Bee Removal Tips

Tap to Read ➤ Bhakti Satalkar

A beehive in the area near your home can be quite troublesome. Here is a lists an easy technique to get rid of it without harming yourself.

Bees have become a big problem all over the place. Bees are insects who belong to the ant and wasp family. Apart from Antarctica, bees are found in all the other continents.

Although there are a number of people who have a fear of these insects, it is important to know that they have a vital role to play in the ecosystem. They are pollinators. Some species like honey bees also have other roles to play, namely, producing honey, beeswax, etc.

You need not get into damage control mode at the very first sighting of bees. These insects are known to travel long distances in search of food. First, check how many of them can you spot. If they are just a couple of them, then you do not have anything to worry about.

However, it is important to keep a watch to check how many bees have made their way in your vicinity, as in some cases they can also be scouts, surveying the neighborhood for a new location to build a hive.

Technique

First, see if there is a fixed area where you see a lot of bee activity. While doing this, be careful and keep yourself safe from stings. Many times, if these insects do not find an appropriate place on trees, they use fissures of walls or any gap they find. Take special care against honey bees, as once they make a colony, they stick to it permanently.

✦ The first step is to wear layered clothes. All body parts should be covered if you are going anywhere near a beehive. The best way is to tuck shirts into pants, and pants into the socks. Cover your feet with shoes, and hands with gloves. If you have a hat, scarf, and face mask handy, wear them all.

✦ The next step is to spray the bees with insecticide. Regular household insecticides will not prove to be beneficial, you have to get the right insecticide that works for bees. Spray it at the entrance of the hive as well as on the hive. This ensures that all insects moving in or out of the hive are killed. This process will eventually kill all the bees.

✦ Once the insects are killed, smoke the area around the hive to kill any more insects. Let the smoke stay for a good amount of time. This ensures that any bee which was out in search of food and has returned, is killed or driven away. If the hive is near wooden furniture or fixtures, do not burn the area around it.

✦ After you are sure that all the insects have been killed, walk up to the hive―make sure you are still covered―and remove the hive. Either throw the hive far away or burn it completely. Burning it is the best option.

✦ Now that all bees are gone, the next step is a precautionary measure so that no more insects come to the same area. Remember that these insects have excellent olfactory senses. Hence, take measures to get rid of the scent from the area.

This will ensure that no more hives are built in the same area. If there are traces of the hive at the spot, you may want to burn it, or remove it and spray it with insecticide.

If you don't think that you can do the task yourself, then you can seek hire a company that specializes in bee removal. The cost varies from one province to another, you will have to get in touch with the company to know the exact cost.

These simple steps can keep you safe from bee stings, but remember that if the hive is far away from your home and is not causing any trouble, you'd better leave it alone, as the bees need to play their part in our ecology as well.