Yaz - when a hive gets too full the queen take a big part of the hive and leaves. It leaves the bees all messed up. The swarm is waiting for scout bees to find a new hive location. When found the scouts will come back and take the queen/colony to their new home. From my understanding the swarm and queen is unprotected hence then "ball".

I am a newbie, so take it for what it is worth.

76 - education is the key. Take them to the state fair booth or and bee class. We are going to one in Randolph County on Th. My wifey and girls are the same way. You will not know the bees are there unless one of your boys go up and kick it. Luke was skeptical as well until we went to a beekeepers house and he taught us about how bees work. Here is a video that Luke took of a colony with my phone. He was 2-3 inches away and had no trouble. One even landed and crawled on his hand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm_gn5zyRBk