Quote Originally Posted by sarahspins View Post
There are some people who keep bees (one hive) not far from me and I always want to stop and ask them about it.. it's always something that has fascinated me, but i'm sure like a lot of things it's probably more work/hassle than it seems on the surface
Keeping a handful of hives is not that time consuming, since you are usually only going into the hives once every 2 weeks or so to do various things. And healthy bees can take care of themselves for long stretches of time.
The work/effort part of it is fun, and never a hassle if you enjoy your bees. In fact, it's sometimes difficult to back off and quit fussing so much with them, because working with the bees is pretty relaxing... smells so good, soothing humming effect, fun to watch them, etc. Unless of course they are having a bad hair day, in which case you are smart to leave them in peace and pick another day to do your hive chores.