As a bee specialist, I'm often asked how to get rid of bees!
Here you can find common areas honey bees move into; helps are provided on how to get rid of honey bees per each location.
Learn how to prevent bees before they move in, as well as how to avoid recurring bee problems & keep from getting bees.
Honeybees often split off from their existing beehive colony, and migrate as a swarm of bees to a new location. This can be observed as thousands of bees traveling as a swarm with a sort of circular motion to keep together. If you are nearby you'll hear a fairly loud buzzing /humming noise. While swarming to a new location the bees are non-aggressive. Swarms that split may have come from a beekeepers apiary bee box or from a natural setting of nature.
Before bees swarm, scout bees will search for a suitable home. A party of scout bees are a handful or more of bees. The bees may appear as floating around a structure as if looking for something; actually the bees are inspecting the area. If the location is preferred bees move in with the swarm. Usually this happens without anyone's knowledge.
A migrating bee swarm may rest on a bush or tree for up to a few days before continuing on. When resting, the swarm can be the size of a football or basketball and kind of beard shaped containing some 2,000 to 7,000 bees! Harassing the bees during this phase may confuse the bees causing them to stay longer.
Throughout the U.S. bees living on public property are handled by the city, county or state. Sometimes cities will contract bee removal services to a private bee or pest company. Often a pest company is used if the city cannot find a live bee remover that holds city insurance requirements. When bees are on private property, it is typically considered homeowners responsibility.
In the U.S. some counties provide free bee removal on private property from locations such as bushes, trees, or when the bees are out in the open. These are usually large cities were...
Preventing a bee problem can be very helpful. Bee activity is the cause of one of two possibilities:
You can tell the difference between visiting scout bees and bees that have already moved in. You can prevent a potential bee problem...
In the great majority of cases you may find honeybees are fairly easy to get along with. While Africanized hybrid bees have been largely over-hyped by the media, both hybrid and european honey bees can create challenges.
Some time ago we were involved with a much greater amount of angry or feral bee activity than normal. During this time, we performed bee removal from a shed, where two sheep were attacked by bees, one lived the other did not. Shortly after, we performed a bee removal on a gas station lamp post. The pole was accidentally bumped with the back of a car, the bees swarmed and stung people nearby. A week later bee removal was performed from a tree where a man was attacked by aggressive bees that originated from an owl box. He was stung many times before making it from his yard to his house, having injured his ankle along the way. All of this within the same county.
Not long after, a call was received late in the day to get rid of an owl box full of bees. Horses nearby were attacked by bees, one was stung was a great deal of times, getting injured and requiring a vet. The bees had been in the owl box for some time. Usually there is a story that doesn't get told with aggressive honeybees and bee attacks; this can cause misinformation leading to an inaccurate outlook. However bees can be dangerous, and consideration should be taken when beehives are present.
The normal kill ratio for a human is said to be 10 stings per pound, meaning about 1,800 stings could kill someone weighing 180 lbs. A bee hive has on average 10,000 to 40,000 bees. Bees should be respected and can be dangerous.
Loud buzzing around the tree often happens around the autumn and fall season (Sep-Nov). Many spring flowers have come and gone and the bees are busy with the few remaining late-blooming trees and shrubs. These bees typically cover tree / shrubbery uniformly accompanied by loud buzzing!
The bees are gathering remaining pollen & nectar for the winter season. It may look and feel intimidating to a home owner, especially if someone has gotten stung in an unlikely accident; bees are non-aggressive during foraging. Getting rid of these bees can be difficult. It is generally recommended to wait it out. The temporary phase may last a few weeks.
Although loud and intimidating, the area is not the bee's domain and they have no interest in defending or protecting it. However, to avoid recurring annual bee activity, consider trimming back the tree after the bee activity has subsided perhaps within a few weeks. In extreme cases were an immediate solution is needed, you can get rid of the bees by trimming the tree very early morning before sunrise. If you a beehive exists, read bee swarm on tree below.
When a beehive gets too large the hive splits. Half of the bee colony (2,000 to 6,000 bees) move out traveling as a swarm, creating a visually bizarre phenomenon. While searching for their new home bees often rest on a bush or tree for up to 3 days. A bee swarm in this phase is usually about the size of a football or basketball with no honeycomb.
