A Historic Buzz: Thousands of Bees Rescued from Maine Farmhouse
In a remarkable discovery, tens of thousands of bees have been safely removed from the walls of a historic farmhouse at Smiling Hill Farm in Westbrook, Maine. According to WMTW, the estimated 40,000 bees had made the farmhouse their home for decades, creating quite the buzz for the Knight family, who have managed the farm since 1720.
A family’s longstanding connection
Marsha Knight, a member of the family, reminisced about the bees’ presence. “Marsha Knight … claims that those honey bees or other honey bees have been in that wall void ever since she was a young girl,” said Andrew MacDonald, owner of Bee Huggah, the company that removed the bees from the farmhouse, in a video posted to Facebook.
This sentiment was echoed by her brother, Michael Knight, who told WMTW, “For 60-plus years, there’s been bees in this house, and it might be longer than that. It might be 70 or 80.”
Rescue mission
The Knight family, valuing the bees’ ecological importance, sought MacDonald’s expertise to safely relocate the hive rather than destroy it. “I believe that these bees are worth saving for a number of different reasons,” MacDonald expressed to WMTW. “They have medicinal value, and they pollinate our crops.”
MacDonald successfully transferred the bees to a beehive box outside the farmhouse, where they are acclimating to their new environment. The Knight family plans to maintain the hive and eventually relocate it elsewhere on the farm, ensuring the bees continue to thrive.
This bee rescue highlights the importance of conservation and the Knight family’s commitment to preserving an essential part of their farm’s ecosystem, a story that resonates with both history and environmental stewardship.