A good bee keeper could have used a stethescope to determine where the queen was, and simply removed and relocated her to a hive, and the bees would have followed.
Yes, I’m pretty sure of that. Around here (AZ) there is a high risk the bees are Africanized, and it’s possible the guy who came over didn’t think it was worth the effort because they’re crappy bees, I understand.
I live in the ‘burbs of Phoenix, not out in the country. I honestly couldn’t get anybody interested in coming over and taking the hive. I guess the rumors of massive hive collapses haven’t driven the price of a hive up?