Pest Control
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Finding bees nesting at your home can be unsettling, but most bee nests cause no harm and need nothing doing. The first job is to work out whether they are bees at all, and if so, which kind. That decides everything that follows.
Bee or wasp?
The two are confused all the time, especially honeybees and wasps, which are a similar size. A few quick checks usually settle it:
- Coat. Bees are hairy, which helps them carry pollen. Wasps are smooth and shiny.
- Colour. Honeybees are amber, brown and dull black. Wasps are a sharp, bright yellow and black.
- Shape. Wasps have a clearly pinched waist. Bees are rounder and more solid-looking.
- Food. Bees feed on nectar and pollen from flowers. An insect working its way into your drink or your picnic is almost always a wasp.
- The nest. Wasps build a grey or buff papery nest from chewed wood. Honeybees build wax comb. Bumblebees nest in a loose, untidy clump, often in an old mouse hole or a bird box.
If it turns out to be wasps, our wasp nest treatment page covers what happens next.
Which kind of bee?
Britain has around 270 species of bee, and they fall into three broad groups. Our bee identification guide goes into each in more detail.
- Bumblebees. Large, round and furry. They live in small colonies of up to a few hundred bees, nesting under sheds and decking, in compost heaps, bird boxes and occasionally under the eaves. The colony lasts one season and dies off by late summer.
- Solitary bees. Most UK species, including mason, mining and leafcutter bees. Each female makes her own small nest in soil, old mortar, wood or hollow stems. There is no colony to defend, so they very rarely sting.
- Honeybees. Slimmer and browner, living in colonies of many thousands. Most are kept by beekeepers, but a swarm can move into a chimney, wall cavity or roof space and stay there for years.
Are bees protected by law?
Not as a blanket rule. There is no general law in the UK that stops a bee nest being treated. That does not make treatment the right answer. Several species have declined, bees do a great deal of the pollination in gardens and on farms, and most nests are temporary anyway. We treat bees only as a last resort, where a nest poses a real risk to people and nothing else will work.
When to leave them alone
In most cases, the best thing to do is nothing. Bees do not damage property in the way rats or squirrels do, and they rarely sting unless the nest is disturbed. A bumblebee nest is usually most noticeable shortly before it dies off naturally, and the nest is not reused the following year. Solitary bees are active for a few weeks in spring and early summer, then are gone.
Keep children and pets away from the entrance, do not block it, and let the bees get on with it.
When something does need doing
A nest is worth looking at when:
- it sits beside a door, path or play area that someone has to use every day
- someone in the household is allergic to stings
- honeybees have settled inside the building, where wax and honey can cause damage over time
The options, in order, are to leave the bees where they are, to relocate them if the species and the site allow it, and only then to treat. Honeybee swarms and colonies we try to relocate rather than destroy, because one of our technicians is a working beekeeper. Our guides to honeybee swarms and bees in chimneys and lofts cover those cases.
Why not deal with it yourself?
Spraying a nest with a shop-bought insecticide rarely reaches the colony, and it puts other insects and pollinators at risk. Disturbing a nest, by poking it, digging it out or blocking the hole, is the surest way to get stung. With honeybees in a wall or chimney, blocking the entrance can push them further into the building.
Making your home less inviting
You cannot stop bees visiting the garden, and you would not want to. You can make the house itself less attractive to nesting bees by sealing gaps in soffits, fascias and around pipes, repairing soft or crumbling mortar, fitting fine mesh over vents without blocking the airflow, and checking quiet spots such as sheds, decking and bird boxes in early spring.
When to call us
If bees are nesting somewhere they cannot stay, or you are not sure what you have, send us a photo before you do anything else. We will tell you what the bees are and whether anything needs to happen. Very often it does not. Our bees page explains how we approach them, or call 01926 632 929.
Bee nests and swarms → Identifying UK bees → Bumblebee nests →