Bee is very significant for ecosystem because they have an important role in spreading the seeds of flowers or plants. Without bees, the human can’t get enough crops to live. However, even if they are important, it doesn’t mean human have to share the same living space with them. In fact, bees can be a threat if they happen to build their hive near your house. The insect can damage the areas where they build their hive in your house. Sometimes, when they feel threatened by the human, bees become hostile especially to those who have bee-allergic because the sting can be life-threatening.
If the bees happen to build their hive in the area where they have may cross path with human, it is better to find a way to keep them away. There are ways on how to get rid of bees and it is not that difficult, as long as you know how to do it. There are several ways to keep the bees out of your lawn without the risk getting stung. However, before you start to get rid of them, there are things that have to be considered first.
Find The Hive
First thing first is that you have to know where the bees build their hive so you can prepare which method to be applied and so the operation becomes more effective. There are places that have high possibility to be the place where bees build their homes, such as trees, walls, or even corner of the roofs.
Identify The Bees
Once you find where they live, the next step is to identify them. If you happen to find the dead one, observe the insect see whether it is hairy or not. Yellow jackets are smooth while honey bees are hairy. You may also find pictures of bees or yellow jackets on the internet helpful.
Another way to identify the insect is to check the hives. Honey bees build wax honeycomb while other stinging insects build their hives with wood fiber to make a paper-like hives or they may build it by using mud.
From those three types, honey bee’s sting is the least painful yet it is more complicated to get rid of. So when you aware which bee types that you are facing, you can expect what difficulties that you may face.
Is it Dangerous or Not?
If the bees are making hives in your house or backyard, please consider whether they will be a threat to personal safety or not. As you know it, bees are important for the ecosystem. Bees’ pollination helps to benefit food crops. So if the bees don’t disturb your daily activities or your safety, it is best to leave it alone. You can wait until winter comes because they eventually will die in winter. Remember, the destruction of bees is the last resort.
After you have considered those things, it’s time to learn how to get rid of them. At least there are 10 Ways on how to get rid of bees:
1. Vinegar
There are two ways to use vinegar to get rid of bees. The first one is making a vinegar trap. What you have to do is mixing sugar, vinegar, detergent, and water in a medium such as a washbasin. The mixture will attract the bees and bees will get drowned in the solution.
Second, make a vinegar spray. Mix water and vinegar in a spray bottle. Then, spray at every area where the bees often congregate such as plant, or you can simply spray their hive.
It is the best to apply this method at night when the bees are not buzzing around. For your safety reason, cover your whole body with protective clothing to avoid getting stung, such as pants, glove, long shirt and protective veil to cover your face and neck.
2. Soda Trap
Soda is not only attractive for human, bees also attracted to the scent of soda water, especially the sweet one. What you have to do to is make a trap out of it. Cut an old soda bottle in half and fill it with sweet soda water. The idea is to make the bees become attracted to its scent so eventually, it will get drowned in the soda trap. For the best result, you should put the trap where the bees are most active.
3. Soap Spray
Using soap spray is one of the most effective ways to make the insects stay away from your house. Soap spray is also one of organic ways of getting rid of bees. You can mix half of the mild soap detergent with half of the water in a spray bottle. Then, spray the hive and other affected areas. For safety reason, it is the best to do it in the evening and it is highly recommended to use protective clothing in order avoiding getting stung.
4. Insecticide Spray
Bees can be real trouble if they build hive near the place where you do the activities. It even can be life-threatening if they sting a bee-allergic. The most effective way to get rid of them is by using insecticide. Insecticide is even more effective in exterminating insects than fogging, electric. With its chemical substances, insecticide definitely will exterminate the bees. The insecticide you are using has to be EPA licensed so it will be safe both for human and environment.
5. Zapper
In this modern time, people tend to make everything convenience with technology. Even now you can get rid of bees by using an electric device that can electrocute the insects. The device is called bug zapper. This method is quite a convenience because it is easy to find since many groceries are selling them. Then, you only need to hang the zapper right next to the hive and wait for it to do its magic. Many homeowners successfully remove the insects with the bug zapper. It will be more effective if the zapper uses lures that attract the bees to its electric chair.
6. Using Bees Repellant
The main idea of this method is to prevent bees from building their hive near your yard. By using the repellant, the bees will stay away from your yard. However, this method is also effective to drive out the insects away from their hive in case they already build them. There are several options that you can use to repel the insects.
