Posted on 02/06/2017 11:07:29 PM PST by nickcarraway
A Texas homeowner found herself in a sticky situation after calling for help with what she thought was going to be a simple roof repair.
When roofers went out to Latanja Levine's Houston-area house, they made a startling discovery, according to KIAH.
"They discovered there was a bee problem, told me that (they) couldn't do anything on the roof until something was done with the bees," Levine said.
Levine said professionals were able to remove much of the hive and close off the bees' access to the home, allowing the roofers to get back to work.
But, when Levine returned to her two-story house, she found honey dripping down the walls.
"It's coming in from the ceiling," she said. "I'm mopping it up, mopping the walls. It's all over the curtains here — just honey. (The curtains are) probably ruined."
KIAH video shows the sweet substance pouring down the walls in thin, straight lines and creating sticky puddles on the floor.
"You can see it's coming through cracks and crevices in the crown molding," Levine said.
Workers tried to find a way to remove the bees without killing them.
"Behind me is where they pulled out the bees, they smoked them out and put them directly into their colonies. There must've been 50,000 bees, and they were swarming everywhere but I asked them if they got the queen bee," Levine said.
The answer was 'no.'
Until the queen bee is evicted, Levine may not have much luck getting her house back.
"I'd like any help with a solution," Levine said, "Because, I don't know what to do."
You have not lived until you have spent a Texas summer day laying on your stomach in a short attic doing a bee removal.
Even with the bee suit, you still get stung, you are pouring sweat and the sweat just mixes with fiberglass insulation and honey all over your body. And then there is the buzzing, it’s constant and deafening, and you continue to hear it for days.
Wow, that sounds rough.
And it’s dark.
You can’t wear a headlamp as it will only attract the bees to your face.
Offset lights draw the bees away and they cover up the light.
You turn on a flashlight for a second or two, get the image of the comb in your mind and then cut it out blind and by memory.
Doesn’t bode well for people aspiring to move to the Lone Star State...Don’t mess with Texas :(
She’s pretty much up bee creek with no paddle. Been through this in two different homes. Sometimes the walls have to be rebuilt. If the bees still smell the honey they will attempt to come back. For years. Sometimes even if there is no honey to smell, and the ways in are sealed, they will still return to the former hive by “bee gps” and when they can’t get in, buzz there until nightfall then drop dead. This happened at our last beach house, where each morning out by the garage, right under the place on the second story where there ONCE was a bee hive, we would need to sweep up 50-100 dead bees. They didn’t return to where they came from; they just flew like helicopters in place outside the place until their wings gave out and died.
Cut outs are not fun. I assisted with one in a house where they had gotten into the attic. Bad news. And the bees will come back in the future.
It's sounds like you're trying to make it like riding a thrilling roller coaster. Sorry, I've "lived" and it had nothing to do with Texas or bees.
Too bad they are married.
It sounds like the removal people they hired did a really sloppy job, came in and just removed the bees but did not remove the comb, etc. As beekeepers, we get calls to do honeybee removal, but will turn down the job if bees have already built comb in a structure in a hard to reach area. In that case we refer them to someone with the knowledge and tools to do a complete clean out that most often requires cutting out parts in the structure and rebuilding afterwards. Part of the responsibility lies on the homeowners to do regular maintenance inspections on their homes and be aware of any evidence of bees going in and out, if you catch it early before they build a lot of comb and store a lot of honey you can avoid the problem this lady had.
My husbands aunt who died left us her house. Bees had been going in and out of the bedroom wall for years (per the neighbor)through the electric meter. There were 80000 bees between the walls. We had a bee man come out and he used a vacuum to remove the bees which he took away plus many 5 gallon buckets of honey. He said that the recycled honey would be used to feed other hives and the queen would be used to start a new colony. Very interesting process. Hats off to the bees and the bee men and women.
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