That swarm thing sounds so cool. Do they look like the same type of bees as the ones you purchased?

We've noticed that our bees are kind of like our chickens in that when the sun goes low in the sky, they go inside. Maybe you could watch for a pattern like that in order to lay the rock? It's been unseasonably warm here for the past few days, so ours have been really active. The first time it was warm, we saw huge swarms around the front entrance. My H called our local bee guy to ask if that was ok and he said yes. That it was the bees' idea of 'hanging out on the front porch" on a hot day! I guess it gets warm in that hive, so they have to come out to cool off.

We put our hive in the center of our tiny orchard. It is surrounded by apple and pear trees that will give it shade from the midday summer sun, but it does sit on cinder blocks in the grass (that we leveled). So far, we've just been mowing around the hive with the lawn mower and the bees don't seem to mind at all. I think your idea of rock on weed cloth is a good one, though. I wish we'd thought ahead and done something like that. As it is, we spent weeks arguing about where the hive should go! I'm amazed we settled on a place in time for their arrival!