While the visions of honeybee swarms moving in and stinging everything in sight is a scary thought, reality is far different than the thought of it. When a honey bee nest gets to a certain size…new queens take off in search of a new place to begin their hive. The size of this is impressive, hundreds and hundreds of bees moving through the air in a loosely formed group…quite scary…but quite harmless.
At Creepy Creatures, we get many phone calls from concerned homeowners that watch as a swarm of bees quickly move in and take up residence on the side of their home. They are always surprised when I advise them to give the situation a day to see if it resolves it’s self. More times than not, it was just the swarm settling down for the night only to leave the next morning in search of a new home.
There are plenty of “professionals” that will describe many of the bees they encounter as “Killer Bees” or more accurately “Africanized honey bees.” The truth is that it can be difficult to accurately determine what kind of bees unless you are a highly trained bee specialist…and most of us are not. Africanized honey bees are known for being more aggressive and give longer chase than domestic species. Their venom is also no more potent, but they do tend to deliver more stings as a colony.
The best thing you can do when you find a swarm of bees on your property is to let it sit overnight, then determine if it needs to be removed. Simply having bees on your property does not mean they need to be removed. If they are 30 feet in a tree, they are most likely more beneficial then harmless : )
