Bees invade building under construction near Galleria

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Crane operators face a dangerous job, being high above the ground. But some are facing a new threat - killer bees! They swarmed a crane working on a building in the Galleria area.

Along with the banging of hammers and the whirling of drills, there was a constant buzz at the Galleria-area construction site from a menace that was living way up high.

"I've noticed there's been a lot of bees around the top up there," said Alex Cochran, superintendent of the site.

"A lot" turned out to be 5,000 honey bees that decided this new building made a perfect home. They settled in 20 stories up, making their hive in a crane whose operator was getting sick of being stung.

"He got one on his wrist and one on his shoulder," Cochran said.

It was time to call in an expert when the hive doubled in size.

"The bee hive was about a size of a softball yesterday and today it's about the size of a basketball," Cochran said.

That many bees would frighten most people.

"Every time you do a bee job, you're gonna get stung," Gotcha Pest Control owner Claude Griffin said.

But for Griffin, this is the most fun he can have on the job.

"I just gotta do a vacuum situation and suck her out," he said.

He and his coworker suited up, climbing the crane to get to the bees, and within about a half an hour, they vacuumed the insects into a cage and made the trip back down, buzzing with pride.

"These people needed to get rid of these bees, these bees were really gonna cause some problems," Griffin said.

Now the workers here can focus on their job without being bugged.

Those pest removal experts tell us this area is very popular for bees for a good reason. They remove a lot of hives here because people maintain the flowers so well that it is bee paradise.

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local, katie mccall

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