For months, a colony inside the wall beside Don Lewis’s bedroom window made it hard for the Houston retiree to sleep. Bees had been gathering around his home in the 5600 block of Malmedy Road, and the colony had taken hold in the wall.
Lewis, a retiree and former City of Houston employee, sought help through 2 Helps You, according to Click2Houston. The referral brought in Bee'n Green, a Houston-area company owned by Travis Feiner that removes bees and moves them into a new box environment rather than simply exterminating them.
Feiner estimated the colony had been in the wall for at least six months. He and his son Justin dismantled the hive and removed the colony, the outlet reported.
What Was Hiding Inside the Wall
The pair found honeycomb in two shades: lighter comb that had formed more recently and darker, older comb, according to the report. The Conversation describes honeybees building out wax cells over time; that general explanation does not establish comb color as a reliable way to date it.
By the time Bee'n Green finished, the honeycomb had been removed from inside the wall entirely, and the colony itself was gone. Lewis got his bedroom back after months of dealing with the unwelcome guests next to his window, the same report notes.
A Retiree's Relief
“Man, I can sleep tonight. It's wonderful,” Lewis said, according to the outlet. He expressed gratitude to Feiner and Bee'n Green for resolving the problem and also thanked Mario Díaz for helping get it addressed.
The Houston-area removal was not the only large wall colony Bee'n Green has handled. In a separate League City case, Click2Houston reported that the company used specialized equipment to vacuum tens of thousands of bees for relocation; thermal imaging helped locate the colony inside the wall.
How Big Can These Colonies Get
Cases like Lewis's aren't as rare as homeowners might hope. A North Carolina family once discovered more than 50,000 bees had built a hive inside the wall of their daughter's bedroom, a colony that had been growing for roughly eight months before anyone realized what was happening, according to The Guardian. Beekeepers there ultimately removed tens of thousands of bees over several extractions along with a honeycomb weighing more than 100 pounds, and the bees were relocated to a bee sanctuary once the job was done.
The North Carolina infestation also caused about $20,000 in damage to electrical wiring from bees and oozing honey; homeowners insurance did not cover the damage, according to The Guardian. In Lewis’s case, the colony was removed and the bedroom was usable again.
What homeowners in Texas should know
The Texas Apiary Inspection Service says a beekeeper must maintain current TAIS registration to legally perform bee removal in Texas. TAIS also cautions that its public bee-removal list is not an endorsement and that the agency does not assess listed beekeepers’ qualifications or removal training. The cited guidance addresses registration and the list; it does not specify whether comb should be removed or how a wall cavity should be repaired. For insurance context, the Texas Department of Insurance says home policies will not pay for repairs when rodents or insects chew on a house. That general statement does not specify how an individual policy treats damage from bees or honeycomb.
