bees

30,000 Bees Stuck In Victoria Clayton's Attic (PHOTOS)

Victoria Clayton had a honey of a problem recently: 30,000 bees in the attic of her home in Cape May, N.J.

When Clayton, who lives in the 19th century home with her boyfriend, Richard White, decided to do a sting operation of sorts after they noticed an unusually large number of bees in their flower and herb gardens this spring, and spied a constant stream headed toward a third-floor laundry vent.

Turns out there were around 30,000 bees living in the attic with more than 25 pounds of honey and honeycomb under the floorboards.

"I could not believe that it took probably a year or less for these tiny little bees to build such an elaborate comb," Clayton told Newsworks. "It was the most beautiful sight I'd ever seen. I hated to see them go."

But go they must, according to Gary Schempp, the bee removal expert called in to remove the thriving hive.

"If the bees had been allowed to keep adding on to the hive, [the owners] would have eventually had honey dripping from the ceilings and that could have caused dry rot and attracted other insects and rodents," Schempp told The Huffington Post.