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'Bee Whisperer' Removes Massive Honeycomb Hidden Behind Bricks of Home

By Kayla Kunkel October 3, 2018 at 3:26pm

When David Glover, otherwise known as “The Bartlett Bee Whisperer,” was called to remove a hive from the walls of a Germantown, Tennessee, home, he had no idea just how sticky of a situation he had gotten himself into.

While the honeybee population is concerning, there are local bee lovers — like Glover — who are committed to safely removing and relocating these vital pollinators rather than spraying their home with harmful pesticides.

Glover owns a company in the Memphis area that extracts bees from homes and trees and relocates them to local hive boxes, which is a much better solution for everyone involved.

A Germantown homeowner discovered bees coming in and out of a weeping hole in the brick exterior of their home. They called pest control who tried to kill the bees with pesticide, but the attempt was unsuccessful.

That’s when they called The Bartlett Bee Whisperer.

As soon as Glover arrived, he used a thermal imaging camera to locate exactly where the hive was located. That’s when he realized just how large the hive was.

Would you have called in an expert to safely remove the bees without killing them?

He then smoked the entrances and began removing the brick exterior piece by piece.

Luckily, most of the honeycomb wasn’t attached to the brick so he was able to remove the exterior with little damage.

“This is one of the largest single pieces of comb I’ve ever seen,” Glover wrote on Facebook. “With the exception of seven narrow honey combs in the center top of the hive, this was two large flat combs.”

Glover also identified a total of 13 capped queen cells in the hive!

The hive was mostly healthy except for the left side where he found a “large number” of dead bees. “I assume this is where the pest control applicator tried to kill the colony. The wax prevented the spread of the pesticide,” Glover wrote.

Some commenters asked why the comb needed to be removed at all. Glover responded that the entrances were “people high,” meaning that an innocent passerby would walk through the flight path increasing the probability of getting stung.

“If the entrance were 15 feet or higher then coexistence would be possible,” Glover explained.

After carefully removing the comb in pieces, he finished cleaning the wall and relocated the hive. According to Glover, the homeowner was “more than pleased” at the outcome.