Most of the time, bees near your home will leave on their own if you don’t provoke them. Bees aren’t aggressive insects and only sting to protect themselves, so the fastest way to make a single bee go away is to stay still and let it pass. But if you’re dealing with bees that keep showing up, a swarm that’s settled on your property, or insects boring into your wood, you’ll need a more targeted approach depending on what you’re actually dealing with.
First, Figure Out What You’re Dealing With
The strategy that works depends entirely on whether you have honeybees, carpenter bees, or yellowjackets. These insects look similar at a glance but behave very differently and require different responses.
Honeybees are fuzzy, golden-brown, and typically docile. If you see a large cluster of thousands of bees hanging from a tree branch or fence post, that’s a swarm. Swarms are temporary. In spring, when colonies outgrow their hive, about 40 to 50 percent of the bees leave with the old queen and form a temporary cluster while scouts search for a new home. They’re not defending a hive, so they’re unlikely to sting. Most swarms move on within a few hours to a few days.
Carpenter bees are large, shiny black bees (not fuzzy on the abdomen) that hover around wooden eaves, decks, and fences. They drill perfectly round holes, about the diameter of a finger, into untreated wood. They’re solitary, not colony insects, and the males that hover aggressively near you can’t actually sting.
Yellowjackets are the ones most people are trying to get rid of. They’re smooth-bodied, not fuzzy, with sharp black and yellow stripes. They build papery nests in the ground, inside wall voids, under eaves, or in tree hollows. Colonies can grow to 2,000 to 5,000 workers depending on the species, and they’re far more aggressive than bees, especially near food sources in late summer.
How to Stay Safe Around Bees Right Now
If bees are buzzing around you in the moment, resist the urge to swat. Swatting makes you more likely to get stung, not less. Stay calm, move slowly, and walk away from the area. Bees are drawn to flowers and flowering trees, so if you’re near a garden or blooming landscape, simply relocating a few yards is often enough.
Avoid wearing strong fragrances, brightly colored or floral-patterned clothing, and open food or drinks outdoors. Sweet beverages are especially attractive to yellowjackets. If a single bee lands on you, wait. It will investigate and leave. If you’re near a nest you didn’t know about and multiple insects are swarming, cover your face and walk (don’t run) in a straight line away from the area.
Natural Scents That Repel Bees
Several essential oils work as short-term deterrents for outdoor areas where you want fewer bees visiting. Peppermint oil is the most widely recommended because many stinging insects, including hornets and yellowjackets, dislike the smell. Other effective options include citronella, clove, lemongrass, eucalyptus, and lavender.
To make a simple repellent spray, mix water with a few drops of peppermint oil, an eighth of a teaspoon of cinnamon, and an eighth of a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Spray it around outdoor seating areas, doorways, or picnic tables. As the water evaporates, the peppermint, cinnamon, and cayenne scents linger and discourage insects from hanging around. Reapply after rain or every few days. One important rule: never spray directly at a bee or wasp. That will agitate it and increase your risk of being stung.
You can also place dried herbs like peppermint, spearmint, or lemongrass in small sachets near problem areas. These won’t eliminate an established nest, but they’re useful for keeping bees away from a patio, porch, or outdoor dining space.
What to Do About a Honeybee Swarm
If a honeybee swarm lands on your property, the best response is patience. Don’t approach it, and don’t spray it with pesticides. The swarm is resting temporarily while scouts look for a permanent home, and it will almost certainly leave on its own.
If the swarm is in a high-traffic area or doesn’t move after a day or two, contact a local beekeeper for free or low-cost live removal. Most beekeepers are happy to collect swarms because they get a free colony out of it. Take a photo from a safe distance and text or email it to the beekeeper so they can confirm the insects are honeybees and prepare the right equipment. Discuss ahead of time whether they charge a fee, when they’ll arrive, and whether they’ll need to trim any vegetation.
Honeybees face significant survival pressures, so calling a beekeeper rather than a pest control company helps preserve these colonies. If a colony has moved into a wall void or structure (not just a temporary swarm), beekeepers who perform cut-outs can remove the bees along with their comb and honey. Removing the nesting material is critical because abandoned honeycomb inside walls attracts pests and can cause moisture damage.
Stopping Carpenter Bees From Damaging Wood
Carpenter bees target weathered, untreated softwood like pine, cedar, redwood, and cypress. The single most effective prevention is painting, varnishing, or pressure-treating all exposed exterior wood. Carpenter bees typically avoid finished surfaces and hardwoods.
If you already have carpenter bee holes, don’t seal them with caulk or expanding foam. Larvae developing inside the tunnels need room to move, and a foam seal forces them to drill new exit holes, creating more damage. