>>...22 colonies... in a fenced yard.... one of the colonies...very defensive attitude.  ...would like to ... requeen this colony, but in this close quarters it has proved difficult.  ...I need a creative solution.  Any help?

I believe you are assuming/hoping it's only one out of the 22, right?  An overly defensive behavior can migrate to other, otherwise calm, colonies with drifting bees.

If you are using std inner covers at this time of year and you are not already doing it, I'd lift and rotate about 15 deg the telescoping covers on all the hives. [This 4-point resting of the telescoping covers on the inner covers will allow good air passage and increase the number of guard bees by the inner cover holes.  It will also let the hives stay a little cooler. ]  Let this be in place for a couple of days to let the colonies make their re-adjustments.

Then, gauge the guards' attitude in each hive when you merely lift the telescoping covers off without excessive prying or banging.  I think you will see significantly different responses from the colonies.  You may then want to re-queen the most defensive ones at that point.

Other things you need to include in your evaluation are: colony strength, size of the entrance relative to yellow jacket predation, colony disturbance by opposums, racoons, skunks etc. at night.

http://www.ipmcenters.org/pmsp/pdf/MidAtlanticHoneyBeePMSP.pdf

I had not realized the effect of opposum predation until one season when a couple of my otherwise calm colonies turned rather nasty.  I knew it wasn't the queens and thought it was just yellow jackets' effect.

I normally don't inspect at night but sometimes a busy schedule leaves little choice (there are a couple of advantages to night time inspection, too, but that's a different topic).  One night, it must have been bet. 10 and 11 pm, I was finishing inspecting when I heard an approaching noise from behind the property fence.  It almost sounded like a bear pushing his way through the undergrowth!  When the noise came from just under my arbovitae bushes a few feet away, I trained my light on the stop.  There were 2 fat opposums looking at the hives and me.  They were not easily discourged but retreated when I approached them in a threatening manner.  

I have yet to id and deploy some night time predation countermeasures!  I suspect the colonies that can turn more aggresive on opposums (and on humans as a side effect!) can fend them off better.

Waldemar

PS.  22 is a high number of colonies for a stationary yard.  Do you get good honey yields there?

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