My wife kept talking about getting a bee hive. I really had no interest, mainly because I didn't want to get stung. I eventually bought her a starter set up - complete hive, with smoker, book, bee suit and gloves. Then I bought a 3 lb package of bees with queen online for her. Turns out she was not so interested in becoming a beekeeper, but just rather liked the idea of having bees. I on the other hand, being a gardener liked the idea of bees as pollinators. After the first two packages failed, I turned to catching swarms and doing removals and love it. I now have 8 hives at my place plus one at my friend's house. He called a month ago to tell me had a swarm in his tree, so we caught it (after chasing the swarm down the street to the neighbor's yard) and I just left the hive at his place - adjacent to the alfalfa fields. I have definitely been bitten by this bug and love working the hives - getting good honey and all the extra fruit from the better pollination. The stings aren't so bad after all...
John