Thousands of bees found in North Penn High School brickwork – NBC10 Philadelphia
There is a lot of activity at a local high school.
A swarm of honey bees infested two classrooms at a Montgomery County high school, forcing students to evacuate.
Officials at North Penn High School in Montgomery County told NBC10 that the honey bees were found in two classrooms on August 26.
During a school board meeting, officials said there were about 10,000 bees in classrooms.
“We always have one or two bees or one or two wasps in a classroom at a time, but this was unprecedented. When you stood in the room before they removed all the bees from the room, you could just hear all the bees buzzing. It sounded like a hive. Very interesting,” Director of Facilities and Operations Tom Scheider explained in the meeting.
It is believed that the bees entered the walls of the high school through so-called “external drip holes” before building their hive.
“This was a pretty large colony. We get a significant heat signature from this brick. Fortunately, we can pinpoint exactly where these bees are and adjust our removal process accordingly,” said Craig McCorkle of Liberty Bell Beekeepers.
McCorkle was tasked with removing the hive. He estimates that there are more than 50,000 honey bees in a hive the size of a large cold storage room within the school walls.
Officials said they believe the queen bee is in the hive, which is located between the block wall and the bricks, along with up to 60,000 other bees.
“We have to cut open the brick and remove it,” McCorkle said. “We’ll use a safe collection vacuum to collect all the bees, and then remove the comb, honey and any byproducts that are in the space. We’ll refill that space to prevent bees from coming back.”
Officials said the bees found in classrooms were removed but eventually returned to one of the rooms. The class assigned to the room was temporarily relocated.
The hive is scheduled to be removed from the school on Friday, August 30. McCorkle says the process will take at least six hours.
He plans to return the bees to his facility in Tacony, where they will continue to live.