Honey bees are important pollinators of agricultural crops and plants in natural landscapes. Their annual contribution to U. S. agriculture is worth about $20 billion, and most of us know how important honey bees and other native pollinators are to growing food for us. Of course, many of us also appreciate the sweet taste of honey that comes from their hives.
Honey bees can be a bother when they decide to live in hollow trees or other natural areas in our yards, or when they decide to live in outbuildings and homes that have cavities and hollow spaces. Honey bees sting to protect their nests, and they are much more likely to sting people and pets if they live near areas of our homes that get a lot of foot traffic.
A lot of people call MSU Extension offices every year to talk about honey bees. Most of the calls are from scared homeowners who have seen a lot of honey bees around their house. These phone calls coincide with the spring season when honey bee colonies naturally divide to produce new colonies. Beekeepers call this period the swarm season.
The main swarm season lasts from March to June. In north Mississippi, the busiest month is May, while in the south, it’s two or three weeks earlier. Not all masses of honey bees that appear around the home have the same tendency to sting. This article gives important information about the relative risk of getting stung by different types of honey bee colonies. It also talks about ways to keep honey bees from building nests inside buildings and how to get rid of or kill unwanted honey bee colonies.
Seeing bees buzzing around your property can be worrying, especially if someone in your home is allergic. You may be tempted to eliminate the bees using powerful pesticides or DIY methods. However, this is usually illegal, dangerous and harms bee populations. A better solution is to humanely remove bees and then take steps to prevent them from returning.
Call a Beekeeper for Removal
The safest way to remove a bee colony or hive is to contact a local beekeeper. Many will extract the bees for free or a small fee, rehoming them in an apiary. Benefits of using a beekeeper include:
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They have training and proper protective gear to remove hives safely.
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Beekeepers use gentle techniques like vacuuming that don’t harm bees,
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The colony stays intact and productive for honey and pollination.
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No pesticides are used that could impact other pollinators.
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You avoid liability issues from killing protected bee species.
Try to locate a beekeeper through local groups, directories or social media. Provide details on the type of bees and their nest location. Arrange a time for bee removal when conditions are optimal.
Identify and Remove the Nest
To stop bees coming back, the nest must be eliminated after bee removal. Scout for nest sites including:
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Hollows in trees, logs or the ground.
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Under the eaves of roofs or inside attics.
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Burrowed holes in the sides of homes.
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Crevices in walls, chimneys and sheds.
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Inside abandoned rodent burrows.
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Hives built from wax, mud or paper materials.
For accessible nests, have the beekeeper remove during extraction. Or engage a professional to eliminate nests in hard-to-reach spots. Ensure no eggs, larvae or honey remain in the nest so bees don’t return.
Seal Up Access Points
Bees won’t be able to get back into areas where you’ve eliminated the nest. But they may try to return or establish a new nest nearby. Prevent this by:
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Sealing holes and cracks in walls, roofs, vents, etc. with caulk.
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Covering exposed rafters and blocking other entry points into attics or sheds.
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Installing hardened steel mesh over exposed soffits, chimneys and openings.
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Replacing damaged outdoor screens.
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Using expanding foam to fill gaps around exterior pipes or AC units.
Cut off access so that bees can’t enter the areas where old nests were removed. This forces them to move on.
Try Natural Bee Repellents
Certain natural scents deter bees looking for new nest sites:
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Citronella – The oil from citronella candles/plants has a strong aroma bees dislike. Burn within 5 feet of old nest sites.
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Cinnamon – The pungent cinnamon smell repels bees. Sprinkle ground cinnamon around previous nests. Reapply after rain.
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Cloves – Like cinnamon, cloves contain eugenol which bees avoid. Place whole cloves around vacated nest entrances.
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Peppermint oil – Use cotton balls soaked in peppermint oil to stuff into abandoned nest holes and deter bees.
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Garlic – Crush garlic bulbs and sprinkle the remains around vacated nesting spots to mask scents.
These eco-friendly repellents encourage bees to move on without harming them. Reapply every few days for 1-2 weeks.
