8-Foot-Long Beehive Discovered inside the Walls of an Apartment

It could supposedly support up to 150,000 bees, if fully occupied.

| Feb 28, 2020 09:03 AM EST

Created: Feb 28, 2020 09:03 AM EST

The beehive found in the apartmentVirginia Wildlife Management and Control/Facebook

If you noticed bees flying out of the ducts of an apartment, you'd most likely be a little preoccupied. So it comes as no surprise that residents in Richmond, Virginia called a pest control company on Monday asking for them to check up on what was going on.

It turns out there was an eight-foot-long beehive wedged inside an apartment's ceiling. The Virginia Wildlife Management and Control pest company reports to have removed the beehive from the apartment.

The hive could produce up to 100 pounds of honey

The Virginia Wildlife Management and Control company claims to have removed the massive beehive from the living room ceiling of an apartment that was in between tenants.

8-Foot-Long Beehive Discovered inside the Walls of an Apartment — The beehive in the rafters, *Source: Virginia Wildlife Management and Control/Facebook*

According to the pest control company, this hive could produce between 80 and 100 pounds of honey, unfortunately, only around 15 to 20 pounds were able to be salvaged from it. Moreover, Rich Perry, the owner of the wildlife control company told the Charlotte Observer that the hive could have housed between 100,000 and 150,000 bees at its full capacity. Perry stated that the hive was not fully occupied at the time they found it.

This isn't a natural or regular occurrence in Virginia, as Perry mentioned that having such a large hive inside of a building is, in fact, "extremely unusual". This was an Italian bees hive that looked to be about two years old. The bees were able to create their cozy nest by buzzing in through holes in the siding, then creating their home between the rafters and sheetrock inside the living room ceiling.

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Perry's company operates on a no-kill basis, however, as they weren't able to locate the Queen bee the hive was not able to be saved.

Beehives are an impressive feat of nature and engineering, and it's always a shame to see such wonderful creatures lose their homes in such a way. That said, not many people would welcome bees swarming in and out of their walls on a regular basis.