Massive Tennessee Beehive Goes Viral

Imagine waking up one day and realizing you had about 30 feet of bees in your home. You read that right… not three inches or 30 inches, but 30 feet! That is exactly what happened in Whiteville, TN earlier this month after heat map signature was taken at a private residence. When the images showed up in the scan, they knew it would be big, but not this big!

Massive Honey Been Discovery

This is not the first time we have reported on a hive being found in a home, but I don’t recall ever reporting on a hive this massive. David Glover, who works for Bee Rescue and Removal, was calling in to run the removal, and even he was impressed with the size and quantity of the bees and the hive that had set root in this person’s home. Glover stated, “This is huge. This is the biggie. This is the big one.” He added, “That’s 30 linear feet plus the 15 inches between the studs.”

Bees Safely Removed

The best thing about this entire story is that the bees were safely removed from the home rather than exterminated. Additionally, Glover was able to contain a second group of honey bees that had swarmed the home after the first hive had been removed. Glover stated, “As we were finishing up the removal, another swarm of bees moved in and were trying to move into the house. So, we were able to capture a second queen in the swarm. So, we left with two complete colonies of bees.”

There was one more piece of good news that came from this as well… all the attention the story received will create even more awareness of the plight of the honey bee. Glover not only discussed how important it was to save these bees, but he also dropped a few lines bout the overall importance of honey bees to our agricultural world. He stated, “They’re very important. Not just to our ecosystem because we like honey but for agriculture. In 2018, that was worth about $29 billion of added agriculture just from the pollination services. So, these bees in people’s houses must get put back out on farms.”

We cannot stress enough how important it is to call the proper services when large hives are found or a swarm is spotted. If an exterminator is called, chances are all the bees will be destroyed. If a bee removal service is called, the bees will be saved and usually incorporated into a local beekeeper’s hives.

Source: WREG News 3, Photo via WREG Video Screenshot