I am a new beekeeper in south Texas and I am over run with bees. I now have two brood boxes and two supers in the hive. Every time I get near my hive they approach me aggressively. When I get into the hive I have to totally suit up and use smoke smoke smoke. When I started I only wore a jacket, no gloves, and used smoke very liberally. Is this normal? Is it just because they are healthy and 3/4 full? The queen is around, laying in regular patterns, we have great pollen flow and I have fed with my top feeder syrup(2to1). No honey to steal that is sealed in the supers. They have made many practice queen cells which are never filled. I was going to add a second hive but I don't think I should because I can't imagine opening the second hive near the first one since they come to greet me every time I get close to the first one and the hives will be close together. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. I am a newbee and can be very ignorant even with all the reading that I do.
I spent a little while in San Antonio, USAF. I know you guys have skunks. Jim may have hit the nail on the head. Look for scratch marks at the hive entrance and possibly skunk scat. If they are being messed with at night they will be cross during the day.
When you use smoke don't over do it. More is not good, this can make them ill tempered. If my girls are being less than friendly I give them a couple shots in the entrance and a couple under the inner cover and then let them sit for 10 min or so.
Wash your bee suit. If they are hot anyway, the leftover alarm pheromone from previous visits can set them off.
Lastly, iddee could be right about the AHB. I hope this isn't the case.