Bees crawled across the Rev. Robert Free's arms and baseball cap as he stood calmly behind the Coshey-Nicholson Funeral Home on West Pittsburgh Street in Greensburg Friday afternoon.
"This is bigger than I usually get," Free said of the basketball-sized swarm of bees in front of him.
The pastor and beekeeper estimated that 60,000 bees had made a place for themselves on the side of the funeral home. He said a colony of bees sends a "scout bee" to find a better place for the group to live. That's how the buzzing horde made its way to Coshey-Nicholson.
The only way to eliminate the colony other than to transport it is to kill the queen bee, Free said. He said the queen lays up to 2,000 eggs a day, and the eggs hatch in about 21 days.
"I have to take them out of the building so they don't end up somewhere else," he said. "I'm going to save them instead of killing them."
Free has seven beeyards where he will distribute the bees. Some of those yards are on his property, while others are on different farms, he said.
Free arrived at the funeral home about 11 a.m. The rescue was still going on four hours later.
He said another colony of bees lives high on the funeral home's other side, but he won't be removing it. Coshey-Nicholson is one of about 10 places where he has been asked to remove bees, he said.
Pastor of Harrold Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church and a beekeeper for at least 10 years, Free admits he's drawn to dangerous hobbies.
"Before I was into bees, I was into skydiving," he said. "I guess I like living on the edge."
Free said his interest in beekeeping came about through friends.
"I was fishing with some of my friends and they were beekeepers," he said.
He has attended beekeeping conferences at Penn State University and consults with the Westmoreland County Beekeepers Association.
Free sells the bees' honey, giving proceeds to a charity to end world hunger. His most recent sale enabled him to donate $1,800.
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