“If you want to harvest honey, don’t kick over the beehive.” –Abraham Lincoln

The U.S Department of Agriculture estimates that there are between 140,000 and 200,000 thousand beekeepers in the United States, most of them hobbyists with fewer than 25 hives. Commercial beekeepers are defined as those with more than 300 colonies.

A typical colony of honey bees has about 60,000 bees and can produce over a hundred and fifty pounds of honey in one season.

Each honey bee makes an average of one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime. To make one pound, a colony of bees will make about two million nectar-gathering visits to flowers. The resulting honey requires the bees to fly a total of 55,000 miles collectively.