The bees are coming for water. My mother recently go us new honeybee hives a few months ago after a 10 year absence. We have two hives with 12,000 bees each! Needlesstosay, the girls (honeybee workers are all female) are all over the bird bath and my ponds. When I work on the ponds, they buzz all around me. I ignore them. As far as bees go, they are very docile. The beekeeper even picks them up without getting stung. You should find out what species are visiting your exposed lava rock for water. Some bees, wasps, and hornets aren't a problem while others are aggressive. The European hornets are the worst. They're huge, and, when I was stung a few years back, the pain lasted for two months (yes, months).
Anyway, if you lower the lava rock, they can't come there for water. You could also offer a water source elsewhere.
The "poison-free" poisons are meant to be used on the hive/nest and not individuals. If you can find a hive/nest, see
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/pcare.htm#wasp for how to safely destroy a nest near the pond.
Here are some photos of our honeybee girls on the bird bath last weekend.


