A swarm of bees. Docile, fast, easy.
A hive of bees. Aggressive, time-consuming, difficult.
The two pictures above illustrate the difference between a swarm of bees and a hive of bees. If you've got bees living in your wall, tractor tyre, or in a tree-trunk, then it's a hive. If there are a bunch of bees hanging out in the open, off a branch, on a fence-post, or in some shrubs, then it's a swarm.
The different is actually really important! I get a lot of calls from people asking if I can quickly remove a swarm of bees. When pressed, they say the bees have been there for several months/years - which means it's a hive of bees, not a swarm. A swarm of bees requires driving to the location, suiting up a little, and maybe 5-15 minutes of work. I'm unlikely to get stung. Removing a hive of bees requires me to drive to the location, suit up completely, bring a lot of extra equipment, and then painstakingly remove empty comb, live bees, baby-bees, and honeycomb from a cavity of some kind (often requiring dismantling of the surrounding structure), while the entire hive tries to sting me. I always get stung (the suit is more of a deterrent than armour), sometimes a lot - and the process takes hours.
You can imagine why I charge a minimal fee (sometimes free) for the first, while I charge an hourly rate for the second!