Many changes and The Worlds Smallest Bee Hive

So much has been going on with the bees that there's no time to blog.  There is just so much to do and it's a bit of work to keep up with everything that needs to get done.  The sun and heat at the bee yard is so warm that a 10' x 20' structure was built to hold shade cloth.  Not only will it benefit the bees but also the beekeeper.

Basic structure (still needs the shade cloth)

For some reason the shade cloth I ordered is taking a ridiculous amount of time in shipping.  I sure could have used it yesterday while inspecting the hives.  It was crazy hot and the bees, at least in one hive, were crazy aggressive.  It was quite intimidating the way they covered me and stung the daylights out of my gloves and suit.  I pulled a good 50 stingers out of the gloves and jacket after the inspection.  This kind of behavior was also present in our backyard hive which has me rethinking that entire location.  I don't like the thought of aggressive behavior possibly affecting the neighbors or their pets so that hive may be relocated to the bee farm.

When I installed the new nucs in their new boxes, I didn't have any deep frames with me and thought they would be fine until next week.  When I inspected, I was surprised to see those empty areas had been completely filled in with honey and comb !!!!! In one week.   It was a mess cleaning it up and the bees were not happy.

And now to the weirdest of weird bee news that has me scratching my head.  Several weeks ago I looked into the swarm trap in our front yard and noticed 4-5 bees on some new comb that was recently drawn.   I didn't think too much of it and thought they were just in there looking around.  But two weeks later I look in the swarm trap and again notice 4-5 bees hanging out on the new comb (besides the roaches and lizard running around inside).  It's like they started their own mini hive.  It was quite sad looking at the poor bees standing on empty comb, not quite sure what to do.   The roaches outnumbered the bees by about 5 to one.  Just weird ..... kind of like a homeless shelter for honey bees.  But in the end I decided to dismantle this breeding ground for roaches.  Hopefully the homeless bees will find a new home in a stronger hive.