California Man Removes 50,000 Bees From His Home [VIDEO]

By Eric Brown | July 12 2012 9:48 PM

When Larry Chen, a 27-year-old photojournalist from Los Angeles, noticed bees buzzing around his window, he expected he might have a problem on his hands. What he didn't expect was an infestation of 50,000 of the insects living inside his house.

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I'm not really terrified of the bees. ... I just remained calm, and I figured they wouldn't bother me too much. ... I got stung once, but I was more curious about how big the hive actually was. I figured it was just a small clump of 1,000 or so, Chen said.

When Chen realized the extent of the infestation, he hired a professional to assess the situation. After seeing a documentary on bee endangerment, Chen decided to have the bees safely removed rather than exterminating them.

So Chen turned to Craigslist to find a professional, ultimately enlisting the help of Mike the Bee Guy. Mike works with Backwards Beekeepers, a rescue group that also helps educate the public on bee safety. Mike agreed to remove the bees in a safe and humane manner.

And because Chen is a journalist, he decided to document the entire process.

Chen's video is absolutely fascinating. It shows every step of Mike's removal, from the first entry into the house's wall right up until all the bees are packed away in boxes for safe transport. Chen even manages to condense the five-hour bee-removal process into a five-minute video.

While it's a cool video, it might be a little hard to watch for anyone who is squeamish around bugs. So if you think seeing thousands of bees in one place will be difficult to watch, find another YouTube video.