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'An empire': Huge 20kg find underneath shed floor

A beehive weighing just under 20kg was found in a very unlikely location during a rescue.

Mr and Mrs Bee Rescue is a company from San Diego, California, that removes bees and on TikTok, the couple has amassed over 700,000 followers.

In the video, which was shared at the start of May, Mr Bee Rescue, Jeff Russell, explained the homeowners had reached out to the company a few months back after suspecting a hive was under some flooring.

The homeowners initially thought the hive was about six months old, but by the time Mr and Mrs Bee Rescue were called it had been there for about a year.

Using a thermal camera, Mr Russell detects where the hive is under the floor and then starts cracking the floor open to find the queen, before removing the hive and the bees.

"That's not a bee hive. It's a bee empire," someone commented on the TikTok.

A beehive was found under the floor, the removalist suspected it had been there for several months. Source: TikTok/mr.mrs.beerescue
A beehive was found under the floor, the removalist suspected it had been there for several months. Source: TikTok/mr.mrs.beerescue

Even with just a slight opening the bees come rushing out and start swarming around him, prompting Mr Russell to check his protective gear is secure.

With the removal of just one plank of wood, a long and intricate hive is exposed, with the expert saying it's clearly "much older" than just a few months.

On the Mr and Mrs Bee Rescue blog, the couple explain they remove the bees by locating the queen and placing her in a "queen cage".

"Think of it as a really tricky game of Where’s Waldo," they say.

Pretty quickly, Mr Russell finds the queen amongst all the other bees and points it out to those watching on TikTok.

"I haven't even pulled any [honey] comb off the hive yet and there she is, you see the hive is still intact," he says before putting her in her own little cage.

After the queen bee was captured, the rescue was pretty easy. Source
After the queen bee was captured, the rescue was pretty easy. Source" TikTok/mr.mrs.beerescue

He then carefully begins dismantling the hive before setting up a box with a small opening which the bees begin piling into.

"Getting the queen so early like this just makes life a lot easier and see, I didn't even have to scoop these up off the board, which would have been tricky," he says.

"All I have to do is set up the box right next to them and they smell the queen."

He then moves the box to the other end of the hive, so the remaining bees have a chance to go to their queen.

After all the bees go up the makeshift ramp into the box, Mr Russell was able to weigh the hive, which came in at 42 pounds, or around 19kg.

"Just comb, not including the weight of the bees, so that was a lot of comb to be squeezed into a tight little space like that," he says.

Mr and Mrs Bee Rescue emphasise the importance of safely removing bees, instead of exterminating them.

The couple has done all kinds of rescues and relocations — they recently removed a beehive from underneath a BBQ lid and relocated 50,000 bees from a McDonald's sign.

On the company's website, it is explained the bees are donated to local beekeepers after the removal.

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