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.