I got a call on a swarm tonight that sounded very promising. I got there right before dark and there was about 50 bees clustered on a balcony. The lady said it started with 6 or seven and grew for two hours then stopped. Could the bees be scouts? If so why didn't they return to the home hive? I left a swarm trap with a pheromone lure a few inches from the cluster? Any ideas? Also she said this house has had multiple colonies roved in the past so they might be smelling comb that was lest behind. Thanks for the replies.
There is a good chance this is a site the bees were seriously looking at and because of darkness they decided to wait until morning to return. It is not uncommon for bees to spend the night out in the field due to darkness. Only a problem if the temps drop low enough to kill them.
Jim