A peaceful cohabitation came to an end when the bees left their roof abode and started stinging the landlord.
By Associated Press
Published June 10, 2004
WEST PALM BEACH - Lake Worth resident Norm Gitzen didn't mind the more than half a million bees living in the roof of his house.
Rather, he said, they were "kind of mesmerizing," and he often sweetened his morning coffee with honey dripping from the hives.
But when the bees started coming into the house, stinging him and his nephew, his love of that cohabitation changed.
Local beekeepers started removing at least 700,000 bees from a tower above his breakfast nook Tuesday, filling four buckets with honey weighing close to 65 pounds.
"This will become a fantastic nuisance ... because they will grow and grow," said Palm Beach County Beekeepers Association president Ute Hartmann.
The weight of the hives could collapse Gitzen's roof, while the honey could attract ants and rodents, Hartmann said.
Valentine Toncz, who helped remove the bees, will keep half of them, Gitzen said, while the rest will be returned to his house - in bee boxes.
State law requires bees to be kept in boxes with movable frames, inspected annually for mites and other honeybee pests.
