A couple in Florida bade farewell to a colony of 80,000 honey bees that had invaded their shower wall.
The size of the colony astounded the professional beekeeper, who had enlisted the couple to get them out of the sticky situation.
Ms. Bixler said in an interview that there was honey everywhere. I had to pull the wall down to get the comb out.
She estimated there were 80,000 bees and 100 pounds of honey when she removed the seven foot tall hive. The discovery was reported by a television station.
Ms. Bixler, the owner of How's Your Day Honey, said she had to put down plastic coverings to keep the mess from getting worse.
In October, the Grahams contacted Ms. Bixler. The family has had bee episodes at their three-story beach house, which sits on stilts.
Ms. Graham said that her husband ripped open the wall in the bathroom and removed the hive. They had work done on their roof, which left some holes.
The couple, their two children and two Great Danes had learned to coexist with their houseguests despite occasional bee sting.
Ms. Graham said they both love nature and bees. We will leave you alone. You leave us alone. They were nice bees. We were like, "Sure, go ahead, live in our shower."
Ms. Graham said that the cohabitation had to end when the family renovated the bathroom.
Ms. Bixler was used to removing bees from trees, roofs and sheds.
Ms. Bixler said that this was her first shower removal.
Ms. Bixler pointed her thermal detector gun at the shower wall when she arrived at the home. She said that the temperature was typical for a hive.
She said that she broke away the tile and unveiled the seven-foot hive after seeing where they were. Most of it was honey.
Ms. Bixler spent more than five hours removing bees from the Grahams' house, a process that was not covered by insurance, and she warned the Grahams that they might want to make themselves scarce.
Ms. Bixler said that Ms. Graham peeked into the bathroom.
Ms. Graham said her family was not afraid. A lot of people would be frightened.
Ms. Bixler initially said she wore a veil to protect herself from bees. She wore gloves and boots after being stung.
She found the queen bee, whose abdomen was twice the size of regular bees. She put the queen in a protective cage and put the other bees in a box.
Ms. Bixler said that all the bees go into the box with her. She wants to go back in her room. She believes that is her home.
She used a vacuum to remove some of the stragglers.
Robert Page Jr., a professor of entomology at the University of California at Davis, said on Wednesday that the odors from the previous bee colony would have attracted new bees to the shower wall.
Professor Page said that waiting to call someone to remove bees from a colony has major drawbacks. He said that honey can ferment and cause odors that can attract ants.
A professor at Arizona State University said that they love honey bees, but not when they are in your wall.
Ms. Bixler saved a lot of the honey that she fed to the bees that she has rescued and keeps at her small urban farm. Some of the honey was held on to by the Grahams.
Ms. Bixler told them they could either bite into the comb or put it in a strainer and squeeze out the honey.
Ms. Bixler said that she nurses the bees that she rescues back to health.
Ms. Graham said that she had read about people telling bees about important events in their lives. She said she had become a bee whisperer when her houseguests left.
She said that she told the bees that they were getting a new house.
