How to Remove a Bee Swarm From Your Property

Don’t panic if you see a bee swarm near your home. Swarming bees just binged on food, much like a bear going into hibernation, so they’re all fat and happy. Just breathe and remember that bees are our friends. In fact, a large percentage of our food is made possible by the work of honey bees – and killing them is strongly discouraged by, well, everyone. 

We understand that whether you’re allergic to bees or not, having a colony in your yard or home doesn’t spark joy in your heart. So, this article will first help you identify the stinging insects you’re concerned about. Then, it will walk you through the steps for removing a beehive near you.

What kind of bees do I have?

Not all stinging insects are “bees.” So, before you break out a can of wasp spray, determine what type you have swarming around your house. Here is a brief description of the most popular kinds of stinging insects to help you with the identification process.

Paper wasp

A social insect, the paper wasp is slender with long legs. Generally, they’re brown or black with yellow marks. Paper wasps feed on insects, spiders, and sugar from fruit and flower nectar. They build a papery nest to house 12 to 100 wasps under horizontal surfaces like soffits or the picnic table. They can sting repeatedly and aggressively defend their nest.

Yellowjacket

Yellowjackets are bright yellow with black markings on a shiny hairless abdomen. They’re from ⅜ - ⅝ inches long and frequently mistaken for honey bees. They share a similar diet as the paper wasp and have a particular affinity for sugar, as you know if you’ve ever had a can of pop at a picnic. Yellowjackets nest below ground or in cavities like hollow logs, old stumps, or under your house siding. One yellowjacket nest is home to as many as 5,000 adults. They sting repeatedly and are very aggressive.

Baldfaced hornet

The baldfaced hornet isn’t a true hornet but a different variety of yellowjacket. The difference is that baldfaced hornets build their nests in aerial locations rather than underground. Their papery nests are large and football-shaped, with only one entrance, unlike the wasp nest with exposed cells. A hornet’s nest holds about 1,000 adults. The adult ranges from ½-¾ inches and looks much like a large yellowjacket with white markings instead of yellow. They feed on other insects and, in the fall, fallen fruit, which brings them into conflict with humans. They can sting repeatedly and will aggressively defend a wide berth around their nest.

Carpenter bee

Carpenter bees are solitary bees that resemble bumble bees with shiny black, hairless abdomens. They’re called carpenter bees because they bore perfectly round holes in unpainted, weathered softwood to rear their young. You’ll find the holes, sometimes with a little pile of sawdust underneath, in fascia boards, under eaves, rafters, siding, and outdoor furniture. They can sting repeatedly but aren’t aggressive and rarely do so. 

Bumble bee

The adored bumble bee ranges from ½ - 1 inch and is a round, plump fellow. Unlike their bald carpenter bee cousins, they have plenty of hair. Most species are black and yellow. Bumblebees feed solely on flower nectar and pollen, making them prime pollinators. They build their waxy nests underground or in other protected areas. They can sting repeatedly but are the gentle giant of the bee world and rarely do. 

Honey bee

Most U.S. honey bees are a European species, about ½ inch long, a nice golden brown with thin black stripes, and covered in fine hair. They feed on flower nectar and pollen, and you’ll frequently notice big balls of pollen on their hind legs that they’ve collected to take back to their hive. Most honey bees in this country are managed. It’s pretty rare to find a wild honey beehive. But they will occasionally nest in hollow trees or empty cavities of a building after swarming. However, Scott Currie, board member of Sustainable Honeybees, Purcellville, Virginia, says, “Only 30 percent of swarms survive their first winter in the wild.” European honey bees can only sting once, and then they die. So, they have to feel threatened to sting.

In 1990, the U.S. noticed an Africanized honey bee (AHB) infiltration in Texas. Since then, documented colonies have been found in Florida, Georgia, Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Louisiana, Utah, and Oklahoma. AHB, also known as the killer bee, is an aggressive species that live in the wild and will defend a wider area around its nest than its European cousins. The AHB will also respond in greater numbers, which is why its attacks sometimes result in death.

