Beekeepers remove gigantic beehive from warehouse wall

[unhappycamper]

http://www.wcvb.com/news/beekeepers-remove-gigantic-beehive-from-warehouse-wall/35622780



Richard Clapper lifts bees out of their new home in a manmade beehive after being removed from a giant beehive found in the wall of an upper floor at Pittsfield Furniture. According to Clapper, the hive is by far the largest wild beehive he has ever seen.

Beekeepers remove gigantic beehive from warehouse wall
UPDATED 3:50 PM EDT Oct 02, 2015

PITTSFIELD, Mass. —Two beekeepers have extracted roughly 100,000 bees from a giant hive in a wall on the third floor of a Massachusetts furniture store's warehouse.

The Berkshire Eagle reports the pair has worked this week to remove the nest that filled a bay window at Pittsfield Furniture's warehouse. The hive was likely several years old.

Richard Clapper and Ed Neumuth worked in stages, vacuuming up bees by the tens of thousands and discharging the creatures into beekeeping boxes. The pair planned to finish the job Friday.

The beekeepers found more than 100 pounds of honey in the hive. It was so much that Clapper was giving away honey fresh from the hive in jars to store employees.

[left on green only]

1. I Hope The Bees Will Be Safe

Our planet needs them very badly.

[Arkansas Granny]

2. They are a precious commodity.

A few years ago my daughter called to say that there was a swarm of bees settled in one of her trees. She called the local farm store who put her in touch with a beekeeper and within an hour he was there to collect them. Problem solved, bees saved.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

3. I would love to have a hive in one of my trees.

I remember how the yard used to literally swarm with bees on the clover when I was younger, and now I'm lucky if I see a dozen or so all summer long.

[Scuba]

4. This story is giving me quite a buzz. Go, bees, go!

[Duppers]

5. Sweet! They're saving & re-homing all the bees.

They'll bees safe out there.

[sarge43]

6. A hundred pounds of honey isn't that much

A gallon of honey weighs 12.5 pounds. The standard Langstroth hive contains minimum 60 pounds which is what the girls need to get through a winter. Honey bees don't hibernate.

A healthy active Langstroth hive will have a peak population o/a 60K.

Bless the bee keepers.

[StoneCarver]

7. I agree with you

As a beekeeper myself. I didn't find the story that amazing. 100 lbs of honey is not a lot. Some years you can get a lot of honey supers off a single hive and still leave 60 lbs behind -so the bees can survive winter (in Minnesota). But if the story makes people more aware of bees good job. Honey bees are the most gentle animal winter, spring, and summer. But in fall when you take their honey off they are just vicious.
Stonecarver

[sarge43]

8. Yeah, come fall and the girls go to DefCon One.

They busted butt all summer. Not about to let you steal their hard earned gold, not without fight anyway.

The word is getting out just how important they are.

[Baitball Blogger]

9. Save the bees!