Beeswax and Bees

I took my encaustic paints to Palm Springs this year instead of my acrylics.  I set up outdoors as I always do, and everything went fine for about a week.  After that I noticed a bee that kept swooping around me.  It didn't concern me because I didn't bother it and it didn't bother me.  Unfortunately that scout bee told all his friends that he had found a feast.  In a few days I was surrounded by bees and they were feeding off my paintings, my table, my equipment, because I have encaustic all over everything I use.  They were even attempting to feed on the griddle and the tins of paint on the griddle.  I would find little bee bodies in my paint.  Obviously, I was not going to be able to continue painting outdoors.  It had never occurred to me that this would happen.  I painted outdoors in Palm Springs in October, and there was not a problem.  I don't know anything about bees, but perhaps they were dormant then.  Or, they didn't have as good a scout as this group of bees did.  What do you call a group of bees?  I spent three weeks in the desert without being able to paint, which was really hard.  I couldn't paint inside because there just wasn't a good place to do it.  The encaustics will not be visiting the desert again.  Below is my table top with one of my pesky visitors chowing down.