While I was reading a nice article by Hilary Kearney about urban beekeeping, I had light-bulb moment. As a suggestion, she recommends placing hives such that light is not visible from hive entrance.

Last year, I found many dead bees in front of our door and my neighbors also mentioned the same to me. This year, I have not seen any dead bees and I was wondering why. While reading the article, I realized that I (unknowingly) positioned the entrance of my hives away from the light sources. In the night, hive entrance is dark as it falls between fence and hive body itself. Hence, the guard bees don’t fly to the light and end up dying. Now, I know why I don’t see those dead bees anymore.

This small detail fixes many problems: 1) issues with neighbors, 2) need to clean-up front patio from dead bees, 3) loss of bees.