Preventing Drift, And Backing Your Car Into a Hive

I have no idea if this will make a difference, but I have always felt that the way I have my nine hives on the roof promotes drifting, and at the end of the year, the three hives furthest from the house, are twice as strong as those nearest, which if I were a bee, would make sense- I'd go to the end hive first. And I am sort of stuck with it, I can't move them apart, and I can't turn them in different directions. 

My friend B painted colored shapes and flowers on his, and the Scientific American book on the honeybee, describes the different colors and shapes they can differentiate. So I've been looking around through Thrift Shops for something I can attach to the hives that would help distinguish the hives for the bees. And since I switch out supers when I inspect them, I couldn't really paint them individually.

So I found these reflective markers in three colors at the hardware store in town, and they have holes in them so you can pin them to the hives and move them with needed, and I figured the bees can at least distinguish these three colors, and I bet when the light hits these just right, being reflectors, they are really bright. So they are on all my nine hives on the roof, and I mix them up a bit so blue is on the outside in the first row, second in the second, and below, the third row. I have no idea if this is going to work or not. Seems like it would help, at least. 

I also added back on the landing boards, though I ripped them down with a slope so they drain better. I found that without the landing it seemed tougher to organize a bee crew to fan honey, and bees seems to get stuck more on the ground and die. 

You can see in this picture too that I made number plates on metal that I can pin as well, and also the plexiglass plates that I keep info on. The plates help me alot I think, no looking stuff up in a log. I'd make them a few inches longer next time.

#8 hive is a new hive where I stuck about 10 queen cells on 4 or 5 frames, and let them duke it out. Seems to be doing ok.

Blackberry nearly done, at least down in the valley, but the bees are still pouring out each day, and I'm not really sure what they are going after.