The whole hospital was buzzing. A ward broke out into hives. A recent infestation at a Welsh hospital was catnip to punsters—and Outliers couldn’t resist, either.
Patients at Rookwood Hospital in Cardiff knew something was amiss recently when a sticky substance appeared on the walls of their ward—it was honey.
So beekeepers were summoned to the hospital, where they found a large colony of bees in the roof. Abigail Reade of the Tree Bee Society charity told the Associated Press that honey was “dripping through the ceiling tiles; it was dripping down the walls.”
“When we arrived there were tarps up to catch the honey before it fell through onto the floor and towels to catch where it was running down the walls and pooling.”
She said the hive had gone unnoticed for up to five years. It’s thought warm summer weather melted some of the wax, releasing the honey.
Beekeepers from the society removed some 70,000 bees by cutting a hole in the roof. A second colony of about 50,000 bees was later removed from another part of the hospital. In all, the work took about two weeks.
The bees’ new residence lies about 200 miles north of Cardiff in a 10-acre West Lancashire field the society bought as a home for displaced bees.
And the hive found at the hospital won’t go to waste—the society uses wax from removed hives to make soap, candles and hand cream.