Anyone interested in seeing honeybees in a house and being removed? Cool and creepy!

[JudyJudyJudy]

Dh works as a home inspector, mainly handling foreclosures. He is the one handling the account right now, so he has to deal even with houses that he doesn't personally inspect himself. Anyway, one of the guys who works with him went into a house to do an inspection and found that it had a swarm of honeybees.

HUD said to just have them killed. Fortunately, the guy has a couple of beehives himself and knows a good bit about bees, so he told HUD that that would be a really bad idea. He explained that they needed to get a professional to remove them. HUD was reluctant at first but finally agreed. It's a damned good thing because it turned out to be worse than they ever even expected.

There are lots of pictures ahead. This is the house on the outside:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/babyjacobsmom/CopyofPicture001.jpg


This is the view of one of the windows from the outside (these bees are dead):

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/babyjacobsmom/CopyofPicture003.jpg


This is where the man who removed them found that they had entered the house:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/babyjacobsmom/CopyofPicture007.jpg


This is what the master bedroom floor looked like before the removal process began (previous pictures that I skipped had lots of dead bees on the floor):

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/babyjacobsmom/CopyofPicture008.jpg


More pictures ahead...

[JudyJudyJudy]

Carpet torn up:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/babyjacobsmom/CopyofPicture009.jpg


Man starting to cut into floor:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/babyjacobsmom/CopyofPicture010.jpg


This part of subfloor has been lifted:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/babyjacobsmom/CopyofPicture012.jpg


Under this part of the subfloor (the golden stuff--even the dark golden stuff--is honey; the black stuff are piles of live bees):

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/babyjacobsmom/CopyofPicture013.jpg


More ahead.

[JudyJudyJudy]

A little closer up (these pics look really cool when blown up bigger):

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/babyjacobsmom/CopyofPicture014.jpg


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/babyjacobsmom/CopyofPicture015.jpg


The man is using a bee vac:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/babyjacobsmom/CopyofPicture016.jpg


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/babyjacobsmom/CopyofPicture017.jpg


More to come.

[JudyJudyJudy]

There was more, so he had to cut even more of the floor:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/babyjacobsmom/CopyofPicture018.jpg


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/babyjacobsmom/CopyofPicture019.jpg


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/babyjacobsmom/CopyofPicture020.jpg


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/babyjacobsmom/CopyofPicture022.jpg


Still more.

[JudyJudyJudy]

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/babyjacobsmom/CopyofPicture023.jpg


The queen is inside this:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/babyjacobsmom/CopyofPicture024.jpg


The area has been cleaned:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/babyjacobsmom/CopyofPicture025.jpg


After this, they sealed cracks, put in insulation, replaced the floor, etc.

[JudyJudyJudy]

There are at least 30,000 bees in the hive (probably more) and about 150 pounds of honey.

[Daisy]

Wow, I would have never imagined bees being under a floor! Did the occupant hear the buzzing? Or were they just finding alot of bees in their home?

[camille97]

Wow. That is cool, but mostly creepy. I'm allergic to bees. Mostly yellowjackets and wasps, but all bees creep me out. 150 lb of honey, though. :eek:

[JudyJudyJudy]

Wow, I would have never imagined bees being under a floor! Did the occupant hear the buzzing? Or were they just finding alot of bees in their home?
We don't know whether or not the occupants heard them. They were foreclosed on about six months ago :(, and the man who removed them said that they had been there since at least last year--possibly longer. Since it got pretty warm here, the bees had started flying around inside the house.

[jaelwoman]

Very cool and VERY Creepy! I think I would keel over and die if that were my house.

[JudyJudyJudy]

The house has a contract on it. :p

[MiMi_of_4]

How fascinating! The pics of the removal of the second section are almost unbelievable! I'm curious, too ~ how did they know there were bees in the subflooring area?

[nikkifaith]

OMG, if I can't sleep tonight it is all your fault.

