HAMPTON, S.C. --- For these guys, life is just a little sweeter when you're robbing some honey.

Beekeeping is a favorite pastime enjoyed by only a handful of Hampton County residents, including retired State Trooper Lewis Hardison and his twin brother, Jimmy.

"It's a fascinating hobby and we have a lot of fun with it," Lewis Hardison said. "It's better than having an ant farm. You don't get honey off an ant farm."

The 52-year-old identical twins say they started this hobby almost six years ago partly out of curiosity and partly because it involved another favorite hobby of theirs, woodworking.

The Hardisons quickly discovered that raising your own honey offers some sweet rewards.

"You can get up to four or five pounds of honey from one (hive)," Jimmy Hardison said.

But honey is like most sweet things in life -- it doesn't come easy. Sometimes the bees don't take too kindly to having their honey "robbed."

"If you mess with bees, you're gonna get stung," Lewis Hardison said. "And if you get a mean bunch of bees, you're in trouble."

He added that he once got stung 14 times, and after one particularly memorable sting his eye was swollen shut for three days.

"Usually, if they sting you through your clothes it's not so bad," Jimmy Hardison said. "But you never want to get a bee inside your hood."

Even with precautions, certain things can cause bees to get nasty in a hurry. Bees don't like strong smells, such as bleach, perfumes or gasoline. And because their eyes allow them to see dark colors more easily than light ones, that's what they usually attack first.

But there are some benefits to raising a hive of mean bees. Jimmy Hardison claims that when you get stung by a bee, it's good for your arthritis.

"Yeah, it makes you forget all about your arthritis for a while," countered his brother.