Last year my home had a pretty significant bee infestation. The bees were inside the wall of my kids’ play room. I noticed them when they broke through the wall and started buzzing around the room. Well, truth be told, it was my youngest child who noticed them first. He came down and told me there were bees up in the room. I sincerely thought he meant one or two and that maybe he left a window open and they came in that way. Anyway, I wish that was the case. When I went upstairs to check it out, I realized he was not exaggerating. Not at all. I read online and contemplated exterminating the bees myself. However, I ended up calling an exterminator who came out to our home a day later and got rid of the bees. He had to come back a second time actually (a couple of days later) as some of the bees were apparently tougher than nails and had more fight in them than anyone originally thought.
If your house or yard has a bee infestation, you may be very anxious to get rid of them. Bee stings can be life-threatening to those with allergies. But even if you or your family are not allergic, bee stings are painful, and even just the buzzing of bees can be annoying. However, removing bees is a delicate situation because of their ability to harm you and the benefit that bees provide to local ecosystems. Hopefully, this article can help you figure out the best way to rid your property of bees.
Step One: Prevention
If you don’t already have a bee problem, make sure it stays that way. Bees need sweet food, so don’t allow any sweets to remain out and exposed. Close open containers and put them away if possible. Take out your trash regularly, especially if you’re throwing away food, and clean out your trash cans when/if needed both inside and outside the house. If you don’t want bees near your house, make sure you’re not giving them a reason to hang around.
Another preventative tip is to paint or treat exposed wood, as carpenter bees prefer unpainted and untreated wood for their nests.
Step Two: Identification
If you’re past the prevention point, you need to figure out how to best exterminate the bees. You will need to know the difference between the various types of bees to determine the best way to eradicate them. Exterminating bees is no small task but it can be done. The three most common types of bees are bumblebees, honeybees, and carpenter bees.
Bumblebees
Bumblebees are one of the larger types of bees. They can be ½ inch to 1 inch long. Their bodies are black behind their wings, and then they’ll have up to three yellow stripes after that. Bumblebees build their hives at ground level generally. They have smaller hives than honeybees, although that can still mean hundreds of bees to a hive. They will only sting when they are provoked, but they can sting multiple times.
Honeybees
Honeybees are much smaller than bumblebees or carpenter bees. Honeybees rarely make their hives in homes, but it might be in an attic, wall, or crawl space if they do. Only the worker bees can sting, and only when provoked. Unlike bumblebees, when a honeybee stings, it kills the bee.
Carpenter Bees
Carpenter bees are the same size as bumblebees but not as fuzzy. The topside of a carpenter bee’s abdomen is shiny black, and they have a black dot on the top of the thorax. Carpenter bees are solitary bees. They don’t build hives like the other two major types of bees, but they burrow into wood instead. Carpenter bees will drill a round tunnel, around ½ inch wide, then build additional “galleries,” or a series of small tunnels, to raise young bees. Each individual hole does not create much damage. Still, when multiple carpenter bees show up, their collective damage can wreak havoc on the wood in your home. The good news is that only female carpenter bees can sting and only do so when provoked. If you’re looking for the carpenter bees nest, follow your ears. Male carpenter bees hover and buzz close to the nest to protect it.
Step Three: Take Action
Once you’ve identified the problem, you need to take action to rid your property of the bees. There are three basic options on how to proceed: remove the bees, repel the bees, or kill the bees.
Whatever your choice, the primary consideration should be safety. Make sure children and pets are out of the area before beginning any actions related to the bees. Wear protective gear, if at all possible. If you’re working at night, use a red light as your illumination source, not a regular flashlight. Bees cannot see red, so they will not be angered by the red light as they might be if a traditional white light is used. Finally, do not seal the exit of a beehive or tunnel system. The bees will find a way out, and closing the exit may cause more harm than good.
Remove The Bees
Removal is a popular choice because of how valuable bees are to the local ecosystem. Bees are beneficial pollinators, so bee experts advise that you try to remove and relocate bees instead of killing them. You can call a professional for removal or use a bee trap.
You can commercially purchase bee traps, or you can make your own. What kind of trap you will use depends on what type of bee you have determined your pests to be. For example, in making your own trap, you can use a 2-liter plastic bottle for bumblebees and honeybees, but carpenter bees will require a wood trap.
If you do remove the bees, make sure any hives with honey are quickly and completely removed to avoid damage to your property.
Repel The Bees
Like with ants, mosquitoes and many other insects, there are a few natural ways to repel bees. This may be helpful at the beginning of a bee infestation, or if the problem is not too widespread.
A few scents that repel bees are cucumber, peppermint, or tea tree oil. You can set out cucumbers, cucumber peels, or cotton balls soaked in peppermint or tea tree oil near the bees to send them away from the area. You can also burn citronella candles to repel bees, as they are not fond of the scent.
Adding vinegar to water and setting it in small containers near the bees can also help repel the bees. Finally, smoke is a bee repellant but is only a temporary solution. The bees will likely come back once the smoke has cleared.
Kill The Bees
As a last-ditch solution, you may want to try exterminating the bees that have invaded your space. There are sprays or powders that are commercially available to kill bees. You may have to reapply the spray or powder several times to ensure all of the bees are dead before removal. A bug zapper may also kill bees but may work more slowly than a spray.
Hire a Professional Exterminator
Most professional exterminators have been exterminating bees professionally for a long time. They are well trained and most likely have seen far worse situations before. Because it may be fairly dangerous to try to remove and relocate or exterminate bees by yourself, calling in a professional to do it for you may be a very good idea. Professional exterminators can easily determine whether the bees buzzing around your property are those of the harmful or beneficial kind. Companies like Orkin or Terminix have solid reputations. You may also want to do a quick internet search to see if there is another local company servicing your area.
Products That Can Help Remove, Repel, or Kill Bees
Exterminating bees do not have to be as hard of a task as many make it out to be. As mentioned previously, there are a number of quality products on the market currently – from bee traps, to sprays and powders. Below are a few products (all links to Amazon.com).
Lethal Bee Traps
| Outdoor Wasp and Bee Trap – By: Bee Coline | TrapStik for Wasps and Carpenter Bees – By: Rescue |
Honeybee Traps (Non Lethal)
| Swarm Trap – By: Hilitand |
Bee Sprays
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Wasp, Hornet, Yellow Jacket and Bee Killer Spray – By: HARRIS |
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| Carpenter Bee & Ground-Nesting Yellowjacket Killer Foaming Aerosol – By: Spectracide |
Bee Powder
| Spider & Ground Bee Killer – By: Bonide | Tempo 1% Dust – By: Bayer |
In Conclusion
Bees benefit the environment, but they can be a pest if they are in or on your property. When they are buzzing around outside the home, there are many products you can use to rid yourself and family of these creatures. Inside the home, however, perhaps calling a professional may be in order. I hope this article has been helpful. Exterminating bees is something most of us have had to do or research how to do it right.
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