Hi!
The first year for me was really good like youre talking about too!
Its nice to see all the clean comb and your boxes being nice and clean at first....and, when you start, and you see pics of peoples hives, you wonder,"Why are the boxes so junky looking?"
At first, my hives were all straight and even, and clean....my grass was trimmed real nice around the hives....
But now......Well,.....Its not too bad,...but theres 10 of them hives out there now....sitting there like sentinels.....looking in all directions....and my first 2 hives I got are still setting rite where I put them the day I got them :)....I have deep grasses and bricks and stuff hidden in the deep grass...and usually, I find the blocks and bricks when I try to mow close to the hives!
This is part of my bee yard earlier this year...now the grass is deeper than what you see in the picture! Its not too bad yet, but at first I had this all mowed and trimmed it with my hands! Now the bees chase me when I mow around them sometimes!
your friend,
john