Install Bee-Repelling Plants
Certain plants naturally repel bees through scent or toxicity. Planting these around areas where you’ve removed nests helps deter bees from returning. Good options include:
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Marigolds – The pungent aroma from marigolds keeps bees away.
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Mint – Strongly scented plants like peppermint and spearmint repel bees.
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Clovers – Bees dislike the smell of clovers.
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Chrysanthemums – Certain varieties contain pyrethrin that bees avoid.
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Geraniums – The essential oils in geraniums are repellent to bees.
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Citronella grass – The name says it all! This bamboo grass contains citronella oil.
Check plants are suited for your climate. Group multiple varieties together to create a “barrier” of bee-repelling vegetation.
Maintain a Tidy Landscape
Bees search for nesting sites filled with nectar sources, water and shelter. Discourage them by:
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Removing weeds, bushes and debris they use for nesting.
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Pruning trees and shrubs to open up the landscape.
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Cutting back flowering plants when not in season.
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Filling in water sources like birdbaths and ponds they drink from.
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Keeping your lawn mowed and garden tidy without wild, overgrown areas.
With nowhere enticing to nest, bees will look elsewhere to take up residence!
Using beekeepers, exclusion methods and repellents allow you to remove bees humanely while preventing recolonization. This protects both your home and our vital pollinators.
Control Options for Swarms
What choices does a homeowner have when dealing with swarms? As we already said, most swarms will leave in a few days. But swarms that are resting in a public area that is sensitive or has a lot of foot traffic may need to be dealt with right away.
Getting in touch with a nearby beekeeper who is willing to come capture the swarm is the fastest and best way to solve this kind of problem. However, this may be much more difficult than you might think. In past years, beekeepers were often happy to capture swarms to get more hives for their businesses. Now, many beekeepers are worried that swarms of strays may bring diseases or mites into their bee yards that they don’t want they bring in. Also, people are right to be worried about the legal risks of dealing with a swarm of bees in a public area that gets a lot of foot traffic. Injuries to people or animals can make beekeepers responsible if they hurt someone while removing a swarm.
Also, swarms don’t always settle in places that are easy to get to, and for beekeepers, many of them are just too much trouble to be worth it. Still, some beekeepers are willing to catch swarms, which is something a homeowner should think about. A beekeeper who is willing to undertake the task will have the necessary knowledge and protective equipment. Sometimes, county extension offices, police, and fire departments keep a list of beekeepers in the area who are willing to catch swarms.
Additionally, social media platforms like Facebook have beekeeping groups with members who will respond to capture swarms. There are several such groups in our state:
- Mississippi Beekeepers Association
- Mississippi Gulf Coast Beekeepers Association
- Red Creek Beekeeper Association
- Southwest Mississippi Beekeepers Association
- Northeast Mississippi Beekeepers
- Central Mississippi Beekeepers
- Mississippi Beekeepers
- Beekeepers of South Mississippi
You can ask to join such a group and then report your situation and request assistance. Beekeepers can better decide what to do if you send them a picture of the swarm taken on your cell phone and describe where it is (for example, how high above the ground is it hanging). Quite often, beekeepers will respond quickly to such a request.
Another option is to call a local pest control company and have it destroy the bees. Nobody likes to kill honey bees, but sometimes it must be done. Finding a company that does this kind of work might take a few calls, but those that do will have the right safety gear and insecticides on hand and can usually get to you quickly. Some companies claim that killing nuisance honey bees is illegal, but this is not true. There are no federal or state laws protecting nuisance honey bees. The company does this so they don’t have to tell a homeowner that they don’t want to deal with bee problems.
Preventing Honey Bees from Nesting in Buildings
As with many potential problems, prevention is the best approach to honey bee nesting issues. How much it costs and how much work it takes to “bee-proof” your home will depend on how well it was built and how old it is. Older homes tend to be more porous than newer homes (Figure 5). To stop the problem, people need to understand that honey bees like to live in safe holes they can get to through a small opening. Honey bees will go through holes as small as one-fourth of an inch wide, but they like holes that are several inches in diameter. Figure 6 shows that these small holes are often left around plumbing and utility lines that come into the house. This means that almost any house can have places for honey bees to get into and get to spaces in walls, soffits, or behind chimneys.