Why do honey bees swarm?

Besides pollinating plants, honey bees have two purposes in their short lifespan, making honey and procreating, and these jobs require space. So, when a bee colony starts to feel cramped in its hive, the queen will take half her staff and swarm. The remaining worker bees make a new queen and stay where they are. “It’s part of the natural process that bees instinctively do to grow their population,” says Currie.

At first, a swarm will land on the nearest tree, fence post, or side of a building in a solid mass. From there, it sends out a few scout bees to search for a suitable home. Currie says they’re looking for an adequately sized space with a south-facing entrance. Once they find what they’re looking for, they return, and the swarm follows. But, those scouts didn’t get the memo that homeowners don’t really want them living in their walls. And you’re wondering if that’s what they have in mind.

Exterminate or remove?

Because honey bees are managed (as opposed to living in the wild), they represent agriculture’s greatest pollinator. So, exterminating them with insecticides is a drastic measure and rarely recommended. According to an annual study by the nonprofit Bee Informed Partnership, U.S. beekeepers lost 48.2 percent of their managed hives from April 2022 to April 2023. The world's honey bees are dying for various reasons. Currie says there are multiple stressors on the colonies, especially mites and the viruses they cause. However, he adds, “the losses continue to be high, but beekeepers are managing to keep the population stable by splitting hives and requeening.”

“Honey bees are not endangered,” says Charlotte Anderson, master beekeeper and owner of Carolina Honeybees, LLC in South Carolina. “But, they’re under a lot of environmental pressure. So, we still don’t want to kill them unless it’s a matter of public safety or a homeowner’s last-ditch effort.”

That leaves homeowners with two options: remove them or live with them. And, since few people want to live with them, keep reading to learn how to remove them.

How to remove a bee swarm

If you discover a honey bee swarm on your property, call a local beekeeper with experience in honey bee removal. A swarm that hasn’t yet begun to build a new hive is pretty easy to coax into a hive box, and some beekeepers will do this for free. However, if it’s been a while since the bees swarmed, and they’ve begun pulling honeycomb, getting rid of them gets more complicated. 

Signs you have a bee infestation include bees coming and going outside where they didn’t before. “Outside, if you notice a steady stream of bees around your eaves or the foundation of the house, they could be nesting in there,” says Anderson. “And, if you’re continually finding bees inside the house flying around, trying to get outside the windows or even dead ones, like four or five a day, that’s a sign.” If you think you may have a colony in a wall, she suggests holding your ear up to the wall where you think they may be and tapping the wall to see if you hear them hum.

If you’re convinced, never attempt to remove bees on your own. Unless you’re an experienced beekeeper, this is not a DIY job. Instead, call a bee removal specialist to help you.  

What the beekeeper will do

Beekeepers often receive calls for what end up being yellowjackets or wasps. So to determine the type of bee you have, they’ll ask you to take a picture of the insect and text it to them. If it is honey bees, they’ll ask additional questions to assess the situation. When they come to your home, they’ll proceed as follows.

For an exposed swarm

Typically, an exposed swarm is en route to its final destination, which could be as much as two miles away, and will move along within 48 hours. But if you can’t wait that long, Currie says you can expect a beekeeper to try the following techniques to remove a swarm from a tree or bush. 

• Trim any branches that may block free access to the swarm.
• Lay a tarp on the ground to catch any stray bees.
• Spray the swarm with sugar water. “This occupies them,” says Currie. “They’ll start licking themselves and each other, and it’s calming.”
• Set a beehive box on the tarp. It will have two waxed frames and a feeder inside. They’ll also spray the box and frames with sugar water.
• Cut off the branch the swarm is on and lower it to the box. They’ll then give it one or two jolts or quick shakes to force the bees to drop into the box, ensuring the queen goes in the box. “Because wherever the queen goes, the bees go,” says Currie.
• When they’re sure the queen is in the box, they close it up and transport it.

