Allen Dick wrote: >Well, there are many reasons bees can become mean: ... >* Shade -- too cool a location I'm not questioning the advice but pondering the local and book accepted advice of putting hives in the shade. Is this a southern (warmer climate) exception. Or is it a northern climate issue that since it's colder, you keep your hives in the sun. I do know that when it gets really hot here in Texas the bees resort to fanning in huge numbers. This may reduce honey production but I've never noticed an increase in defensive behavior when it's hot. When it's cold I don't bother my hives. I'm no authority on the matter but has anyone out there got some logic for this? I have a bee yard a long ways from my house and two hives in my backyard. I literally sit in front of the hives in my backyard for at least fifteen minutes a day(this is how I relieve the stress of my professional life - I eat stress for lunch). My bees buzz as they fly by my head but never display aggressive behavior when I sit in front of the hives - a very soothing experience if your bees tolerate it. I visit the hives in the bee yard at long intervals. When I enter the bee yard I get checked out. When I open a hive in the bee yard the bees tend to be more defensive than the hives in the backyard. When I work the hives in the backyard, the bees are very docile. Could it be that they are used to me. I don't think that it's just me or my smell because my son comes with me sometimes and they aren't more defensive when he or any other visitor is with me. I normally smoke myself thoroughly before smoking and opening a hive. When I have guests, I smoke them. Does that help? Also the bees in the backyard are located about thirty feet west of our garden. We work the garden daily and they fly right by us. The only time that any of my family has been stung in the backyard has been when the kids stepped on a foraging bee, otherwise no casualties. BTW, the bees do a great job of pollinating melons, squash and some of the herbs my wife has planted. We are into open pollinated seeds and the bees contribute greatly to the seed making process.