For once a question I can answer :D The bee hives of my sims have never produced foul honey. Then again the best honey and beeswax I get is great so I would say the bees are content rather than mega happy.
I always place the hives next to the garden plants. So they have a good source of pollen.
The sims tend the bees every day. The process is smoke the box, clean the box, feed the bees and then harvest the honey and beeswax. It seems to work because the sim rarely gets stung. I find the bees like it best when the same sim does this every day. And just as in real life they know when their sim dies, so whoever takes over the tending might get stung the first couple of times they tend the box until a new relationship is built up.
