Latta, SC (WBTW) - Trials aren't the only things going on inside the walls of the historic Dillon County Courthouse these days.
Contractors working on the outside of the building discovered millions of honey bees had constructed a massive hive inside the cavities of the 100-year-old terra cotta stone wall on the building's exterior.
Frank Brockington, special projects manager for Dillon County, said workers discovered the bees this spring.
But the local buzz about the courthouse hive started again this month when workers began the painstaking process of removing the bees.
"We didn't want to kill them," Brockington said. "So we called in a beekeeper."
Latta resident Jim Allen, better known as "Uncle Jim" to local residents, has been in the beekeeping business for about 12 years.
He and four assistants began removing the bees Sept. 16 and discovered the bees had been residing in courthouse rooftop house for quite some time.
"We found evidence that bees have been living here for more than 10 years," he said.
World spread quickly through Dillon about the hive. Court officials even took time for their busy schedules to venture outside and see the work for themselves.
In honor of the bees, Brockington handed out jars of Allen's honey to bystanders on the courthouse lawn.
Curious onlookers asked the obvious question: how do you get that many bees that have lived there that long to leave - peacefully?
The beekeepers formed a plan ahead of time, as it was obvious the swarm didn't intend to make a beeline out of there.
"We have to physically cut the the honeycombs out piece by piece," Allen said. "We shake the bees off into a hive box we brought."
The beekeepers also had several young bees called broods on hand to encourage the bees into the boxes, he said.
"We brought a frame of brood. You see, the bees won't leave the brood even if it's from another hive," Allen said.
The beekeepers searched for the queen bee, knowing that if they found and removed her, the worker bees would follow her to their new home.
"If you leave the queen, the bees will go right back to the old nest," he said. "We searched for her and we couldn't find her."
Allen said the beekeepers never found the queen and think she might have been killed in the removal process.
It was highest hive he's ever seen in his years of beekeeping.
The process was easier because the courthouse bees weren't aggressive, Allen said.
"It was a very gentle strain of bees. We didn't even have to put our veils on," he said. "We've had some mean bees before."
And the reward was sweet for extracting the bees. Ed Wapniewski, the foreman on the project, said he and other workers couldn't resist sampling the honey from the nest.
"We actually sat there and ate some honey," he said, smiling. "We passed it around, shared it. And it was good."
Taking the honey from the bees is actually beneficial to the hive, Allen said.
The bees are now living with Allen at his Latta home where he raises bees for his business, Uncle Jim's Southern Honey.
Because the queen from this hive, was lost the new hive was combined with a weaker hive Allen owns. The weaker hive was "queen right," meaning it had a queen.
Queenless hives will fail, he said.
It seemed like a win-win situation for all involved, Allen said. And as work continues on the Dillon County Courthouse, the bees are busy making honey in their new home.
9/27/2009 2:59:58 PM
