CAPE CORAL, FL—When Cami Kearns jetted back to her Florida home after some time away, she expected the usual: maybe a few cobwebs, a rogue lizard on the porch, or the classic “Florida smell” of humidity and regret. What she didn’t expect? Tens of thousands of European honeybees throwing a full-blown rager right outside her front door.
“I was dumbfounded,” Kearns said, which is Floridian for “I screamed, considered arson, then Googled ‘how to become a beekeeper in five minutes.'”
The bees had gone full HGTV on her property, constructing a hive so massive it could be seen from space (or at least by nosy neighbors peeking through their blinds). The sticky situation got even stickier when Kearns realized honey was seeping through the window screen. “I wasn’t here, so they basically squatted like it was a Miami Airbnb,” she mused.
Enter Matthew Anderson of Anderson Bee Removal, the unsung hero who showed up like a beekeeping Liam Neeson with a very specific set of skills. “If you have the queen, the rest will follow,” Anderson explained, proving that bees are just like middle schoolers at a Taylor Swift concert—total hive mind.
The hive itself? A chonky three feet tall and potentially weighing in at 50 pounds of pure, unfiltered nope. But Anderson assured everyone this was just a standard Florida “Tuesday.”
As for Kearns, she’s now an accidental bee expert. “I know more about bees now than I ever thought I would—or wanted to,” she admitted. Same, Cami. Same.
Meanwhile, the bees are probably packing their tiny suitcases, whispering, “We’ll be back,” because in Florida, even the wildlife knows how to make a dramatic exit. 🐝🏡