I think only because they get rather heavy, so being able to drive your vehicle up next to them is convenient.
Speaking of which, I would encourage others to give this fascinating hobby a try. It isn't terribly expensive, and it is a lot safer and easier to work on then I thought when I first started. Domesticated bees are passive enough that many keepers wear shorts and t-shirst while working them, but it will be a while before I am comfortable enough to do that. They detect nervous and get cranky fast around nervous people.
The current diseases such as CCD are frustrating, but I believe that if there are a lot of sparse colonies from small bee-keepers, chances are better on overall survival and eventually finding genetic resistance.
Mark
