HOUSTON - Honey bee experts say they uncovered a “bee village” Wednesday in the walls of an elderly woman’s southwest Houston home.
The retired longtime HISD administrative assistant says she had the bees removed in the past but they have continued to return in the over 40 years she has lived in the home.
“I don’t know what it is, but they’ve always kind of been around,” said homeowner Maude Mack.
Mack has been stung several times over the years when the bees have managed to get into her bedroom. She has been to the hospital multiple times this month and is in no shape to be stung again.
“They’re right over this closet, here and kind of over the bedroom,” Mack said as she showed where the bees have been building their hive. “It’s been a long, hard struggle.”
Walter Schumaker from the American Honey Bee Protection Agency in Austin drove to Mack’s home Thursday to remove the bees.
Schumaker and his crew first use smoke to calm the bees and then begin removing the massive hive in sections.
The pieces of the hive are then reassembled on the ground and made ready for transport to an apiary in Pearland where the bees will be relocated.
Shumaker says residents may start finding more hives in their homes this year following Hurricane Harvey. He says major weather events destroy the homes of honey bees, just like humans, and they are forced to relocate, often finding shelter in houses and places where there are abandoned hives.
Mack says she is grateful for the help, but she is still skeptical her insect tenants will be gone for good.
“I think they can always find themselves a way to come back,” Mack said.