Is this Scout bees?

[jmblakeney]

I have had these swarm traps out for about a month now.  It has a frame of brood comb in it.  It had some honey along the top when I put it in but that has been robbed out.  There has alway been slow activity around these traps but this was different.  More bees than normal and frantic zigzag flying behaviour.  Any thoughts?

Is it Scout Bees?

[Michael Bush]

There are always scouts out looking for water, propolis, nectar, hives to rob out etc.  If a lot of them show up at the same time at your bait hive they may be looking for a home and are getting ready to take a vote.  Honey is of no use in a bait hive, in fact it may encourage things to move in that shouldn't...

[CapnChkn]

Well, four days late...

How close to your other hives is a factor as well.  I had a post here where the swarm trap I put up just to watch for scouts kept having a LOT of activity.  They were coming and going, I was certain I had a swarm set up house, and when I opened it up there were three lonely bees in it.  It was 50 ft from my hive boxes.

I opened to refresh the LGO bait in one trap 2 days ago.  I watched for 3-4 minutes and saw nothing.  I climbed the tree, opened the lid, and one surprised bee flew out and a paper wasp that had started her nest hanging on the brood comb.