There are many folks in my small town learning to cultivate bees.  There is more and more awareness that we have responsibility to save honey bees and those of us in the country will probably be the ones to do it.   It is sticky business literally but also figuratively when we live with bears and skunks who also enjoy the sticky goodness.  One of my co-workers with six hives is now re-working his bee hive platform, and surrounding it with electric fencing.  End of last winter he lost his hives (and his chickens) to bears.  He’s now on a mission to keep his bees and chickens safe, but we all laugh over lunch that it is probably a futile mission and his backyard now looks like a military compound.  But such is life when you live with four leggeds (other than dogs).  You make due and learn how to improvise and try not to do damage to anything while doing something good too.