They’re back…

An article appeared in last June’s edition in The Gatesville Messenger about the bee population inside the historic Coryell County Courthouse. It was reported that in the balcony area of the 52nd courtroom, honey could be seen seeping down the walls on the west side of the building which was coming from a massive beehive located in the attic. The hive was estimated to be 30 feet in circumference.

At that time, bee removal firms in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area as well as in Austin were contacted and all agreed that the only solution to removing the hive would be to cut a hole through the wall. That could not be considered an option due to the fact that the structure cannot be altered since the courthouse had been placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, and since that time has been protected by the Texas State Historical Commission. Therefore, there was no other way to remove the bees other than extermination.

According to courthouse steward and historian, Tiffany Butler, about two weeks ago, a live bee was found in the 52nd courtroom. “We went back to the third-floor balcony, and we noticed there was more honey on the inside windowsills and fresh bees flying in the balcony,” she said.

Butler noticed that the recently-detected honey seemed to be loose and not as thick as it had previously been and that the color seemed to have lightened — this being an indication that rain and moisture had seeped into the attic area around the hive.

“We were able to progress and have the Gatesville Fire Department, with the help of Chief Billy Vaden, to use their lateral lift truck to reach the outside third floor where they sealed anything off where bees could enter the building and also to prevent moisture and rain from getting into the building from those access points,” she said.

Butler continued, “County Judge Roger Miller is very much aware of what’s going on and definitely wants to do everything possible to preserve the building and make sure that they (the bees) don’t have an access point from the outside to come in and re-establish the hive, although we’re pretty sure that another queen has found her way back into the building.”

Snell and Vaden went up in the fire department’s lateral lift to seal off the gaps on the north and west sides of the courthouse.

“It was more important to do this from the outside, and that way we could block the bees and the moisture from coming in the building. The gaps need to be sealed completely,” Butler said.