Many beekeepers are individualists.
Experience trying to get beekeepers to act in unison reveals at best a laissez faire attitude about cooperating together on certain projects. In fact, the history of associations and other groups dedicated to beekeeping issues more often than not shows that beekeepers actively work against each other. Evidence from seminars and other educational events also supports the thesis that beekeepers are content to go about their business independent of their neighbors. To non beekeepers, the individuality of many beekeepers seems strange, for honey bees are just the opposite. They are the most social of creatures.