If you drive by Johnson County Community College on certain fall or spring evenings, you may see strange forms that look like spacemen walking among the trees. </p><p> Not to worry. </p><p> The white clad figures are students in the college&rsquo;s beekeeping class, dressed head to toe in plastic, protective gear, tending bees that are nestled among the trees by the north entrance. </p><p> Leading the group is Overland Park resident Robert Hughes, who not only teaches beekeeping in the college&rsquo;s continuing education program but is a beekeeper. Hughes has 30 hives, which equate to about 1.8 million bees, depending on the season. His fascination with bees began about 40 years ago and is a much-loved hobby today. </p><p> &ldquo;I dabbled with beekeeping starting in the second grade and have done it off and on throughout my life,&rdquo; said Hughes. &ldquo;Honey bees are great social insects and probably the most productive insect around. They consistently surprise me.&rdquo; </p><p> Linda Hughes, who has been married to Robert for 27 years, said the bees have been somewhat of a family affair. </p><p> &ldquo;We sell the honey and pollen under a private label, Jordy&rsquo;s Honey, named after our younger son, Jordan,&rdquo; said Linda. &ldquo;We all pitch in to bottle the honey and both it and the pollen are sold at our older son&rsquo;s booth, Justin&rsquo;s Produce at the Overland Park Farmers Market.&rdquo; </p><p> In addition to the hives at Johnson County Community College, Hughes houses the bees on farms in Lewisburg and Stanley. He said most cities have ordinances that allow for one or two hives in residential yards. </p><p> &ldquo;If you have a lot of hives, you need to separate them,&rdquo; said Hughes. &ldquo;Some areas simply produce more nectar than others so it&rsquo;s good to have them scattered around.&rdquo; </p><p> Hughes said hives, like people, have different personalities. </p><p> &ldquo;Some hives have more aggressive bees and some are more docile,&rdquo; said Hughes. &ldquo;Some hives produce a lot of honey and some don&rsquo;t. They&rsquo;re all different.&rdquo; </p><p> In addition to the bees and hives, beekeeping requires protective gear, a honey extractor, special hive tool and jars to store the honey. Beekeepers also use a smoker to calm the bees.</p><p> &ldquo;We puff a little smoke on them and they think their house is on fire, so they start gorging on honey and forget about the beekeeper,&rdquo; said Hughes. </p><p> The average life span of a honey bee is about 35 days. The bee colony consists of a queen bee &mdash; the only reproductive female &mdash; and offspring, drones that exist only to mate with the queen and worker bees that fill all other roles. </p><p> Hughes sees the bees as fragile creatures that when healthy, perform their functions perfectly. </p><p> &ldquo;The queen bee can lay her body weight in eggs in just one day, depending on the season,&rdquo; said Hughes. &ldquo;The other bees do their jobs of collecting nectar, pollinating plants and crops, cleaning the hive, nursing the baby bees, guarding the hive and more.&rdquo; </p><p> Hughes collected about 200 gallons of honey this year, but left some for the bees. </p><p> &ldquo;I think of the honey as rent the bees owe me for taking care of them,&rdquo; said Hughes. &ldquo;But I leave plenty for them to eat, especially right now when it&rsquo;s harder to find food.&rdquo; </p><p> Hughes said more beekeepers are needed and those interested should not only take classes but also join one of the two beekeeping associations in the area &mdash; the Northeast Kansas Beekeepers&rsquo; Association or the Midwest Beekeepers&rsquo; Association.