Honey bees can’t build a nest in your house if you look at the outside of it and find all the places they could get in. The openings can then be sealed with expandable foams or caulk, depending on the location of the holes. Additionally, some carpentry may need to be altered or improved. Areas of sagging, rotting wood that bees can get into will need to be fixed and properly sealed to keep them out. This could cost a lot, but dealing with a honey bee colony that has already set up shop in your wall can also cost a lot and be a lot more of a pain than taking preventative steps.
Here are some things to think about if you want to keep honey bees from moving into your home or nearby buildings. First, it’s a good idea to walk around the house at least once a week from April to May, when swarm season is at its peak, to catch any bee colonies that are trying to settle in buildings. It is better to find them early and get rid of the problem before the colonies go strong and get big. However, before the swarm season, it is best to bee-proof your property as much as possible:
- Please make sure that the mesh size on the screens on the vents of soffit covers is less than 1/4 inch. Replace if mesh size is larger. For replacement, number 8 hardware cloth (with a mesh size of 1/8 inch) is a great choice.
- Insulating foam or caulk should be used to fill in all the gaps around pipes and conduits.
- Do not try to seal off the areas around your home’s main power lines. Avoid the risk of electrocution. If you find holes around power lines and the outside fuse boxes, you may need to call the power company for help.
- If you have a fireplace, make sure the flue is closed. Swarms will sometimes get in through the tops of chimneys. When the flue is closed, bees are less likely to come inside the house.
- Cover or seal the hole on your water meter. Bees often move into the area around a water meter, even if it is buried in the ground. Filling the hole with duct tape or a small stone can sometimes be all it takes to fix the problem.
- Also, heater and sewer vents can be places where people can get in. These are harder to check without climbing on top of the roof, but they should still be checked to make sure they are properly sealed.
- Check the siding of your house for cracks or breaks and fix them so honey bees can’t get in through the siding.
- Find holes in hollow porch columns and other wooden support structures and fill them up. A lot of people don’t know this, but honey bees can get to the top and bottom of many porch columns because they are open.
- Watch out for birds and take down your bird houses when the nesting season is over. Bluebird and wood duck nest boxes are often where honey bees settle down.
- Check dog houses often to see if there are honey bee nests inside.
- A lot of everyday things around the yard may have holes that bees can use to build their nests. Honey bees can get into many large gas grills with hoods if they are not covered so the bees can’t get to the vent holes.
- Before the swarm season, check all sheds and barns for weak spots and seal them.
- Get rid of or cover up piles of trash or other things that bees can use as a nest. Honey bees have been known to build their nests in old refrigerators, hot water tanks, mailboxes, junked cars (Figure 7) and other similar things. Think like a swarm of bees and get rid of or cover up any places where they could nest. Figure 7. Honey bees build their nests in the gas tank of an old truck that didn’t have a lid over the opening. Before fixing up the old truck, the owner had to get rid of the bees. (Photo by Andy Berry) .
Keep Wasps Away With These 3 Easy Tips! [Wasp Prevention]
FAQ
How do you keep bees from returning?
How do I get rid of bees permanently?
What makes bees stay away?
How do you stop ground bees from coming back?
How do you prevent bees from coming back?
To prevent bees from coming back to a specific area, you can practice environmentally safe methods such as planting bee-repellent plants, applying bee-repellent sprays, and using cinnamon or mothballs. Learning how to prevent bees from coming back can be useful for anyone who wants to tackle the issue head-on.
How to stop bees from coming into your home?
Floral patterns and bright colors are also factors. So if you have bright wallpaper, furniture, curtains, or anything else in your home, these can all attract bees to go inside your house. To stop bees from coming into your home, it starts with stopping them from getting into your yard.
Why should you keep bees away?
Keeping bees away reduces your risk of getting stung. Property damage. If bees do set up a hive or nest on or inside your home, they can cause significant property damage. Bees bore holes into wood and use wax to build honeycomb and nests. This can ruin interior and exterior walls, floors, and ceilings. Disease risk.