What is a Honeybee Scout?

Swarm season and scout season go hand-in-hand — one usually means the other isn’t far behind. If you’ve noticed a handful of bees flying loops around the outside of your house, not going anywhere in particular, that’s worth paying attention to.

What Is a Scouting Honeybee?

Scout bees are a small advance group that breaks off from a swarm to look for a new place to move in. You can usually tell scout activity apart from a settled hive because the bees look like they’re checking out a broad area — flying around, circling, investigating — rather than moving in and out of one fixed spot. People often notice small groups of scouting bees flying around the outside of their home. If you see this, it’s worth watching closely.

Scout bees sometimes find their way inside a home from the outside, and we get a fair number of calls in spring from people who’ve noticed scouting activity — or who’ve found an unusually large number of dead bees inside. Often that means bees got in through a small gap while scouting, couldn’t find their way back out, and died of exhaustion.

A swarm might move on to another spot entirely — but if you’re seeing scout bees, it’s worth being on the lookout, because they could decide your home is the next stop. That’s never a good thing for a homeowner to discover later.

How Do I Know If I Have Scouts or an Already-Established Swarm?

Scout bees scan a wide area, moving around without a clear destination. If instead you’re seeing single bees flying in and out of one specific hole in a wall or soffit in a steady line, that usually means a colony has already moved in. At that point, it’s worth calling a professional who can tell you honestly which situation you’re looking at.

What to Do If You Spot Scouts or a Swarm

If you think you’re seeing scout bees or a swarm on your property, call us at (972) 980-0923 and we’ll walk you through what to look for and what your next step should be. Catching scout activity early — before a colony fully moves in — is genuinely the easiest and cheapest call you can make. We can safely relocate a swarm to a local apiary, and we’ll tell you honestly whether what you’re seeing needs action or just a little patience.