For an established colony

Typical swarm removal techniques won’t work to remove an established colony. If the bees are living inside a wall, Anderson gives us a completely different protocol. First, she says the beekeeper visits the home to assess the situation. “It’s important to make sure we’re dealing with honeybees,” she says, “and to find how they’re getting inside the home.” Once that’s out of the way, she says they’ll have a conversation with the homeowner about what to expect, exactly what they’ll do, what they won’t do, and how much it will cost. They’ll also request the homeowner sign a contract and liability waiver.

“A lot of homeowners are shocked by the cost part,” she says. “They think we're happy because we get the bees for free. But they have no idea how much work goes into cutting a colony out of a home.” 

The work happens in three stages. The beekeeper returns in the late afternoon on another day. First, they close up the entrance the bees are using to enter the home. Then, they locate and expose the colony. Locating could entail drilling or cutting small holes in the drywall, soffit, or siding to insert a small camera. Exposing could include removing exterior siding, removing drywall, removing pieces of soffit, or removing trim from around windows or doors. If the bees are in an attic or crawl space where they’re accessible, this may not be necessary.

Next, the beekeeper collects the bees. Anderson’s procedure is as follows.

• Smoke the bees to calm them.
• Place a beehive box nearby with the waxed frames.
• Cut pieces of honeycomb with larvae in them and attach them to the frames.
• Look for the queen and add her to the box.
• As the bees follow the queen into the box, she removes as much of the honeycomb as she can reach, scraping the surface as clean as possible. Some beekeepers use a special vacuum cleaner to extract any remaining bees.
• After dark, she closes the box and takes it back to the apiary.

The second phase of the operation is cleaning. “Beekeepers in our area rarely do the cleaning,” says Anderson. “Although, sometimes you can find beekeepers who do everything because they’re skilled carpenters and know how to do the repairs.” All traces of honey and wax must be removed to prevent ants, roaches, or rodents. And to keep other swarms from finding the site, all the bee pheromones need to be masked or scrubbed away. “Some people spray the area with pesticides,” says Anderson. That takes care of stray bees, as well as other insects.

Finally, a handyperson or carpenter closes everything back up.

For this scope of work, it helps to have the cleaning crew and carpenter lined up before the beekeeper exposes the hive. Also, beehive removal costs range from $500 to $750, depending on your location. The cleaning and repairs are added expenses. If the costs add up to a stinging amount, contact your insurance agent to see if your homeowner's policy potentially covers this type of expense.

Where do I find a beekeeper?

If you search for bee removal services in your area, be careful. You don’t want a pest control company to exterminate the colony. Instead, reach out to the local beekeepers association. If there isn’t one, try the following.

• Your county’s extension office
• Bee Culture magazine directory of beekeepers
• A local bee supply store
• Ask at the farmer’s market. If you don’t find one there selling honey, the farmers will know who to contact.

How to prevent stinging insects from nesting

Stinging insects seek shelter, food, and nest-building materials. If you limit those sources, it’s as good as putting up a No Trespassing sign. Here are a few ideas to make your home less attractive to them.

• Caulk small openings on your home’s exterior to keep bees from entering. Look for places in the eaves, around door frames, and the chimney.
• Remove possible shelters like abandoned animal burrows, tree hollows, or untreated wood.
• Avoid having fruit trees or flowering bushes near your home. Plant the flowers but at a safe distance. 
• Plant insect-repelling plants like mint, pennyroyal, and geraniums close to the house. 
• Move the compost pile to the furthest corner of the property. 
• Keep your trash and recycling bins covered.

Bee safe and happy

Bee stings don’t have to take the fun out of your summer. Nor do you need to resort to using pesticides if you see a swarm of bees in your backyard. Call an experienced beekeeper to move them to a new location.