New bee swarms that have not yet started a home are non-aggressive. (all honeybees are non-aggressive during this phase whether Africanized honeybees or not). This is because they have no home or domain to defend...
Honeybees living in tree trunks or hollows often cause recurring problems. Getting rid of bees living in a tree trunk yourself may present a tremendous challenge. An established beehive in a tree trunk may consist of 5,000 to 20,000 bees. Normally the cost of equipment, in addition to the time you take to learn how to accomplish a successful removal with exclusion to keep the bees from returning far exceeds the cost of paying a bee removal specialist. Bees tree trunks can be removed alive by trap-out...
Bees getting into the house may be scout bees looking to set up a home. Sometimes the beehive is attached to the house structure and a few bees are getting in through a chimney, vent, eave, or a structural void, at which point b fly to the window trying to exit, if left alone bees eventually becoming tired /lethargic and die after a short while unless let back outside.
Often a homeowner arrive home to find dead bees near the window and on the floor / carpet. What likely happened is a beehive moved into the structure.
In both cases mentioned above, this can happen when a party of scout bees first begin inspecting an attic, crawl space, or chimney, as such bees can get lost and end up in the house. Bees move toward the light in the house expecting to arrive back outside; bees often end up in the house by accident.
Though not as common, hornets and wasps can end up inside the house in autumn and fall season when nests are largest.
Dead bees along the outside of your house or building can be signs that a hive of bees is planning on moving in or has already moved in and are living in or near the wall, eave or structure. An established hive typically has 2,000 to 20,000 bees). In some cases upon observation you may also see dead or what look like sick bees on the ground or being carried out by one or two bees and dropped somewhere, or just the occasional bee stumbling out and dying....
Bees living in chimney tops can be a challenge to resolve. New beehives, prior to moving into the chimney will send out scouting parties of 10 to 100 bees in search of a new home and chimneys can appear to be just that.
When bees have not moved in yet but are scouting, you may find some bees inside house up against the window in a room somewhat near the chimney, alive, dead, or lethargic. Scout bees inspecting a chimney often wander too far down the flue and gets lost inside the house. At this point bees fly toward the window looking for a way out.
If the bee swarm has not yet moved in, lighting a fire can temporarily keep the bees away, though if there is a beehive in the flue of the chimney this can cause melted honey and long-term problems. To get rid of bees (if bees have not moved in yet) lighting a fire is not recommended unless you are certain the hive has not arrived and it does not always work. It can be much wiser to...
Honeybees living in a vent or air duct of a building or house can be difficult to get rid of. Unlike a wasp, a honeybee hives consist of many thousands of bees. Within just a few days a brand new colony may build several sheets of honeycomb near or inside the vent or air duct. Getting rid of bees living in a vent or air duct is typically requires expert help.
In attempts to get rid of bees, people turn on the vent and sometimes make different concoctions to thwart off the bees such as sealing, taping, or closing up the vents in hopes to choke out the bees. This can drive bees into the house or into other areas, as well as causes bees to dig through the wood or stucco. Unless bees have not moved in yet and are simply scouting the structure...
Honey bees buzzing around the roof line (eave, facial, freeze block), or a garage, wall, fence, jacuzzi or a similar structure, likely indicates a beehive exists. If the bees are not in a very noticeable area, it is likely bees have been there a good while. Knowing what kind of bee it is can help see bee identification and wasp id. There is very little wasp active during January to April.
Observing If honey bees appear to be floating around the structure as if inspecting, they may just be a scouting party determining if this area would make a suitable home. If bees are floating about as mentioned but are also going in and out of an opening and there doesn't seem to be heavy traffic, watch the bees entering. If returning honeybees entering an opening have yellow pollen sacs on the back of their legs, then there is very likely a beehive inside - typically with thousands of bees.
No yellow pollen sacs on bees legs means iether the hive just arrived or the bees are just scouting the location.
Very seldom do honeybees build nests in ground, more common types of ground bees are yellow jackets and bumblebees. For details and identification visit our bee id guide.
Except for honeybees, most if not all of these ground bees will abandon their nests late in Fall season, however many times bee species like yellow jackets, wasps, will often continue to return to the grounds unless the nest is dug up and removed. Ground bees are an important part of organic pest control as well as pollination. Some common nuisances ground bees may cause is...
