May 18 (UPI) — A Georgia woman had a massive beehive removed from her home after learning about 120,000 bees had been living in her ceiling.
Decatur homeowner, Lisa Ohrmundt, discovered the 6-foot-long hive filled with bees after hearing buzzing coming from the side of her house and calling her beekeeper friend to help her handle what she suspected to be a much smaller bee problem.
Several hundred bees emerged from the ceiling after Orhmundt’s friend created an opening, but they seemingly had no interest in entering the beekeepers Bee Box.
“They had a condo in our ceiling — why would they go in that little box?” Ohrmundt said.
Georgia Bee Removal employee Bobby Chaisson eventually used a specialized heat sensing camera to slowly uncover the massive hive.
“Did the first hole in the ceiling and it was a little bigger and a little bit bigger and a little bit bigger and it ended up being about 6 feet long,” he told Fox 5. “Definitely this year it ranks up there in the top two that we have done.”
Chaisson said he was stung about 10 to 15 times while uncovering the hive that contained about 60 pounds of honey.
Over the course of about six hours Chaisson used a vacuum to suck the bees into large canisters, which he plans to use to safely relocate them.
He suspected the bees had been living in Ohrmundt’s ceiling for about two years and her neighbors said the previous owner of the home also had a large beehive removed.
Ohrmundt said her encounter with the massive swarm made her slightly more afraid of bees, but she was looking forward to the opportunity to try some of the honey.
“My roommate is furious for not getting any of the honey,” she said. “But the beekeeper said he would bring me some.”
