BOSTON -- A massive beehive was removed from a church in Lancaster on Thursday.

The hive, estimated to be 2 feet wide by 6 feet long and about 9 inches deep, was found in the eaves and roof of the First Church of Christ Unitarian. It was moved to a bee farm in Leominster, the Telegram and Gazette reported.

“(It was) the biggest natural nest that I have ever seen,” Shawn P. Bernard, an organic beekeeper from Leominster hired to move the bees, told the paper.

Using cranes, crews carefully removed slate tiles and roofing from the 1816 church to cut out sections of honeycomb, vacuum up bees and to look for the queen.

Church caretaker John W. Spencer said the hive was about 15 years old and efforts to kill it five years ago using chemicals failed, the paper reported.

After hours of careful excavation, the queen and about 100,000 worker bees had been removed and were on their way to their new home in Leominster, the paper reported.

The church was designed by Charles Bulfinch and built in 1816 and is being renovated by Murray Brothers of Leominster, experts in historic building restoration work.