35,000 Bees Found In Ceiling Space Of Brooklyn Apartment
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A mother and her son are still in shock after a few bees in their home led to the discovery of thousands more.
There were 35,000 bees buzzing in the ceiling space of Stuart Mulsack's mom's home on East 21st Street in Brooklyn, CBS2's Marc Liverman reported.
"You can definitely get goosebumps looking at them," Mulsack said. "You would imagine them crawling on you if you see how many.
"I was astonished. I couldn't believe it."
It was a shock to Mulsack and an even bigger one for Mickey the Beekeeper, the man in charge of getting rid of them. Mickey said he's never seen that many bees in one apartment.
"It was unbelievable," he said. "When I opened up the hole, I couldn't believe how many bees were in this lady's ceiling."
Getting the bees out took some serious skill.
He drilled some holes in the wall and more holes in the ceiling just to try to figure out exactly where the bees were coming from. Once he realized the bees were in the ceiling, he drilled a bigger hole. He then quarantined the area and was able to get both the hives and the bees out.
All of the bees swarmed around at least 30 sheets of honeycomb built around the ceiling.
"There's a buzzing noise, and it feels like it's making your hairs stand on your neck," Mulsack said.
But inside the home, that noise could not be heard because it was muffled by the ceiling and wall material.
So how did so many honeybees even get there in the first place? Mickey said that's pretty simple.
"All they need is a vacant space behind those bricks and they'll starting building comb and set up a hive," he said.
And they could have been living there for years.
Luckily, no one got hurt. And even though getting rid of them was a huge hassle, this bee story has a pretty sweet ending: Mulsack and his mom got to keep almost 60 pounds of honey.
"It's definitely something that we don't have to go to the supermarket and buy for a very long time," Mulsack said.
As for the bees, they were extracted using a specialized vacuum and brought to Mickey's backyard hives in Bed-Stuy.