In warm dry seasons of the year you may notice heavy honeybee activity around your pool or water sources; this can become very frustrating for a home owner. Honey bees need water to make honey, bees prefer natural peaceful locations, but in hot months where some of these resources have dried up bees will seek out other havens. If you need to get rid of honey bees, you have a few choices. One option for getting rid of the bees coming to the swimming pool, or water source is to temporarily drain or empty the water source, forcing the bees to...
Humming bird feeders may be taken over by honey bees during summer. The bees are non-aggressive, simply foraging away from home; meaning they won't be protective of the bird feeder. Perhaps no other water sources are nearby. If you you'd like to get rid of the bees: at either evening or early morning remove the feeder for perhaps a week, otherwise let it run dry for a week. Removing the water supply will break the bee's flight pattern and force bees to find a new water source.
When hanging the feeder back up, humming birds may take some time to re-discover it.
Note: A bird feeder, excessive flowers, and blossoming trees, do not in any way invite or cause beehives and bee swarms to move onto your property.
Bird houses and owl boxes make great homes for bees, It is common to find honeybees that have set up shop in an owl box or in a bird house
Many people choose to have the entire bird house or owl box removed so they do not have to deal with the recurring problems from the pheromones of the bees. If you want to have the bees removed from the owl box or bird house, but would like to keep the bird house or owl box, feel free to give us a call on the bee removal hotline. In many owl boxes we've encountered, the bees are very protective, perhaps it is because they are up so high and are not use to seeing what would appear to be intruders.
If you plan to removing the bees yourself, consider the bees aggressiveness, and were you plan to put them. Wait tell all the bees have all returned in the evening or very early morning. Protective gear is very helpful.
Sometimes bees take up residency in the basement wall or ceiling. Bees may end up inside the basement when attracted to a light that was left on or the natural basement light from a window. Bees that end up in basements include honeybees, wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets. Often the bees are in the basement ceiling or wall; some light may be entering into a ceiling or wall void which then attacks the bee in to the basement...
Melting honey stain on house walls is caused by an established beehive or one that has been exterminated, typically by a pest control company, and left in the structure. Some pest control companies have been sued by home owners for withholding information regarding the structural damages and staining caused from not removing the beehive, perhaps in most cases they are unaware themselves of the problem or perhaps think the bees are yellow jackets. For this reason and other humanitarian reasons many pest control companies do not...
How to find the right price or cost of bee removal can take some work. This is because it is not a common occurrence to get bees. It can take a little research along with perhaps a few free quotes. This can be especially true were Africanized bee (hybrid bees) exist.
For a bee hive or nest out doors (on a bush, tree, etc) the cost of removal should be reasonable.
However with bees (bee id chart) that are in the structure (see bee removal from wall, roof, or eave) it is important to remove the honeycomb and often repair and do exclusion work (bee proof) that can effect cost.
When a bee hive needs to be removed structurally; one alternative to opening the structure is called a trap out. Commonly trap-out should only be used when opening the structural is not an option. Trapout involves configuring a trap so bees that exit cannot renter. Perhaps 5,000 to 20,000 bees.
With beehives that have existed for a while within the structure, after removing the bees, another beehive is set near the opening; bees smell the honey from the previous hive that was trapped out, then enter the structure and extract the honey out of the structure and into their beehive. It can take a week or two to complete the process. Trap out have some disadvantages.
Do it yourself bee removal is especially helpful when you live in an area were no beekeeper is available to remove the bees. Other good reasons for DIY bee removal may include learning a new skill for supplemental income (getting paid to remove bees) or to simply start a hobby.
How to kill bees or how to exterminate bees is an often sought by do it yourself bee removal methods. Most people aren't going out of their way to try and kill bees but generally 'how to kill bees' is in reference to finding ways to get rid bees attached to house. Live removal is a preferred versus killing or exterminating honey bees. If you're not sure what kind of bees you have...
Recurring ongoing bee problems can be very frustrating and expensive. With honeybees removing the honeycomb is critical, otherwise bees can return regularly. With wasps & hornets removing the nest is less critical, as they dont keep honey. The bee id chart can help with bee identification.
Honeybee hives are active year round. Critters that are not include wasps, hornets, yellow jackets, bumble & carpenter bees. Those critters start in spring time as individual queens. They commonly return to same places as the previous year. Problem areas for keeping bees away include: