Recently, the owner of a residence in Scotland discovered a group of bees entering the property and sought help from experts. Upon inspection, experts found that there were a whopping 180,000 bees living above the ceiling of the house, a hidden colony that could have been there for up to 7 years without anyone knowing.
According to the Scottish newspaper “The Press and Journal,” a homeowner in Westhill noticed bees flying into his bathroom a few weeks ago. He immediately reached out to Andrew Card, the owner of Loch Ness Honey Company, for assistance.
After arriving at the scene, Card used a thermal imaging tool to locate the bee colony and then opened the ceiling to assess the situation. To his astonishment, he discovered three enormous beehives above the ceiling. Each hive housed approximately 50,000 to 60,000 bees, measuring between 6 to 8 feet in size.
Card revealed that one of the hives had been established for around 7 years, while the other two were more recent formations. This was the largest bee habitat he had encountered to date.
He shared images of the bees on Instagram, showing the densely packed bees that left viewers amazed.
(CardTopImages)
Card commented, “It’s even bigger than I anticipated. There are between 150,000 to 180,000 bees. A good colony should have around 50,000 bees at this time of year, so its scale is definitely quite large.”
Card and his friends spent two days carefully relocating the bees to a temporary hive in order to extract beeswax and honey from the hives. Due to the hot weather and the hives being located on the ceiling, both men were drenched in honey during the operation.
The bees will be quarantined for approximately 6 weeks and undergo parasite testing before they can join the honey production line next year.
Card urged anyone who discovers a bee colony to take immediate action to help protect the species. He emphasized the importance of contacting beekeepers to handle bee colonies.