Bees will bee Bees.

[beenatural101]

As I have written previously, bees have been in the semi-control of man for thousands of years, slowly having their quantitative characteristics modified by culling out the undesirable traits. Also the caution on crossing two or more unrelated strains of honeybee. I am currently trying this, having imported a "fancy desert bee" from the southwestern survivor project, and am looking forward to evaluating her daughter. The most important thing I have learned is the necessary observation of the bees themselves. We have boxes they live in, and maybe coax them into doing certain things by understanding their habits, but they are still bugs. You can teach them where close fresh water or food is, and they do get used to your smell the more you are in them. But they are not domesticated in any sense and will do what they have been doing for (15 million year estimated?) And they do know what they are doing. I recommend weekly inspections during swarming season, and at least monthly the rest of the year when you dust with powdered sugar. pref every 2 weeks, mark your queens, and if they sneak one in on ya watch her closely. Any time you bred a queen you risk a grumpy hive after her brood hatches and become guard bees in 3or4 weeks after hatching. I say this because bees can get grumpy, conditions play into this, but public opinion ranges from terror to the belief that theycare fairy like. Trust me any bee will sting. Even the calmest bee is apt to go nuts when conditions arent right. Queenless, drought, dearth, failing queen, infestation by beetles etc. harassment by skunks or raccoons. The list goes on and on. Keep the smoker lit and prepare to don a suit, safety first. The bee sting itself may not be bad until you multiply it by 50 or 500.
The beehive demands a great deal of respect simply because of the sheer numbers. if you have 50000 bees and 5 percent come out to attack you that is 2500 bees, an acceptable loss to the hive mind. Most unacceptable to the human physiology. It may be closer to 10 percent or more if they are real riled up. The point being, observe before you open, even if you don't wnt to use smoke, light it and keeper goin it may only take 1 bee squished on a hot dry day with no nectarflow.
BEE CAREFUL!

[beenatural101]

Wear a veil at all times a sting to the eye is permanently blinding.

[beenatural101]

To understand the honeybee you have to be able to think like a bee. they are pretty simple when you consider their needs

nectar the sweet juice found in many flowers this is concentrated sun energy and is cured by enzymes the bees add and ripened to around 18% water. This is used by the bees for food and mixed with pollen and fed to the larvae, Stores well, forever in fact it is sugars broken down into their simplest form with a very low ph. Impossible for bacteria to grow in as long as the moisture stays low. Honey found in egyptian tombs was edible and eaten with gusto. Nectar

Pollen Pollen is collected by the girls to feed the young. Both types of foraging are done by older worker bees. In gathering pollen and nectar they pollinate going from flower to flower helping the plants to reproduce. Hence the nectar reward.

Shelter. The honeybee is a cavity nester and will only nest in the open in dire need, unable to find a cavity. these bees will be dangerous. They rely on the protection from the elements and within a cavity with a closed top and open bottom maintain a brood nest temp evenly around 95 degrees. whether it is 120 or -20 f(when cold they use honey to make a heated shell around the brood nest, and must have lots of honey accessible.) as long as they have shelter and access to

Water. Bees use water to primarily cool the hive trucking it from a close source and depositing it everywhere, as the fanning (when it is hot) evaporates it cools the hive. They also thin capped honey with water before feeding it to larvae mixed with pollen.

Workers along with the hive itself they all depend on each other and operate with seamless efficiency.
Queen without her all is nothing, for she is the phenomenal glue that can hold 100000 insects into a hive mind. She is also the mother of them all usually, but has no real powers, other than the pheromones that bind her subjects to her. They are more than happy to replace her stinging her to death if she becomes a drone layer.
Drones. These Guys have it good, They fly around to different drone congregation areas and basically chase stuff, do cartwheels and show off, till a queen flies by. Then its on the strongest get to her and she is bred 10 or 20 times over 1 to 3 flights. The drones then fall to a glorious death, their purpose served.
These guy's worth is underestimated
They are necessary to breed queens duh!
Good drones are sure to pass their genes along if you have lots.
You can have lots and will with natural (foundationless) comb.
Queens rarely mate with a related bee.
Drone congregation areas are related to geographical features.
They get used from year to year.
Queens also seek these places.
Drones from within certain areas were trapped and found to be from over 60 hives. 3 from a few 2 from many and 1 from more
Drones fly up to 6 miles from home maybe more
having 5000 drones in a real healthy hive is common 5 to 10 percent in the wild
Using drone comb is a good way of culling mite infected brood once you have lost of drones.
We need the drones too!

To this I will add lack of disturbance, careful observation, and understanding by us.
Also a clean environment would be nice...