defensive behavior

I'm a second-year beekeeper in Central Texas. It's been really warm this fall with temps in the 80s, although there's not much in the way of nectar right now. Today (Tuesday 12/4/12) I went to harvest some honey. The honey that I had separated from the main hive with the bee escape was gone...

I have two hives in my backyard that were stuck inside their hives for most of June because of an usual long spell of cold and drizzle. I had to feed them to keep them alive. Then the high temperatures and the sun came out with a vengeance about a week ago and the bees are making up for lost...

If the sad pun has not deterred you, then I have a question. For less then a year I've been working around this hive without ever getting stung, however the bees fly into me constantly. I had simply ignored this until I decided to get the top off to start moving the bees into another...