Pirates or bees?

Since our empty hives were installed a few weeks back, we've noticed that they are very popular with the local bees. On any sunny day, there are at least 2 dozen bees flying around the hive and crawling in the crevices. I didn't realize this until I attempted to push the hives back a bit from the chicken coop so I could give it a proper cleaning and out flew a ton of bees. Luckily, the bees were more confused by the moving boxes than angry and only buzzed around for a few minutes until settling down. Good thing too because I was trapped in the run with the boxes.

We're waiting for the bee people to come check on the hives to see if a bee population has set up shop or a bunch of "pirates" are just sniffing around checking out the competition. In the meantime, I've been told that placing sugar water out for them will help get a hive established. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to try it since we've had nothing but torrential rains lately (and also no bees, since they can't fly in rain).