The right way to get rid of bees outside your house depends entirely on what type of bee you’re dealing with. Honeybees, carpenter bees, and ground-nesting bees each require different approaches, and some shouldn’t be killed at all. Identifying the bee first saves you time, money, and potentially a lot of stings.
Identify the Bee Before You Act
Most people lump all buzzing insects together, but the differences matter. Honeybees are amber-brown with striped abdomens and a slightly heart-shaped face. They’re fuzzy compared to wasps and carry visible balls of pollen on their hind legs. If you see a large swarm clustered on a tree branch or wall, you’re almost certainly looking at honeybees.
Carpenter bees look similar to bumblebees but have smooth, shiny black abdomens instead of fuzzy ones. You’ll notice them hovering near wooden eaves, decks, or fascia boards, and you may spot perfectly round half-inch holes drilled into the wood. Ground-nesting bees (sometimes called mining bees) build individual tunnels in bare patches of lawn or garden soil. You’ll see small mounds of dirt with bees flying low to the ground.
Wasps and yellowjackets are not bees. They have smooth, hairless bodies with bright yellow and black markings and narrow “waists.” Their removal calls for different strategies entirely. If your visitors are wasps, the advice below won’t apply.
Honeybee Swarms: Call a Beekeeper
Honeybees are critical pollinators, and in most cases you can have them removed alive for free or low cost. Local beekeepers routinely collect swarms by gently brushing or shaking the cluster into a cardboard box, placing the box in the shade until nightfall, then sealing and carrying it away after dark when all the foraging bees have returned. The whole process is surprisingly calm. Swarms are typically docile because they have no hive to defend.
If honeybees have moved into a wall void, soffit, or other structure, the job is more involved. Some beekeepers use specialized vacuums with baffles to collect bees without harming them. Another option is a one-way wire screen trap placed over the entrance that forces bees to relocate into a hive box positioned nearby. This method requires patience (sometimes weeks), but it removes the colony without chemicals.
To find a beekeeper, search for your county’s beekeeping association or call your local agricultural extension office. Many maintain swarm-removal lists specifically for homeowners. Professional bee removal services typically cost between $141 and $322 nationally, with an average around $214. Costs can climb to several hundred or even thousands of dollars if the hive is inside a wall or other hard-to-reach location and structural work is needed to access it.
Carpenter Bees: Treat the Wood
Carpenter bees bore into unfinished softwood to create nesting galleries, and they return to the same wood year after year, expanding tunnels that can eventually cause real structural damage. Unlike honeybees, carpenter bees are solitary, so you won’t find a large colony. But a dozen females drilling into the same fascia board can do significant harm over a few seasons.
The most effective approach combines two steps. First, apply an insecticidal dust directly into each gallery entrance using a hand-pump duster. This coats the interior walls of the tunnel where bees travel. Leave the hole open for 24 to 48 hours so any returning bees pass through the treated zone. Second, spray a liquid insecticide around the gallery entrance and surrounding wood to catch bees that land nearby. This dust-plus-spray method is the same approach licensed pest control operators use.
Timing matters. Treat during early morning or late evening when carpenter bees are least active and most likely to be inside their tunnels. Once you’ve confirmed the gallery is inactive (no sawdust falling, no bees entering or exiting), seal each hole with wood putty or a purpose-built carpenter bee blocker.
For prevention, the single most effective long-term strategy is finishing bare wood. Carpenter bees strongly prefer unfinished, unpainted softwood surfaces. Painting or staining exposed eaves, fascia, trim, decks, and railings significantly reduces their appeal as nesting sites. If you’ve had recurring problems, you can also apply a microencapsulated liquid insecticide to exterior wood surfaces in early spring (March or April), before females begin drilling. These products bond to wood and provide up to 90 days of residual protection.
Ground-Nesting Bees: Just Add Water
Ground bees are solitary, rarely sting, and are among the most effective native pollinators. Their nesting season is short, typically just a few weeks in spring. In most cases, the best approach is simply to leave them alone and let them finish their cycle.
If they’re nesting in an area where you genuinely can’t coexist with them, no pesticides are needed. Ground-nesting bees choose dry soil. Watering the area with a sprinkler is enough to make them relocate. If they return to the same patch of lawn every year, run a sprinkler over that area before nesting season begins, and they’ll choose a different spot. Adding mulch, ground cover plants, or a layer of landscape fabric over bare soil also makes the area unsuitable for tunneling.
What About Natural Repellents?
You’ll find countless recommendations online for peppermint oil, spearmint, and other essential oils as bee deterrents. The evidence doesn’t support this. Peppermint and spearmint are mint-family plants, and bees are actually attracted to them. One beekeeper’s test of several essential oils found that bees eagerly consumed peppermint, anise, tea tree, and wintergreen oils. Spearmint oil is even a key ingredient in commercial bee-feeding stimulants designed to attract bees to sugar syrup. Dabbing mint oil on outdoor furniture or planting mint near your patio is more likely to bring bees closer than to drive them away.
Safety Basics for Any Removal
If you’re doing any hands-on bee management yourself, wear protective clothing: long-sleeved, light-colored coveralls, a properly fitting bee veil with a hat, protective gloves, and high-topped boots with pant legs tucked inside. Bees are less attracted to light colors and more defensive around dark clothing.
Bees don’t fly in the dark, which makes nightfall a good time to seal entry points or treat nests when they’re easily accessible. That said, most experienced handlers prefer working during the middle of the day when visibility is better and a large portion of the colony is away foraging. The tradeoff is fewer bees present versus being able to see clearly what you’re doing.
Preventing Bees From Returning
Once you’ve dealt with your current situation, a few maintenance steps keep bees from setting up again. Seal gaps and cracks in exterior walls, soffits, and foundations. Honeybee scouts are remarkably good at finding openings as small as a quarter inch. Caulk, steel wool, or hardware cloth over ventilation gaps all work. Paint or stain any bare wood to deter carpenter bees. Keep lawn areas where ground bees have nested consistently irrigated during early spring.
If you’ve had a honeybee colony removed from inside a wall, make sure all honeycomb is also removed. Leftover comb will melt in summer heat, stain walls, attract rodents, and release scents that draw new swarms to the same spot. This is one area where paying a professional to open the wall and clean it out is worth the cost.