We came across a small feral swarm this weekend. At first we weren’t sure if maybe the bees came from one of our hives, so we did some checking. All hives have a queen? Yes. Any swarming queen cells? No. Are we in swarming season? No.
After we determined that all of our hives looked okay, we noticed something else. There was a battle going on with 2 of our hives. Bees were fighting and dropping to the ground. We could only theorize that a feral swarm decided to setup shop nearby, possibly attracted by the smell of our hives, and then they tried to invade our hives. They could have been looking for shelter or to steal honey.
We tried to catch the swarm, but they kept moving around. They would gather on our fence and then move up into the tree, then back to the fence and back to the tree.
The swarm when we first saw them on our fence and tried to catch them.
This is when they decided to go up in the tree and we tried unsuccessfully to catch them again.
This video is when the bees left the fence and flew up into the tree.
Beelievable 
Wow! Sounds dangerous. Where did they come from and what do you hope to do once you catch them??
Swarms usually are not dangerous as long as they are not africanized. There are natural beehives in the wild and we think this is where these bees came from. This swarm was very small and in the end some died in the battle trying to enter our hives and the rest flew away. In general if we are able to catch a swarm, it needs to be a good size and have a queen with them. Once you catch them you can start a new hive.