We are all for supporting bees and pollinators. They are a vital part of the ecosystem and help ensure that flowers, fruits, vegetables, and many other plants continue to grow. We have even planned our gardens with pollinators in mind! However, we have to draw the line at a giant beehive hidden in the walls of our home. Fortunately, there are plenty of beekeepers who have the enthusiasm and know-how to relocate hives to the best places for them.
In this video, a bee removal team tackled getting a 5-foot beehive with 3 layers of honeycombs out of the wall of a home. They start by showing where the bees are coming into the home. They have established a hive in an interior wall, which means that the team has to cut out portions of the wall inside to get to and remove the hive.
The team starts by removing the molding on the wall and putting on protective gear. When dealing with bees, especially this many, it is important to take steps to protect yourself. This group has extensive experience with bees and knows the correct precautions to take.
When they are ready to open the wall, the process goes pretty quickly. They cut away a large section of drywall and honeybees begin to come into the room.
“Well look at this,” says the man videotaping. “Is that impressive or what?” He pans from the bottom to the top, showing 5 feet of honeycomb and thousands of bees living in the hive. The video shows them carefully vacuuming up the bees and cutting the comb away from the wall. They will be relocating the hive to a safe place where they can live. In order to do that, however, they have to find the queen.
Moving the Hive
Fortunately, they find the queen bee. “Woo hoo!” he says as he holds the queen up to the camera. She is larger than the other bees. “That is nice. That’s a big deal finding that.”
They remove the rest of the comb and vacuum up the remaining bees. They get the comb into frames and transport the bees, including the queen, to a new home. The team releases the queen onto one of the frames where she will establish the hive. Once the queen is comfortable in the new home, the rest of the bees join her.
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The photo featured at the top of this post is © Nandalal Sarkar/Shutterstock.com
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