So I actually got stung a few days ago. I removed the comb piece a couple days before that. When I got stung I had actually not done anything, but give them some sugar water. I read somewhere that I should work the hive in the middle hottest part of the day, since that's when they're all out of the hive and there are the fewest bees in the hive. So, following the advice I removed the covers and put in sugar syrup around 11 or so. Then put the covers back and stood about 8-10 feet from the hive just observing all the activity looking to see if they were bringing in pollen.
Then completely without warning BAM! I got stung right in the middle corner of my right eyebrow. I'll admit it scared me; I have NEVER been stung by a honeybee before. I was stung years ago by a yellow jacket with a mild reaction. However with the honeybee, it was a slight burn at first, then I RAN to the house (100 yards or so) and made a 'beeline' for the bathroom mirror so I could remove the stinger. I removed it put on ice and took some antihistamine. By then it was seriously burning with a slight throb. It really took a lot out of me though; I didn't want to do much after that. Within a few hours though I was still a little drained, but was outside chopping wood for some fence posts.
The next day the location was tender, but no noticeable difference other than a very slight upraising. Lesson learned: Work the bees when they are LEAST active!
The comb I had removed is so awesome to look at!! They made it completely without any foundation or anything and it's nearly perfect hexagons with a very slight angle upward. This makes them all 'cups' to store whatever the bees put in there. Pretty awesome.
Today, this morning, I went out about 7am and it was about 50 or slightly above. There were no bees outside the hive, though oddly enough I think I may have seen one come out of nowhere and go through the entrance. I gave them some sugar water with no apparent disturbance to the hive. Then went to the entrances and tried to change them over to the larger size reduction. One didn't have it, so I just pulled it out on one side to leave a second entrance. The other one had the larger reducer on the opposite side of the small one. I thought nothing of this and left it. Again all of this with no bee activity.
Then, later in the day I went to see how they fared with the larger entrances. The BUSY hive was just fine with their two entrances. The lazy hive was throughly confused with the entrance on the "wrong side." So I got a long stick and pulled the reducer out because there was A LOT of activity at their entrance. Today it seemed the hives had switched personality. The lazy hive was Super Busy, and the Busy hive was laid back. This activity level persisted through the day. Watching the entrance both hives are bringing in a fair amount of pollen, though I don't know what's normal. It seemed that anywhere from 1 in 10 to 1 in 3 bees were coming in with pollen caked on their legs.
Pollen colors have changed in the last few weeks. At first they were anywhere from deep yellow/orange to shiny red/orange (likely dandelion and hen bit). Now they are anywhere from a very pale dusty yellow to a solid yellow. I saw a few with pollen that almost looked white. I'll have to check some pollen charts to see what they might be bringing in. I know there is henbit, dandelion, some little blue flowers on weeds, clover and dogwood all blooming in the yard. There were some peach, crabapple, and tulip magnolias flowering a few weeks ago. The dutch clover is barely blooming at all.