I worked some colonies today, Really hot in the bee jacket. The wind helped a bit. Bees hanging out on the front of the hive. This is normal, they are hot like we are.
We should be getting some rain tonight and that should keep the plants from drying out. The upcoming week should be perfect bee weather. The honey collection should be going full bore in and around the metro area. Now is the time when the bees will fill supers quickly. Check on supers every 5 days. A quick peek to see how they are doing. Keep ahead of the bees and add two supers at a time. Supers that have undrawn foundation go directly on top of the brood nest. Bees have a hoarding instinct, they will work very hard to fill their hive with honey. By keeping ahead of the bees with supers keeps them in high gear. This also is the time of year when healthy bees fed a diet of proper nutrition show their stuff. Healthy bees live longer, 35 - 40 days compared to poor nutrition bees 25 - 30 days, and a hive of healthy bees that have been fed a proper diet will produce more honey than bees that have not had a proper diet of pollen and honey.
Stubborn bees not moving through a queen excluder? Removing the excluder until there is some comb being drawn out in the supers, then put it back on.
It is fun to search the plants around the hives foraging area to see what the bees are working on. They may not always be your bees but the education of nectar producing plants helps a beekeeper figure out the nectar source of the honey crop sitting on top of the beehive.