Woman Finds 50,000 Bees in Her Apartment Ceiling

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Woman Finds 50,000 Bees in Her Apartment Ceiling
A bee works on a honeycomb on July 16, 2014, at the Gene Brandi Apiary in Los Banos, California. Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez

A woman in Queens, N.Y. found she had 50,000 extra roommates mooching rent-free in her apartment: honey bees that had assumed squatter's rights inside her ceiling.

Frieda Turkmenilli noticed the occasional bee buzzing around her apartment, but she could never have guessed what was lurking unseen above her head.

When neighbors noticed increased bee activity, they complained to building management. Soon after, professional beekeepers pinpointed, using special thermal imaging equipment, a bee colony with more than 12 honeycombs and an estimated 50,000 tenants living on the flipside of Turkmenilli's ceiling.

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