If you're able to leave them (and continue working them, there), that's what I'd do for now. I'm not sure when your main honey flow is, but I'd guess the hives are heavy (or will be shortly) with the surplus honey you want. Generally, to answer your question, I'd say the best time to move them is during the late Winter or early, early Spring - the bees aren't flying; the population is the lowest and most of the heavy honey (food) stores have been consumed. Plus, you may find it to your advantage to combine hives if you have any 'dead outs' from the Winter at that point. You are right to be concerned about loosing the field forager population if you try and move them now. The problem is your distance - too great to move the hives, little by little and not great enough distance to move them without the bees re-orienting to their old location.

double duty, where in Texas do you live? Most all of Texas is now home to Africanized Honeybees (AHB); the so-called 'killer bees'. Your neighbor appears to be hosting European bees (Italians, as an example) at the moment. But they're also not likely to stay that way forever. Since Africanized bees are dominate in any area they move into, these calm bees you've experienced thus far will change at some point in the future to the much more dangerous AHBs. The feral colony should be removed (soon). If [when] they become Africanized, your neighbor will face much more liability. And if someone is killed or seriously injured by a feral bee colony from her property (that she knew about but failed to act), she may wind up 'dumster diving' for a living for real! These problems always tend to take care of themselves in the end (just hate to see an inocent person hurt in the meanwhile). She can pay now or REALLY pay later... The reduction in number of bees you've noticed is most likely due to the feral colony having thrown off a swarm.

You're not going to be able to supply all the plants needed to keep bees alive when they are active unless you own a lot of property and plant a lot of things. They are not like butterflies and host specific. They may feed on many things at different times of the day. I don't plant anything, just live in a location where they can safely travel a mile or two in any direction to forage. Jerry, the owner of the bees that live on the property, tells me we have the best tasting honey in the Norman area. I did quit using herbicides years ago and allow my acreage to look like a well maintained and mowed pasture. Clover, dandelion, and many other blooming "weeds" cover my property. This also easily allows me to photograph nature, insects, and especially butterflies. randy

well top bar/kenya bee hives are pretty expensive no matter how you look at it if you are buying a prebuilt one. making your own would be better and with scrap salvaged wood however if you can't make one i would suggest just buying a few 12$ assembled langstroth boxes a 18$ screened bottom board a lid for 20$ and 30 frames for 36$ total coast would be 110$ for that hive if you don't have the time nor the funds for something expensive. a top bar kenya hive would run you 200 to 350 prebuilt or partially built. and for 110 you could get your other tools and have a whole have and the equipment for the price of one top bar hive. so its better in the long run for cost to go with langstroth i would think. also buy local if you can find a bee supply store and avoid expensive shipping costs. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2rcUDHm64nbp6kDUpDeiTw https://www.facebook.com/TheItalianGarden?ref=bookmarks