[JudyJudyJudy]

How fascinating! The pics of the removal of the second section are almost unbelievable! I'm curious, too ~ how did they know there were bees in the subflooring area?
Dh said that you could hear the humming of the bees, but there was also a hole in the ceiling below that floor. I didn't post all the pictures because there were so many, so I didn't post a picture of the hole. It's boring compared to the rest, lol.

[JudyJudyJudy]

camille, do you carry an Epi-pen?

Nikki, I warned in the title that it was creepy! It's one of those things that's fascinating but creepy at the same time.

[billysmom]

Really cool pictures. It's amazing that they're able to remove that without destroying the house. I'd probably want to burn the whole house downjust to be sure! Now I have the hee-bee-jee-bees! (pun intended) :p

[JudyJudyJudy]

Really cool pictures. It's amazing that they're able to remove that without destroying the house. I'd probably want to burn the whole house downjust to be sure! Now I have the hee-bee-jee-bees! (pun intended) :p
"lol9"

Honestly, I can't imagine sleeping in a house knowing that that had been under my floor.

[cc1003]

That is absolutely amazing!

[JudyJudyJudy]

Oh, yeah, they're not only able to remove them without the destroying the house, but they're also able to save the beehive and the honey (most of the honey from what I understand).

[cc1003]

Oh so the bees are still living????

[nikkifaith]

I know, Judy. :) I keep looking, too. It's amazing but still very creepy.

[JudyJudyJudy]

Oh so the bees are still living????
Yes, they're still alive. They call it the queen and her brood. They were put into a box and will continue to work. That's how beekeepers keep bees and get honey.

[Sadalsuud]

Those are awesome pictures! All that honey ::drool:: I love bees! I even collect bee things, anything that has bees on it, and I want it.

We had a hive inside one of the walls of our house. You could feel the heat from the hive, and hear the buzzing. We moved to Albuquerque for several years, and when we moved back, they were gone. I don't know what happened to them, but I always wanted to collect the queen and start beekeeping. We wouldn't be able to keep them on our property, we get too many bears near us for them.

[JudyJudyJudy]

Sadalsuud, were you not freaked out by the bees being in your wall?! Were the bees you had honeybees? What happened to the honey? Did it never cause problems being in the wall?

[Sadalsuud]

We weren't, they usually left in the winter because it is way too cold here for them, and they were only there for a couple of months out of the year. As far as I know, it never caused problems in the wall. We've never noticed anything. I'm not sure what kind of bees we had, but we could see where they would enter through a crack under the roof. We never had anyone out to look at them. And I would guess that the honey is still there? Lol, we never really were concerned about it.

[Tiffers]

oh my goodness, wow! That is amazing!

[Kristen]

OMG, that is a lot of bees!!!

[QuiltyConscience]

Wow! What are they going to do with all that honey and honeycomb?
(I'll send my name and address if need bee)

I would love to know how they got the queen. It's nice that the bees got a new home.

[JudyJudyJudy]

Oops. Dh said that I was wrong--that it isn't HUD, but rather, another company that foreclosed on the house.

The man who got the honey out will either sell it or give it away.

Dh wants the hive. He's been wanting to start beekeeping anyway, so he figured this would be a good way for him to start. The man who got the bees out said that dh needs to wait a week to get them. He said that the bees are pretty pissed off right now but should be calmed down within the week. Like he said, "You'd be pissed off, too, if someone destroyed your home."

[Meredith]

Wow, that's crazy.

[QuiltyConscience]

Oh, mad bees, not much fun.

[ColleenF30]

Wow...that is one big hive!!!!

[JudyJudyJudy]

Well, I dreamed about bees. :p

[marriedbears]

That is awesome that they did not decided to destroy the bees! What an exciting hobby. I do hope your DH enjoys it and you that yummy honey.

[haleysmom]

That is CRAZY!!! I didn't even know bees could do that in a house!

