TGRL,
We can but we choose not to have bee hives at the BOL. The reason being bears!
There was a local bee keeper just down the road until a few years ago. I mentioned to the farmer across the way in passing I was going to keep some bee's as the local guy had vanished. Well he told me that he didn't vanish but had moved his operation do to bears.
Apparently, the bears were tearing apart his hives; not for the honey but for the bee larva. He lost so many hives over the years he moved his operation to a more suburban setting at the county seat about an hour away. He still has a few bruins coming by but nothing like when he was on our mountain.
I think I wrote about this before: Another farmer about 2 miles away was having his sweet corn field thrashed. So one night he climbed a tree and shot the culprit. He called the game warden the next day who came by and measured the bear. He determined it was 580# and 7-8 years old after extracting a tooth. When the farmer asked the game warden where his truck was so he could put the bruin in it, the GW said, "You shot it it's your problem!"
Since 2005 I have seen maybe a half dozen or so and have gone through two Weber grill lids. They ain't pretty after a bear has licked them clean.
Good luck...