Starting Beekeeping?

H2 and Art have had two hives, tended by beekeeper Noam, on their roof for the past couple of years. Since they started, I've been thinking about tending my own hives on my roof.

I'd like to have feral bees, ones that have by their very existence, shown that they have the genetics to survive without treatments, pesticides, or other human intervention. The philosophy is outlined in books like The Complete Idiot's Guide to Beekeeping, sites like Michael Bush's, and by the Backwards Beekeepers.

Here's a nice video of Backwards Beekeepers Kirkobeeo demonstrating how to capture a feral swarm.



I'd like to find a local beekeeping group that does this kind of work. 

I'm not sure how interested I am in doing this -- bees don't have any special hold on my imagination, and I'm a little unsettled by the prospect of a steady dose of bee stings.  Then again, I felt the same way about chickens this time last year, and look how well that experiment turned out.