i used to do it with my old man when i was in high school. if i remember correctly it took a few years for the hives to mature to the point of production. you have to keep in mind that you leave them a great deal of the honey the produce. a good portion of the hive is devoted to hatching new workers too. As with alot of things it has a pretty sizable starting cost and a fairly steep learning curve. some animals also prey on hives, compared to nature they are pretty unprotected. raccoons were one of the biggest if i remember right. you also gotta figure out how your gonna store them in the winter. oh and if they dont like their hive or if it gets to be to small, half or all of them may just decided to fly away and find a new one. (this could be your neighbors shed or house)
That said it was alot of fun and you get used to being stung after a while, trust me the suits help but dont stop everything. I think we got close to a half gallon a hive. the old man picked up alot of his stuff from this old guy that lived off roosevelt (mr. draper probably long since passed) so we had probably 15-20 hives at one point and would 10-15 gallons was about a normal year.
all in all its pretty rewarding. i highly doubt my dad made any money on it, it was a hobby for him anyway. He probably also dropped alot of time and money doing it.
