A total of 6,000 honeybees were removed from the 100-year-old Omaha home of a couple.
Marylu and Thomas Gouttierre explained to the Omaha World-Herald that they have been planting bee-friendly plants outside their midtown home but never expected the bees move in.
They likely entered the brick building through a crack in its mortar. After spotting many bees outside their kitchen window, the Gouttierres found around 30 in a second-floor bedroom.
Thomas Gouttierre is a former dean at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and used to be the Center for Afghanistan Studies.
Gouttierre stated that their first thought was to call a pest control company, but they’ve since read a lot about the importance of bees in pollinating the planet.
Two members of Omaha Bee Club were contacted by the couple, and they charged $600 for the safe relocation of the bees. Larry Cottle from Countryside Acres Aviary made a hole in the wall before Ryan Gilligan of Gilly’s Gold vacuumed and packed the bees into boxes to transport them. The wall contained three honeycombs measuring approximately 9 inches by 9 inches and 2 inches thick.
Gilligan uploaded video of the bee removal to YouTube.
Gilligan stated in the video caption that “we didn’t see [the queen] during the removal but it was found the next day.”
Gouttierre stated that he and his wife had tasted some honey before Gilligan brought the bees home.
Gilligan stated that he had removed bees from many homes, apartments, barns, and trees over the past seven-years. He had 15,000 bees in the last home he cleaned before the Gouttierres.
The decline of bee species is causing havoc around the globe. Research released last year found that up to 25% of all known bee species are not listed in global records, despite the increase in records.