The house is gorgeous. I couldn't live in that home after that. I would keep asking. "Just pull up a little more to check! Are you sure they aren't in the walls?? Do you hear that buzzing???" :eek:

[LivingLoveandLogic]

I've just read the first page, but what a goldmine!!! My dh would be so jelous ;) Well, not literally, not to have bees in our floor, but he wants to make a hive in one wall of our carriage house.

[LivingLoveandLogic]

I'm so glad he saved them too, given the shortage of bees and the risk to their overall survival right now.

[RedMamaBear]

I'm so glad he saved them too, given the shortage of bees and the risk to their overall survival right now.

Absolutely. I love how nature seems to find a way to keep on doing what it needs to do.

[PrincessEmilysMommy]

Holy crap! That's awesome yet scary. Wow!

[EvilAmy]

What LivingLoveandLogic said. That is absolutely awesome, I was watching a documentary (I really wish I could remember the title now) but it was in India and they kept a whole in their exterior wall that went into the interior and kept a small hive in it. The interior portion was seal off and when they went to harvest they chipped it out, removed the honeycomb and then resealed it.

[xobehs]

WOW! How very cool! I am glad they were not exterminated, honey bees are amazing being and need to be protected.
oh and YUM!

[still_me]

I still have goosebumps.

You know how you hear a sound in your house and cannot for the life of you find it? I wonder if those people kept hearing buzzing and couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Who sticks their ear to the floor to find it? And I wonder how pissed those bees got when they vacuumed over that part of the floor.

[Laurens_Mom]

Cool pictures. Thanks for sharing Judy.

[Racy]

That's friggin' cool. I want to see the queen!

Jecca would love this. :)

[vulturemom]

That is cool! Are the moving the hive? I hope so. with the shortage of bees it would be a shame to kill that many.

[samiam]

Ewww, my skin is crawling. I am cool with bees but that is a little much!

[firewife]

That is amazing! Thanks for sharing.

Last spring I stepped on a honey bee, and thought my world was going to end. I had my first every reaction to a bee sting.

But in the mean time, I felt bad for the bee. He we just doing his job and I got in the way. I love me some honey.

[LivingLoveandLogic]

EvilAmy, that sounds so cool, my dh would love that concept. I'm not sure our city neighbors would react very positively to his beekeeping. :(

Dh's Dad kept bees when dh was growing up, he worked with his Dad a lot. A few years ago his Dad decided to give away all of his beekeeping supplies and a fellow homeschool friend had just bought some property that used to be in dh's Mom's family (dh grew up going out there for family reunions every year). Anyway, our friends got all of the beekeeping equipment. I think dh sort of regrets it now, but the timing just wasn't right for us then.

[Oakenfoldgrl]

That was cool, but gave me the heeby jeebies! I hate bees with a passion. Love honey though!

[LivingLoveandLogic]

JJJ ~ You probably already know this, but eating local honey is supposed to help with allergies.

[daniela]

Ahh, I'm scared to death of bees!! I could not imagine.

[RedMamaBear]

JJJ ~ You probably already know this, but eating local honey is supposed to help with allergies.

DH2 has been eating raw bee pollen and it's made a huge impact with his spring time allergies. He's been really happy with the results.

[Elizabethdaisy]

Wow those are cool pics.

[TuetonicWillow]

My husband just told me he saw this on CNN.

off to check...

[camille97]

camille, do you carry an Epi-pen?



I had a bee sting kit when I was younger that I had to carry with me (in grade school). I don't have to anymore. Allergy shots really helped me. I saw a specialist weekly for shots when I was younger (ten or so). Now, when I get stung, I just swell up in that general location. The last time I was stung (by a yellowjacket), I stepped on it and my foot and leg swelled up to the knee. Couldn't wear a shoe for a week. :(

Much better than ending up in the hospital like what would have happened before the allergy shots.

