Jaw-dropping discovery made inside walls of historic Maine home during renovation
A huge, decades-old bee colony was discovered within the walls of a building. Maine farm.
The hive containing more than 40,000 bees was located in a house on Smiling Hill Farm in Westbrook, officials said. WMTW.
Photos show how the swarm and honeycomb are incorporated into the structure of the farm.
“There have been bees in this house for over 60 years, maybe longer. Maybe 70 or 80,” Michael Knight, whose family owns the home, told the local outlet.
The family enlisted the help of local agricultural service Bee Huggah to safely remove the insects.
Bees were discovered living in the interior of the building at Smiling Hill Farm (pictured) in Westbrook, Maine
More than 40,000 bees and an immense amount of honeycomb embedded in the structure
“I believe these bees are worth saving for a number of different reasons,” said beekeeper Andrew MacDonald. “They have medicinal value and they pollinate our crops.”
MacDonald moved the bees to a hive outside the house, where they will remain until they can be moved elsewhere on the farm.
A similar situation occurred earlier this year, when a beekeeper found tens of thousands of honeybees above his child’s bedroom.
The North Carolina beekeeper discovered about 60,000 honeybees after three-year-old Saylor Class claimed there were “monsters in the wall” of her Charlotte home.
According to the BBC, her mother Ashley Massis Class thought nothing of what her daughter said and even gave her a bottle of water so she could spray the monsters away at night.
The family enlisted the help of local agricultural service Bee Huggah to safely remove the insects
The bees were moved to a hive outside the house, where they will remain until they can be moved elsewhere on the farm.
The family has since gone viral on TikTok after Ashley posted a video of the discovery and clips from the aftermath.
“They just came pouring in like something out of a horror movie,” Class told the BBC.
According to Class, the honeybees damaged the home’s electrical wiring, causing more than $20,000 in damage.
Ashley and her husband discovered that the monsters could be bees after Ashley discovered groups of the insects in her chimney and attic.
Saylor’s parents began to believe that the three-year-old could hear honeybees buzzing near the ceiling of her bedroom. They called a pest control company, which confirmed the “monsters.”