The Bartlett Bee Whisper, Danny Glover has a job that is fascinating, even though most of us would never consider doing it. He rescues honeybees in Western Tennessee, Northern Mississippi and Arkansas. After he rescues them from a residence or business, he doesn’t simply destroy them as a pest but he does something rather amazing. He relocates the empty hive and provides it to local beekeepers who suffer from colony losses.
Danny says: “Because I remove honeybees from homes, I feel that I am saving our supper every time I rescue a hive from a home,” David says. “The homeowners’ options, when they find a swarm in their house, are to call a pest control company and kill the bees, try to kill them with wasp sprays or to call a beekeeper. Call a beekeeper, please.”
At times, he will receive a call from a homeowner who is rather concerned about a problem with bees. That was what happened when he found this beehive that was located behind a solid brick wall. He decided to document the removal of the hive and share it with us. Even he was surprised at the massive size of the hive that was hiding behind the wall.
This was a rather delicate and daunting task because he had to remove the entire swarm of bees that live behind this brick wall on the exterior of the house. Local pest control services were unable to remove the hive and some of them even tried to kill the bees in the process.
He wrote on Facebook, “Here’s the wall. The pest control company has tried to kill the hive, unsuccessfully.”
“The bees were entering the wall via a weep hole between the bricks (dark area bottom/center) as well as via a gap between the bricks and the corner of the window.”
“Well, the large red spot is the brood area of the hive. The thin red line on the left is the weep hole entrance.”
“The first thing I did after smoking the entrances was to spray some Honey Bandit in the small hole I’m drilling in this photo.
“That helped keep the bees from running up the wall when I kicked on the hammer drill.”
“The first brick is out in one piece.”
“Two rows of bricks out.”
“Five rows out.”
“This is what I mean by AWESOME. The comb wasn’t overly-attached to the bricks AND this is one of the largest single pieces of comb I’ve ever seen!
“With the exception of seven narrow honey combs in the center top of the hive, this was two large flat combs.”
“At the bottom of the front comb were five of the thirteen capped queen cells in this hive.”
“Removing a slice of brood comb holding seven of the thirteen queen cells.
“On the left side of the hive I found a large number of dead bees. I assume this is where the pest control applicator tried to kill the colony.
“The wax prevented the spread of the pesticide.”
“Rubber banding the second brood comb.”
“At the vertical mid-line of the hive, the combs joined into a convoluted mess.
“Slow process removing combs in the middle section where they were all interconnected and tunneled. It’s like the construction crew in this part of the hive was dropping acid. No, that’s not an angel on my shoulder. That was a fun cluster of honey bees singing in my ear.
“These bees were extremely cooperative to be queenless.”
“At the vertical mid-line of the hive, the combs joined into a convoluted mess.
“Slow process removing combs in the middle section where they were all interconnected and tunneled. It’s like the construction crew in this part of the hive was dropping acid. No, that’s not an angel on my shoulder. That was a fun cluster of honey bees singing in my ear.
“These bees were extremely cooperative to be queenless.”
“At the vertical mid-line of the hive, the combs joined into a convoluted mess.
“Slow process removing combs in the middle section where they were all interconnected and tunneled. It’s like the construction crew in this part of the hive was dropping acid. No, that’s not an angel on my shoulder. That was a fun cluster of honey bees singing in my ear.
“These bees were extremely cooperative to be queenless.”
It’s amazing to see this done by a professional. We’re glad he was able to relocate the honeybees without hurting them.