> When I lost 70% of mine, I blamed Bee-L

Of course, this was meant as a joke. However, there is only so far one can go with knowledge and information. I remember back in the early 1980s, when PacMan came out. I could lose a quarter in a matter of seconds with that game. Then -- I stood behind some guys who were really good at it and watched. 

Suddenly I realized -- So that's how it's done. Then I bought one of the early Ataris that plugged into your TV and started to "perfect my game." I got pretty good at it, but the game would go a little faster at each level and I finally realized, it all came down to my wrist. It wasn't going to beat my brain, but my muscles. 

Beekeeping is like that. You can get really good at it and still be defeated by the physical work. I had 500 hives in the 1980s, and was laid up one summer with a wrenched back. I diversified into queen rearing, selling bee collected pollen, but in the end the low price of honey just made me throw in the towel. 

As a matter of fact, this is emphasized in the new edition of the Hive and the Honey Bee:

> According to several studies, it has not always been profitable to produce honey in the United States. Adams and Todd (1933) estimated it cost $.07 to produce one pound of extracted honey for which beekeepers received $.045 . Coke (1966) analyzed 15 commercial honey-producing firms in Florida and found a net loss of $.0261 per pound of honey. Rodenberg (1967) declared that over a 10-year period the cost of the most important items used by beekeepers increased 18 percent, while the price of honey decreased 7 percent. 

> A detailed study of southwestern beekeepers (Owens et at. 1973) concluded: "Beekeeping for honey production in the United States is not profitable. The unit price received by beekeepers for bulk, extracted honey has not changed in the last twenty-five years, while the cost of production has increased. Thus, beekeepers, who rely on honey production for income must supplement their income from other sources, such as crop pollination and outside employment." (Hoopingarner and Sanford, 2015)

PLB

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