F Florida Chris - many areas have a local bee club. Try checking for that. Buying bee's is expensive. Catching a swarm is free - other than time. I bet someone at the local "county" bee club would remove the hive for free.I've got this weird split rail fence set-up in my front yard. Instead of posts to hold the rails, there's brick boxes, maybe 2'x2'x3' tall.
About 4 yrs ago I noticed honey bees were occupying one of the boxes. Went on the local FB searching for someone to come gather them since I wanted to remove the fence but didn't want to kill the hive. All responses wanted to charge me a few hundo $$ to come out.
4 yrs later they're still there! Seems like the hive splits at least twice a year down here in FL. I now enjoy watching the same local FB group when I notice the decline in bee activity. Never fails that someone else is asking about bee removal for a swarm that "just showed up".
Strangely enough, it seems that the local hotties seem to get free bee removal services
They're mellow and I can stand right next to the hive without issue. They aren't even bothered by mowing. Figure I'll keep them around as long as I can.
As for the bee's being "chill" - awesome. I bet u may have had a few bees "check you out" and then fly back to the hive - "scout bees." I have 3 hives - one is totally chill, one is occasionally aggravated, and one can get a little on the "pissy" side if I do something they don't like. Typically, the more "aggressive" the hive, the more honey they make.
As for the hive splitting/or swarming once per year - that is normal. They have filled their "space" with comb and once there are too many bees for the hive, the queen will lay some "queen cells." A new queen will arise from that and about 1/2 of the hive will swarm to a new location. The old queen will lay eggs filling the old hive and the new queen will try to do the same at the new location. They build comb fast! Unfortunately, only about 10% of swarms (in Missouri) survive the following winter.