But today's beekeepers face numerous challenges than can make it hard to always sustain those levels. For one thing, in recent years a parasitic mite has been attacking and weakening bee populations around the country. Not only has the mite killed bees, but some of the things beekeepers have tried to get rid of it have impacted the hives, Darren said.

There's also the impact of insecticides. "Any time you are using an insecticide," pleaded Duane, "read the label to make sure it is safe for bees." Even so, he fears, there may be some residual effects or maybe some impact on baby bees that is different from that on adult bees. "I just know that we used to get queen bees that would last four or five years. Now, we're lucky if they last two years." A healthy and productive queen is essential to a healthy and productive hive, of course, as she lays the eggs that keep it going, he said.

There are other problems beekeepers must contend with. Skunks eat bees. Weather is always a factor. Hives must be located in fields close to nectar sources but away from dense population. While bees are capable of flying great distances, if they travel more than six miles, honey production suffers, Duane said. "It's hard, hard work."

But, Margene said, sweet things happen when you use honey. Not only has honey been prized for centuries for its taste and as a substitute for sugar, modern researchers are also finding health benefits. A recent study at Purdue University, for example, found that consuming honey along with supplemental calcium enhanced calcium absorption in laboratory rats.

There are a lot of things worth saving in this world, added Duane. "Honey bees are one of them."

How is honey made?

1. Bees produce honey by gathering nectar from flowers with their long tongues and storing it in honey stomachs.

2. When the honey stomach is full, a bee will return to the hive and regurgitate the nectar into an empty cell in the hive.

3. Worker bees then add certain enzymes to the nectar, and as the water evaporates, it becomes honey.

The honeybee colony

• A typical beehive contains one queen bee, a few drones and thousands of worker bees. The queen is the female bee that lays the eggs. Workers are unmated female offspring; drones are male offspring.

• During the mating flight, several drones will deposit as many as 90 million sperm in the queen's oviducts. The queen then stores and uses the sperm when laying eggs. She determines the gender of her offspring by deciding which eggs will be fertilized.

• Bees build a honeycomb — a mass of six-sided cells made of wax — at the center of the hive.

• A queen can lay as many as 1,500 eggs during a 24-hour period.