Although honeybees are a beneficial member to our ecological system, a beehive on our property or inside the structure of our home is undesirable. In Coronado, the middle of March to the end of July is when honeybee infestations are a common event in the area. The cause of this unwelcoming occurrence is from the overpopulation of an existing beehive colony.
Just before springtime a queen bee will begin to lay eggs to build a strong workforce for collecting pollen and sustaining the hive during spring and summer. Consequently, the hive will become overcrowded and will need to split into two independent hives to operate efficiently.
When the bee colony splits, a new queen will stay with the existing hive and the older queen will take a portion of the worker bees (female) and a few drones (male). This newly assembled group is known as a swarm.
The swarm will fly around briefly, often resembling a dust cloud when observed from a distance, and then cluster on a tree limb, shrub, or other object. If the swarm lands on your property, the congregated bees can either stay for a couple hours to a few days or migrate into your home permanently.
While a swarm is on your property, your home is in constant jeopardy. The hive will send out a few bees known as scout bees to search the surrounding area for a suitable nesting location.
Scout bees can inspect roof eaves or other areas of your home to find a potential nesting spot for the swarm to relocate. Scout bees will examine multiple areas and report to the swarm when a nesting location has been chosen so the entire colony can move to this designated location.
Bees can enter any structure with a quarter inch hole or larger. You may not have sufficient time to identify and seal up all potential entries for bees, so an alternative prevention method will suffice.
An effective alternative to preventing a bee infestation is to apply treatment to scout bees lingering around your home. This will discourage the hive from choosing your home as a nesting spot and move on to another location. However, the trick is to take action quickly as bees can move in suddenly without warning.
It is important to keep unwanted beehives off your property to eliminate the risk of injury or possible structural home damage. When a bee colony has established honeycomb, bees tend to become more defensive and will attack when provoked. Also, honeycomb left inside a structure without a hive can cause honey to lose its viscosity in warm temperatures and soak into walls.
Coronado provides ideal conditions for honeybees to flourish in the area. European Honeybees (EHB) are the most common type of honeybee to find in Coronado, but Africanized “Killer” Honeybees (AHB) have been identified in the area. Africanized Honeybees were first found in Coronado and San Diego County by 1998. Since then, this type of highly aggressive bee has continually swarmed the area as well as migrated north. Africanized bees have been officially confirmed by the USDA Agricultural Research Service to exist in multiple counties within 10 U.S. states.
An AHB is visually indistinguishable from an EHB and only differs in behavior. Compared to a European Honeybee, AHBs are more prone to aggressively attack. The threat of AHB is not from the potency of their venom, it is the same as an EHB, but from the larger number of bees that will sting during an attack.
Below is an infographic providing history and behavior details of the Africanized “Killer” Honeybee.
Use precaution with every bee problem you encounter. The live bee removal technique can be used to keep the bees alive during the removal. This option is feasible under most circumstances. Consulting a bee removal professional before removing any bee infestation or swarm on your property is recommended.
About the expert: Derek Roach is a copywriter for Pro Pacific Bee Removal, a company that specializes in bee removal services for San Diego County residents and businesses. Pro Pacific Bee Removal is family-owned and offers a variety of long-term solutions for bee infestations. For more information visit the Pro Pacific Pest Control website.
