BEES

Order: Hymenoptera

Appearance:

Bees are winged insects with more than 20,000-recorded species found globally.

  • Length: Megachile pluto, the largest of these creatures, is reported to be 3.9 cm long, while Perdita minima, the most diminutive of bees, are shorter than 2 mm long.
  • Color: Bees can be black or brown with red, yellow or lustrous blue stripes.

Common Types of Bees

  • Honey Bee
  • Solitary Bee
  • Carpenter Bees
  • Bumble Bee

Honey Bee (Apis cerana)

  • They live in hollow trees or in chimneys, wall cavities or roof spaces.
  • They are similar in size to wasps but are furrier and mostly black in colour.
  • Honey bees convert nectar into honey and beeswax.
  • A honey bee swarm will arrive in flight and cluster on a tree branch.
  • A colony size can often be greater than 30,000 individual honey bees.
  • Population under threat from varroa mite.

Solitary Bee (Megachile spp.)

Appearance

Often similar to the honey bee.

Life cycle

  • Colony size – small nests which are individually tended by a female.
  • Preferred nest sites – often in soil, sometimes in soft cement and mortar between bricks.
  • Nest construction – various materials. Usually a new nest each year.

Habits

  • Swarming – does not swarm.
  • Overwintering – usually in the pupal stage within the nest.
  • Food preferences – honey and pollen.
  • Rarely stings.

Carpenter Bees (Xylocopa latipes, Xylocopa aestuans.)

Appearance

  • 3/4 – 1 inch long.
  • Female faces are black, male faces are yellow.
  • Bright yellow, orange or white hairs on the thorax.
  • No hair on abdomen.
  • Females have a stinger, males do not.

Life cycle

  • Tunnel into wood to lay eggs.
  • Life cycle from egg – larva – pupa – adult takes approximately seven weeks.
  • Larva is large and noisy.
  • New adults emerge from the nest late August.

Habits

  • Sting – Only sting if provoked.
  • Visibility – Late-spring to mid-October.
  • Nesting – Bare, untreated softwoods are preferred, including redwood, cedar, cypress and pine. Old nests are used year after year.
  • Location – Nests can be found in eaves, window trims, facia boards, siding, decks and outdoor furniture.
  • Feeding – flowers that contain pollen, eg Bradfords, Daffodils, Pansies. Pollen stored in abandoned tunnels for overwintering.

Bumble Bee (Bombus sp.)

Bumble bees are often confused with honey bees.

Key Facts

  • They are larger and furrier than honey bees.
  • Dark coloured except for golden stripes across the end of their tails.
  • Bumble bees nest in small wall cavities, holes in the ground, under sheds or in undisturbed compost heaps.

Bee Stings

Although known for their role in pollination and producing honey, bees can become a threat to homeowners when they build their hives near or inside homes. Bees are considered less dangerous than other stinging insects like wasps. There are aggressive species such as the Africanized honey bees that will sting humans in large numbers.

Bee stings have the potential for an allergic reaction, resulting in anaphylactic shock. Anaphylactic shock is a serious medical condition that requires immediate medical assistance and can even cause death.

Signs of Bee Hive

  • Carpenter bees look just like bumble bees except that their abdomens are shiny and smooth. Carpenter bees are frequently seen buzzing around unpainted buildings and boards. The oval-shaped insects will bore into wood in order to lay their eggs. To identify an infestation, routinely check wooden areas of your home for round, smooth holes.
    If left untreated, carpenter bees have the potential to inflict serious damage to your home by drilling too many holes potentially making the building structure unstable. They are solitary bees, so they do not live in colonies and will rarely sting humans.
  • Honey bees can be in various shades of yellow, black, brown or orange, and their bodies are covered with light-colored hair.
    Honey bees will swarm to form new colonies when the colony gets too large for hive space or new queens are produced. Honey bees are not particularly aggressive except when the nest is disturbed.
  • Bumble bees physically resemble carpenter bees, except that bumble bees have hairy abdomens. Bumble bees do not make tunnels in wood, but rather nest underground or in cavities, such as in abandoned rat burrows.
    In general, bumble bees are seldom problematic, except in situations where the nests are established in a location where it is highly likely to conflict with people or pets.

How to Get Rid of Bees

It is important to properly identify the particular species living near your home, as bees are often mistaken for wasps each requiring unique treatment methods.

The only way to rid a home of bees is to remove the hive entirely. For safety and efficiency purposes, contact Better Care Pest Control for help with bee control.

Call (+95) 9677086877