Vortexes and Local Pollinators

I am rebuilding all the vortex escapes (example at left- from the net) on full boards, rather than attaching them the existing innner covers, as this seems to get in the way and I have to wait to detach the escapes- and I have found that there are tons of bees- and I have to lay them all out in the front of the hive and let them walk back in.

So I am mass producing 10 of them, but didn't finish them today or get them back on.

The last two only worked okay- but it turns out I had a small amount of drone brood in the higher supers, so the bees didn't leave like I'd hoped.

And I filmed some odd behaviour- bees in place, moving backward and forward, here. I also filmed this before years ago too- its the same thing. I haven't even Googled it yet- I suspect that the answer is there.

I pulled 22 full frames off one hive- maybe 50 or 60 pounds? That might be the best draw this year for one hive- I'm not sure yet- maybe I can get the new vortex removers on tomorrow.

I think the knotweed is blooming- and today the bees covered the font of the house, as the Boston Ivy is blooming- a small flower- but bees and other pollinators everywhere.

And I made a jig to make mason bee hives out of scrap 2x4. I re-read Brian Griffin's chapter on this, and he is very explicit about the need to clean the holes out every year- how the mites and disease stacks up- and the bees evetually stop coming. Which seemed to be what happened to mine- though I have different tupes.

Anyway, there appears to be at least 3 very different pollinators using the boxes right now. One is certainly a leafcutter. In the past, I have seen sand packed into a hive at the end of August.