opening, and the tops are covered by a ratty old outer covers. I saw scouting activity this afternoon, and left with Wally to do some stuff. About 15 minutes after we left, my neighbor, David, called to tell me there was a swarm over my bees. I was confident mine were not swarming and asked him to check the stack. He saw a large group gathered at the open corner. As of now, they are still there.
Before I got home, I got a call about a swarm in Summerfield. It would be generous to call it a 1 lb swarm. They were clustered about 3 feet up on a plum tree branch. I shook them into my swarm bucket. It looked like some were scouting the fascia board of the house, but no steady in and out pattern. They had not mentioned this, so I did not have any Bee Quick with me. They had some bitter almond extract, so I gave that a try. It is not nearly as effective as Bee Quick. I am hoping I have the queen and that the bees at the house were just very interested scouts. It was too close to dark to examine what I got. If they call me in the morning, I am willing to go out and do either a preemptive or discouragement spray, but if activity is more purposeful and bees have moved in, a cut out may be needed. Hope not.