MACKINAW - As scientists ponder why honey bees are dying in at least 35 states, things are still buzzing around beekeeper Steve Mayes.

Mayes, 58, has hundreds of hives producing the delicious, sweet honey which was once considered food of the gods.

About 200 million pounds of honey is produced in the United States each year, and Mayes' business, Mackinaw Valley Apiaries Inc., averages about 24,000 pounds annually.

The average American consumes about 1¼ pounds of honey each year, according to the National Honey Board, an agency of the U.S. government.

"I started 10 years ago with one hive. Now, I have 330," said Mayes, who was an analytical chemist before he was stung by the beekeeping bug.

Normal firefighter Tom Elston raises bees for his Amber Bee Co. in rural Bloomington as a way to sooth a desire to get back to the land that gripped him more than 30 years ago. He didn't have the time or a place to do organic farming. Taking honey from hives he's built with his own hands is the next best thing.

"It makes you a jack of all trades - agriculture, weather, carpentry," Elston said.

The idea to keep bees started buzzing around Mayes' head when he was a boy. Mayes spent hours in the basement with his chemistry set or looking at insect wings through a microscope.

Beekeeping was jotted down among his other mental notes on what he wanted to do when he grew up.

As years went by, he mentally drew a line through some things, like kayaking, as he did them. Others were abandoned as the wisdom that comes with age whispered in his ear that maybe he really didn't want to do some of those things after all.

"I scratched off jumping out of airplanes. I'm over that hill," he said, laughing.

The opportunity to try beekeeping came when he was at his

in-laws' home one day and he ventured into a shed. He discovered a dusty, abandoned wooden box that served as a hive his brother-in-law used for a 4-H project. It ended in disaster when the bees died, but Mayes hoped for a sweeter outcome.

Encouraged by his wife, Jill, a microbiologist in the city of Bloomington's water department, Mayes ordered a package of bees from a bee distributor. The cost was about $65 for three pounds of bees plus a queen bee.

The National Honey Board describes the queen as the heart of the hive, the only sexually mature female and the largest bee in the colony, which can number 40,000 to 60,000 insects.

In nature, worker bees, which are sexually immature females, select a young larva to be queen. She is fed extra quantities of a rich substance bees manufacture called "royal jelly."

At age 13 days or so, she flies from the hive and mates with drones, which are males. She mates only once in her lifetime, which is two to five years. She can lay up to 3,000 eggs each day.

Most bees hatched are worker bees, which are infertile females that do all the tasks in the colony. They feed the younger bees and fly to collect nectar, the carbohydrate in the bee diet.

They also collect pollen, which is the protein, and other raw products the colony needs. Among others, they gather tree resin to repair cracks in the hive.

Worker bees live about 30 days unless they are the last generation hatched before winter. That last generation of the year keeps the queen at a constant 92 degrees so she survives to start the process all over again in spring.

Far fewer drones are hatched. Their sole purpose is to mate with queens. If food is scarce, they are chased from the hive.

For hobby and commercial beekeeping, bee specialists selectively breed queens to lead hives that produce a lot of honey, which is the colony's stored food supply.

Mayes replaces queens after about two years by removing the old one and replacing it with a young queen housed in a cage with a candy cork. Workers eventually burrow through the cork and free her.

By that time, her particular odor created by hormones called pheromones permeates the colony. Workers sense it as they return from collection flights to locate the right hive.

Bees also have evolved a communication system based on a dance they do when they return the hive to tell other workers where to find nectar, which is sugar water.

Worker bees fan nectar until water content dips to about 17 percent to create honey. One hive makes about 100 pounds of honey each year.

"Their minds are pretty much concentrated on one thing: It's the survival of the hive. That's the only thing they're thinking about," Mayes said.

Mayes' normal work day centers on maintaining the hives. His only helper is his wife.

Mayes starts harvesting the honey "crop" in July and continues until about Oct. 1, when he lets them build up enough honey to survive the winter.

Stings are rare, he said. He's covered head to toe to prevent bees from reaching him and he's learned over time what disturbances bees tolerate and what they don't.

Like cows bred for certain traits, bees are also bred for a docile attitude as well as honey production.

The Illinois Department of Health oversees honey processing, which is essentially a filtering procedure, before it is bottled. Honey naturally is acidic and tough to penetrate, making it unwelcome to germs, Mayes said.

The tree resin bees collect fights microbes. It's purchased by manufacturers of such products as mouthwash, shampoo and toothpaste, Mayes said.

Some of the nation's more than 200,000 beekeepers make added cash by renting hives out to pollinate crops, ranging from fruit trees to alfalfa, cucumbers, kiwi fruit, melons and vegetables, according to the National Honey Board. California's almond crop is dependent on honey bee pollination.

Production of most beef and dairy products is dependent on insect-pollinated legumes used to feed the animals.

But, Mayes focuses solely on making honey to eat.

He must compete with national and international companies, but the market for a local product is good, said Mayes. He supplies several County Markets, Cub food stores, and IGAs in Central Illinois with his brand name.

Some customers believe they build immunity to seasonal ailments by eating honey made close to home because it contains area pollen, he said.

"Local honey is the buzz word," he said.

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By the numbers

2 million The number of flowers a bee must tap to make one pound of honey.

50-100 The number of flowers a bee visits in one trip

55,000 miles The dist-ance a hive of bees travels to make one pound of honey

100 pounds The amount of honey one hive makes in a year

1/12th Portion of a teaspoon of honey an average worker bee makes in her lifetime

15 mph The approximate speed a bee can fly

Learn more at www.honey.com

SOURCES: The National Honey Board and beekeeper Steve Mayes