- Repelling Plant
First, you can use the most organic repellant which is planting bees repelling plant. One of the bees repelling plants is mint. Planting mint around the strategic areas will help to keep the bees away.
- Cinnamons
The second is by using cinnamons. This is also one of the organic bees repellants. Like mint, the scent of cinnamons will deter the bees. What you have to do is put the cinnamons in the strategic areas where the bees usually passing by.
- Mothball
The third is by using Mothball. Unlike mint and cinnamon, mothballs is not the organic repellant. Like most of the insects, the scent of the mothballs deters bees so they will fly away from the mothballs hanging. You can hang the mothballs inside of nylon or thin socks at the strategic areas or you can hang them all over the area where the bees mostly fly by so your yard will be bees-free all summer long.
- Smoke
Fourth is by using smoke. This method is slightly not environment-friendly because your neighbor may be disturbed by the smoke which is smelly and thick. Furthermore, the smoke also repels the bees forcefully so they may fly around to the neighbors. The smoke is quite effective to be applied to bees that build their hive on a tree. Like other repellants, the scent of smoke will deter the bees so they will fly away from their hive.
You can use unusable tires from your warehouse and burn them near the hive. Once they fly away and empty their hive, make sure to cut the hive down so the bees won’t come back. Because it repels the bees forcefully, it is recommended to be applied in the evening so they will not fly around your neighbor houses. Please wear protective clothing to avoid getting stung.
7. Water Your Lawn Frequently
This method is only applicable to bees that building their hive underground. Ground bees are attracted to build their hive in the dry and sandy soil. So, by watering your lawn, you will keep the soil moist and make it is inhabitable for ground bees. Another advantage of this method is that you will have a nice lawn.
8. Get Rid of The Hives
Once you applied the methods above, make sure you dispose of the beehive. By removing the beehive, you will prevent the future infestations that may come from new bee colony. If the hive is built on a tree, you should cut down every remaining of the hive, such as the branch where the hive hanging on. You can use a knife to cut down the beehive and clean it from the tree surface. Once the hive remaining is gone, the bees will be confused and find another place to build the hive
Be careful while removing yellow jackets nest because the sting is more painful than honey bees’. Make sure the nest is empty before you remove it. For bees hive on the ground, you can simply close the hive with dirt. Of course, after you empty the nest by watering it. For safety reason, please wear protective clothing before removing the hive.
9. Renovate Your Home
This method is best to be applied after you succeeded getting rid of the bees so that they won’t come back to your house. Cut down the trees where the bees usually hanging out or repaint the walls where the bees used to build their hive. The new environment will confuse the insects so they will make their hive in other places. This method is not very effective but it is suitable if you also have the plan to renovate your house.
10 . Seek Professional Help
If none of those methods works, there is one last resort to get rid of bees, which is calling for professional help. The professional has to be experienced. They also have to be licensed so that the method that they will use is safe for the environment. However, nowadays, most of them are using the environment-friendly equipment. There are two types of professional help that you can use, the beekeeper and the exterminators.
- Beekeeper
Beekeepers are those who make a living by making money from bees. So they will treat the bees gently. They also provide the safe home for the insects. As you may know, bees have the crucial role in nature. Without bees, human and animal may extinct due to run out of food supply. So if you chose to get rid of bees without destroying it, hiring beekeepers is the smart choice.
Beekeepers usually will cut the honeycomb while the brood is still inside. Then, they will transfer it to a framed hive box. They usually remove the bees by using vacuum so that the bees won’t be killed. To use this service, please make sure that you know there is a beekeeper in your area first.
- Exterminator
The second professional help is using exterminator service. When you are hiring this type of professional help, it means you don’t care about what will happen to the bees. The only purpose of using exterminators is to exterminate the bees. This should be the last resort on how to get rid of bees. Usually, people hire this service when there’s no beekeeper in town.
Since the only aim is to get rid of bees, they would likely use insecticide to make the bees perish. However, keep it noticed that the exterminators usually do not get rid of the dead bees and the empty hives. So once they are finished, you have to dispose of the dead bees and the hive by yourself to prevent another infestation. Also, the exterminators sometimes take more than one day to finish their job. They will keep coming to your house until the bees are dead which means extra expense.