[xobehs]

My husband just told me he saw this on CNN.

off to check...
there was a news story a couple weeks ago about a home infested with honey bees. It was a very small home- didn't look like that one at all.

[CanadianMom23]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing the pics Judy. I would be less than humane if they were in our house though. Logic and conversation goes out the window for me when I consider the risk of getting bugged.

[Carolina]

Wow! what a surprise! pretty cool. Yum, honey!

[Trollarious]

That is wild! Amazing.

[Tweet]

Wow, that is crazy!

[JudyJudyJudy]

JJJ ~ You probably already know this, but eating local honey is supposed to help with allergies.
Thanks. Yes, I found out that here on this board. I started eating some every day. At first it seemed to be making me sicker, but then after a while it no longer seemed to be doing that. It may be totally coincidental, but my seasonal allergies haven't been as bad this spring. Meanwhile, this year seems to be worse than ever for others, including dh, who is not usually bad. I'm going to keep eating my honey!

[HammBugga]

oh my god!

[Tiffearni]

Is this where all the bees have gone? hehe

That's creepy, but really neat too. I say if that were my house and I could afford it, (and it didn't endanger anyone) I'd totally let them have it. They make tons of those honey farm things, but this seems like it'd be so much better.


I could be totally wrong though of course. I don't know a ton about the business.


Those pics of the honey hive under the floor are just amazing. Thanks so much for sharing!

DH said, "I wonder if their insurance covers that!" ;)

[BoobySnacks]

Wow, that is crazy! My dh has some similar pics of when he had to remove a spa tub because the owners kept hearing a weird noise and their dog would bark continuously at the tub..come to find out, there was a bee nest in there too. They were all up in there and the owners never knew until way later. Yummy honey :)

[Still_Tbog]

Holy crap! :O

[BeachMama]

WHOAH!

Yes, cool and creepy.

[starfish]

Wow, Judy. I had to post just so I can express my amazement. That is one of the coolest things I ever saw. I am glad that bees were saved.

Hey! Where did all my posts go?

[Darcy_]

:eek2:Holy Cow!!
That is crazy! Thanks for sharing!

[EJglamMOM]

AWESOMENESS

When we were redoing our bedroom we tore down the old lath and plaster and were hoping to find something cool like MONEY in the walls, but we found honey instead. The bees were all dead and had been for awhile. about 10years before the previous owners had put blown in insulation in and drilled holes in the wall you could see where they drilled through the honey comb. It was a hive floor to ceiling. The room always had an odd sweet smell to it. Our house was built in 1876 so its hard telling when the hive was active.

[bocarioja]

http://www.addis-welt.de/smilie/smilie/mix/thud.gif

That is amazing. How someone found the queen in all that boggles my mind.

[JudyJudyJudy]

AWESOMENESS

When we were redoing our bedroom we tore down the old lath and plaster and were hoping to find something cool like MONEY in the walls, but we found honey instead. The bees were all dead and had been for awhile. about 10years before the previous owners had put blown in insulation in and drilled holes in the wall you could see where they drilled through the honey comb. It was a hive floor to ceiling. The room always had an odd sweet smell to it. Our house was built in 1876 so its hard telling when the hive was active.
That's pretty cool! Did you think to take pictures?

[JudyJudyJudy]

How someone found the queen in all that boggles my mind.
Mine, too!

[Babyhellfire]

Wow, Judy. I had to post just so I can express my amazement. That is one of the coolest things I ever saw. I am glad that bees were saved.

Hey! Where did all my posts go?
STARFISH!!!!
I've missed you!!!

[Bohemian]

Very Cool Judy! and bump! :)

[JudyJudyJudy]

Well, I don't know how to edit the title, but I'll try updating the thread. It turns out that there are between 60,000 and 80,000 bees and at least 175 pounds of honey!

Dh is supposed to pick up the hive on Thursday. I'm not exactly thrilled because I'm afraid they might still be peppery.