Does Wasp and Hornet Spray Kill Bees?

As a homeowner you may encounter bees, wasps hornets or other stinging insects around your property. Your first instinct might be to grab a can of bug spray and get rid of them. However, using the wrong products can be illegal, dangerous and harmful to bees. In this article, we’ll examine whether wasp and hornet spray is effective against bees.

How Wasp and Hornet Sprays Work

Wasp hornet and bee sprays are pesticide products designed to kill stinging insects. The active ingredients in these sprays are chemicals like pyrethrin tetramethrin and allethrin. When sprayed on wasps, hornets or bees, these chemicals attack their nervous system, causing paralysis and death.

Most wasp and hornet sprays have a jet spray nozzle that can shoot a stream up to 20 feet This allows you to spray nests from a safe distance The sprays coat the outside of nests and insects with a fine toxic mist.

Using Wasp Spray on Bees is Illegal

While wasp and hornet sprays are very effective against their namesake insects, it is illegal to use them on honey bees. This includes common species like the European honey bee.

The labels on wasp and hornet sprays clearly state they are not intended for use on bees. Using these pesticides against bees counts as an off-label application. This can result in fines if a beekeeper or farmer reports you.

Dangers of Using Wasp Spray on Beehives

Aside from being illegal, using wasp spray against honey bees is ineffective and extremely dangerous:

• It won’t kill all the bees. Wasp spray is designed for small nests, not entire hives that can contain over 10,000 bees. At best, you may kill some guard bees at the entrance. But the hive will remain intact and angry.

• Bees will retaliate. Honey bees release an alarm pheromone when under attack. This chemical signal causes the entire hive to go into defensive mode and attack the threat.

• You can get stung repeatedly. Angry bees from the hive will zero in on the wasp spray and sting the person spraying dozens or hundreds of times. This can be fatal for those allergic to bee venom.

• It makes bee removal difficult. The attack will agitate the bees and make it harder for a beekeeper to safely relocate the hive. This can increase your removal costs.

• Other pollinators may be harmed. Wasp spray can drift onto nearby flowers and kill beneficial pollinators like butterflies and bumblebees.

In short, wasp spray will only make an angry beehive much more aggressive and defensive. And you’ll be subjecting yourself to countless painful stings.

What About Other Types of Bees?

Honey bees live together in large social colonies with thousands of workers protecting the hive. But other kinds of bees have different nesting behaviors:

• Bumblebees – Nest in small colonies of up to 300 individuals. Live in cavities like abandoned rodent nests.

• Carpenter bees – Solitary bees that nest by tunneling into wood. Each female has her own tunnel and nest.

• Mining bees – Solitary ground-nesting species. Each female has her own individual underground burrow.

• Mason bees – Solitary bees that build nests using mud or plant materials. Each nest contains a single egg.

For solitary bees that don’t have large defended colonies, wasp spray may kill individual bees. However, it’s still not a good idea for a few reasons:

• These bees are not aggressive and only sting if handled.

• Solitary bees are important pollinators we want to protect.

• Each female killed represents the loss of dozens of future offspring.

• There are safer methods to deter or exclude solitary bees if needed.

Effective Alternatives for Bee Removal

The safest and most ecologically friendly way to remove bees from your property is by live extraction:

• Contact a local beekeeper. Many will remove hives for free or low cost, saving the bees.

• Hire a bee removal service. They use gentler bee vacuums and traps to safely extract hives.

• Install exclusionary devices. One-way bee traps or screen cones allow bees to exit without returning.

If you must use insecticides, hire a licensed pest control professional to apply EPA-approved products. Never use wasp spray or over-the-counter pesticides on bee colonies. Protect our pollinators and obey pesticide laws!