Throughout the year, honey bees face many environmental hazards:

scalding heat waves, freezing weather and honey thieves, like bears and skunks. Fortunately for bees, there are beekeepers who look out for their best interests.

Anyone who keeps bees is performing an important ecological service because many plants are dependent on bees for pollination.

About one-half of commercial beekeepers are migratory beekeepers.

Beekeepers rent their bees to farmers, following the pollination seasons of the various crops.

Modern beehives consist of wooden box-like sections stacked on top of each other. Each box holds 8-10 wooden frames, each containing a thin sheet of wax foundation. The bees build their combs on these foundations provided by the beekeepers, and therefore save time and effort in honey making.

Honey is stored in the combs in the upper parts of the hive. When the bees have filled the combs in this upper section with honey and covered them with wax caps, the beekeeper takes them away to extract the honey and sell the wax for many products.