Standing a safe distance from the scaffold where Jim Fitzroy, president of the Beaver Valley Area Beekeepers Association, dug away at a feral honeybee hive behind the wall of the former Eighth Street Market in Braddock, Mayor John Fetterman wondered aloud if he should hit the deck when the wall came down.

"There isn't going to be a big swarm of a thousand bees rushing out of there when he gets that off?" Mr. Fetterman asked Robert Steffes, a member of Burgh Bees beekeeping club who was on hand to assist the removal.

Motioning toward Mr. Fitzroy, who used no protective gear as he pried away at the bee-infested plywood with a crowbar, Mr. Steffes joked, "Well, he doesn't think so."

Although no swarms ensued once the wall came down -- the bees were rendered docile by getting them drunk on their own honey, Burgh Bees volunteers said -- an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 bees were removed from the site at Talbot Avenue and Eighth Street to form new colonies in apiaries throughout the region, including one scheduled to open behind the former Convent at St. Michaels in Braddock this summer. Burgh Bees obtained funding for the apiary through an $8,000 grant from the Sprout Fund and has created a Braddock Bees chapter for when it opens.

Margaret McClelland, who lives nearby and stopped at the bee removal, said she was relieved she would no longer have to cross streets to avoid the bees, which moved into the wall at least three years ago.

"I walk every day and last year there were so many we would walk in the street when we walked down here," she said.

Mayor Fetterman said he was glad the new apiary will help the borough remove a public safety hazard, but he also said it can give area children an opportunity to learn the ins and outs of beekeeping. He said children participating in the borough's summer work program will have the opportunity to work in the apiary and any interested child can visit the facility to learn more about the trade on their own.

"I think it's a great opportunity to learn a great deal about nature. Not only nature, but the nature in your own back yard," he said.

Mr. Fetterman also expressed hopes that the honeybees can be used for research into honeybee colony collapse, a phenomenon that has wiped out millions of bees in the United States and Europe since 2006. No cause or cure for the collapse has been discovered yet.

Since the hive in Braddock has survived for so long without falling victim to collapse or other diseases that cause some colonies to fail, Mr. Steffes said, the beekeeping community can certainly learn something from them.

"These bees haven't been treated and most colonies have a bug mite problem. If we don't treat our colonies they die within maybe a year, but these bees seem to be able to resist the mites," he said, noting that beekeepers can look into the potential of using the Braddock bees to immunize other colonies.

As Mike Allen of Moon and other onlookers marveled at the bee removal, they wondered what beeswax could be used for and sucked raw honey directly out of layers of honeycomb. Despite their speculations, Meredith Grelli of Burgh Bees said she thought it's unlikely that a cottage industry of lucrative backyard beekeepers will spring up in Braddock.

"It's hard to make it as a backyard beekeeper. Most people spend all of their money buying more equipment," she said. "You have to do it for the love of bees and honey."