went to do a cutout this am. wood board siding covered by asphalt tiles. old place. as we opened up the tiles and pulled the board, powder poured out. some kind of insecticide. on closer look, we saw desiccated bees from a prior hive. the homeowner (not the lady who rents and called us) had apparently dealt with a prior hive by pouring some kind of insecticide into the wall of the house and closing it up again. there were live bees from the recent swarm, but not many. we quit and advised the lady to get the homeowner to hire an exterminator and then clean out and seal the wall. kind of sad.....
on the up side, i picked up a softball size swarm last night and added it to one of my smaller hives. not many bees, but every little bit helps :-)