LILLY, Pa. - Matthew Danchanko has squatters in his new home. And they won't leave without a fight. They're honeybees — tens of thousands of of them. They buzz through the four-bedroom house, creating a low hum and an estimated 100 pounds of honey.
Danchanko recently bought the house northeast of Johnstown, Pa. He planned to fix it up and move in. But shortly after he began renovating, the long-time residents of the house made it abundantly clear they had no intention of leaving.
Danchanko won't exterminate the unwanted guests because the honeybee population has significantly deteriorated this summer. Instead, he has found a local beekeeper who will remove the buzzing brood.
"I told that Danachanko guy to accept the honey as rent and sell it on the open market," said Dr. Wendell Flantdig of the Flornbi Institute of Insects, "but I also told him to keep a little for himself because it feels really good when you rub a little on your nipples and let your dog lick it off."
BANGOR, Pa. - A woman was dragging a lounge chair into the shade of a tree when a sudden buzzing told her it was already occupied — by thousands of bees. "They were swarming like crazy and I ran into the house," Sheila Sabatine said.
Though the bees hummed busily about, Sabatine was not stung, nor was her husband, Larry Sabatine, who also inspected the football-sized swarm before the two called Bethlehem beekeeper Joe Kuka.
Kuka said swarming bees generally are not aggressive, though he added, "I'm sure if she would have sat down in that chaise lounge she would have got up in a hurry."
Kuka said there were about 10,000 bees in the 3-pound swarm under the chair. He said he was glad the Sabatines did not spray the bees, since colonies are already being diminished by disease. Kuka took the bees home, where he keeps 40 hives.
Sheila Sabatine said she will keep the chair in the yard, but with new vigilance. "I'm going to check it every time I sit down," she said.
Dr. Wendell Flantdig of the Flornbi Institute of Insects said, "I have been repeatedly asked 'yo, homey, what the hell is up with all these bees in Pennsylvania?' Well, my theory is that they are headed for somewhere in New York."
