Bees are one of the most important types of insects on the planet, providing honey and pollinating plants that bear fruit for us to eat and provide seeds to re-plant. But when they become prevalent around homes they can become a nuisance and a threat to sting people in the vicinity. As a result, sometimes it is necessary to take steps to make sure your home is not an appealing place for bees to nest. Below are 5 steps you can take to make sure that bees do not become a threat to your home.
1. Remove trash and food
Bees are extremely attracted to sugary and sweet foods so removing this is essential in your fight to keep them away from your home. Make sure no food is ever left outside and properly dispose of soda cans and bottles as these are especially attractive to bees. Also make sure that trash cans and recycling bins are covered to keep them out. Bees are attracted to open compost piles as well and as a result compost bins should be considered to restrict a bee’s access to its contents.
2. Install decoys
Bees are extremely territorial insects and usually do not built nests within about 200 feet of another nest. As a result, consider installing a few paper decoys that can be purchased at your local hardware store or fashioned out of paper bags. Put them up on either side of your home in early spring before bees even start to build nests. Decoys are an effective way to prevent bees from building a nest at your residence as it gives them the impression that the space is already occupied by a colony.
3. Maintain home and property
Maintaining your home and property is an effective way to prevent bees from nesting in the area as it takes away places that they find attractive. Take a stroll around your home and check for any issues that may need repairing. Broken siding, cracks in soffits, or splits in window sills or door frames are all perfect places where bees can nest.
Walk around your yard and check for rodent holes or hollowed trees or stumps as these are also appealing for bees to make nests in. Fill in any holes that you find and remove any trees or stumps. If you suspect that bees are already inhabiting anything in your yard, treat it with a repellant spray and wait a few hours before removing. This will ensure that the bees are dead and will not sting you as you attempt to remove the nest.
4. Put up traps
If you already have a bee problem, putting up traps in your yard is an effective way to humanely enclose bees and prevent them from being a nuisance or stinging. Bee traps can also be bought at your local hardware store or made with a plastic bottle and a sweet liquid such as soda to attract them.
The trap lures the bees inside a container and prevents them from escaping. Your traps may just be catching bees passing through your yard instead of the ones inhabiting your home so putting the trap near a nest is crucial.
5. Call an exterminator
You may already have a bee problem and sometimes the steps mentioned previously are not effective in ridding your home of them. In this case, it is best to call a professional pest control service. An exterminator can attend and remove the nest for you or safely apply an insecticide that will kill all bees present. He or she will also have the right tools and knowledge to keep the bees away once and for all.
