160,000 bees found living in 15-foot long honeycomb in chimney

Around 160,000 honeybees have been found living in a chimney - in a 15ft long colony of honeycomb!

The honeycomb stretches right from the bricked-up fireplace of the house, to the top of the chimney.

The house was recently bought, with the new owner unaware that the bees had built an empire in the fireplace.

The owner wanted to save the bees so brought in beekeeper, Peter - who's already been stung 160 times while trying to move the bees.

The scale of the problem was only realised when Peter started taking the bricks out of the chimney of the house in Groby, near Leicester.

So far he has rescued about 75,000 bees – using his own special vacuummachine – and he needs to recover the queen shortly so the hive staysfunctional.

Peter has been stung 160 times so far and has recovered around 75,000 of the bees Credit: BPM Media

Peter is using special boxes to create a portable hive containing boththe bees and the honeycomb and he will take it to a farm at MarketBosworth, where he hopes the bees will thrive surrounded by wildflowermeadows.