In the two years that I was employed by the state of Iowa as a honeybee inspector, I had about 10 calls to remove bees. I was always dismayed at the homeowner. I would ask...how long have these bees been here? None of them were a pristine swarm hanging in a tree, ready to be hived. They were usually entrenched in the side of a barn or house and had 40 to 50 pounds of honey in the walls. The homeowner was oblivious. They had obviously been there for at least a year and probably longer.
I became hypersensitive and the boss asked me to give it up. Which I gladly did when I realized he was right. I’m probably qualified to remove them with a BS in Entomology from UCD in 1968. Sorry, not the least bit interested.
When my husband and I were building our first home, an old abandoned farmhouse was on the property. We wanted it torn down, but based on the massive cluster of honey bees that would hang off the eve in the heat of the afternoon, we knew it was occupied with a lovely colony. I loved putting my ear against the wall inside and listening to them buzz, and standing under them hanging just to watch. They are beautiful/my favorite insect by a long shot.
This is before I started beekeeping myself, and the keeper who came to remove them said they’d been in the walls at least 2 years, more likely 3. No matter though. He took them home and said it was a very, good queen they had :) Then and only then did that old house come down.