apiarists

The price of queen bees (raised by specialized apiarists to help other beekeepers split colonies) hasn't changed.

Many apiarists have multiple hives and a group of 10 hives could fill the grocery's honey section in September.

One minute that brand new themed festival is all vendors making cool clocks out of old vinyl, local glassblowers, local apiarists.

But then those queens would have negotiating power, and the ability to switch apiarists to get the best price for their honey.

An old colleague developed fantastic software for managing hives, and then found that the beta testing apiarists who loved his software were even more risk adverse than farmers.

I would argue that we, humans, as mathematicians, carpenters and apiarists have worked together with the bees resulting in a net gain in honey over time.

But I couldn't find a collective noun for apiarists.

> Though honey bees are not, contrary to popular mythology, declining in numbers around the world, Varroa mites do thus cause serious trouble for apiarists, particularly in the West.

In the metaphor, the "apiarists" should probably have some contracts for honey with queen bees, who then manage their own hives in their own way to make delivery.

Apiarists make their own hives, and maintain them.