Bee Control

Honey bees are beneficial insects and we recommend protecting them. For other flying stinging insect control products, please see wasp and hornet control or yellow jacket control.

Bees are generally associated with two things: honey and stings. While their stings can be painful, most bees act as important pollinators across the world. Honeybees are an incredibly important and beneficial insect to crops and gardens, not only pollinating but also producing honey. Most of the time, the bees you encounter will not be a nuisance, and knowing more about bees can be helpful when determining how to get rid of bees. Below is an overview of commonly encountered bees. Wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets are often confused with bees but are much different and may require different control measures.

Honeybees: Honeybees are the most important of the bees; they are responsible for pollinating many of the crops in the United States. These bees are only about ½ inch long, brown to black in appearance, with striped brown abdomens. They produce honey and beeswax, which is used in commercial production. These bees will leave a stinger embedded (unlike other bees) and can become a problem if they begin to nest in an area close to people.

Bumblebees: These bees are important pollinators that make nests underground. While they feed on nectar and pollen, they do not produce honey. They are ¾- 1 ½ inch long with a fuzzy, black and yellow abdomen. They sting only to protect their nests and can sting repeatedly. Habitat modification is the best control if these bees become an issue.

Carpenter bees: Carpenter bees are considered pests because of the damage they cause to wood. They are sometimes confused with bumblebees; they are roughly the same size but are not fuzzy. The female bees bore into wood and lay an egg. Male carpenter bees do not sting. The galleries created by the bees can provide food for woodpeckers (who want the larvae) and the holes can create entry points into your home for other insects.

More aggressive species: The African honeybee has been known to be more aggressive than the honeybee when defending their nests. Yellow jackets, hornets, and wasps have a reputation for being aggressive, but yellow jackets are the most aggressive. Some species of hornets are non-aggressive, and wasps aren’t as aggressive as hornets and yellow jackets.

Bee stings: A bee sting can mean anything from an annoyance to a severe allergic reaction. Monitor your bee sting and your reaction to see if medical care is necessary: difficulty breathing, tightness of throat or airways, nausea or vomiting, increased heart rate, or other extreme reactions are cause for immediate medical attention. For normal stings, scrape the stinger out with a knife; never pinch or pull out. For more information about bee stings, please refer to our bee sting treatment guide.

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