Signs of Bee Hive

If you find bees entering the house or flying around the garden or yard area, then it is possible that there is a beehive in or near your property.

If it is not treated immediately, it is not impossible that a beehive at home can harm people who are near it, especially for people who have allergies due to bee stings.

It's not an easy thing for you to get rid of bees nesting in your own house. Nonetheless, correctly understanding the signs of a beehive in your home based on  the different types of bees is important in dealing with bee infestations.

Carpenter Bees

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

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

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.

Carpenter bees do not eat wood in the same way as termites do, but they can cause damage to structures by drilling circular holes to create tunnels in the wood.

To identify carpenter bee attacks, it is highly recommended to carry out regular checks on the wooden structures of buildings to ensure that there are no fine holes caused by this type of bee.

Honey bee hive

Honey bees have quite a variety of colors, ranging from yellow, black, brown and orange. Honey bees are the only type of bees that rarely cause problems, and are not included as pests because of their benefits in producing food in the form of honey for humans. Even so, honey bees will become more aggressive if their nest is disturbed by humans.

Honey bees will swarm to form a new colony when the colony becomes too large to occupy a single hive or a new queen is found.

Generally, a swarm of honey bees will fly to a temporary location before finally flying off to move to a suitable permanent location within 1 hour to a day of building the hive.

In the wild, honey bees generally build nests in tree cavities to hide themselves from natural predators. Honey bee nests at home can be found in tree trunks or fences around the yard or garden area.

They tend to choose nesting sites where there are lots of flowering plants, although it is possible for honey bees to build nests in structures such as roofs or attics.

Bumblebee hive

At first glance, bumblebee bees or also known as ground bees have a physique that resembles wood bees, the difference is that this type of bee has a hairy stomach while wood bees do not.

In addition, bumblebees also don't make holes in wood like wood bees, but instead build nests underground or in building cavities that have been made by other large animals such as rats.

Meanwhile, when they nest above the ground, this type of bee will build nests in compost heaps or use abandoned bird nests.

In general, bumblebees rarely cause trouble except in situations where their nest is disturbed by humans or pets.

What is the difference between bee and wasp nests?

To most people, bees and wasps appear to be very similar in both appearance and habits. Even though these two insects have quite striking differences from their nesting habits.

Here are some differences between bees and wasps:

• Wasps don't swarm around their nest like bees do.
• Wasp nests have a grayish appearance and generally have the shape of a spherical nest.
• While bees are social insects that will live in colonies either underground or in trees. Beehives have a more yellowish color and are generally located in hidden places.

Signs of Wasp Nests

If you are experiencing high numbers of wasps (yellow jackets) in your home or garden there is likely to be a nest nearby, either on your property, in your garden or very close by. It is best to treat a nest earlier before numbers increase and the wasps become more aggressive. This will help to reduce the threat of a wasp sting, which can be very painful and even cause an allergic reaction. Also you will need to keep away from the nest.

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