Appreciate all the great info - guys: thanks!
Was able to observe the hive a great deal this weekend while spreading what seemed like a metric ton of bark mulch in the yard.
It was pretty cool to see the bees coming back to the hive carrying pollen balls. They actually have an area on their hind legs called a pollen basket, and as they collect pollen during their foraging, they roll it together in a ball and carry it in the pollen basket. Was reading they can carry their weight in pollen, and an average colony will collect 100 pounds of it during the course of a season.
And here's one of the girls working a basket of hanging flowers I put near the hive. You can see she is carrying a pollen ball too.
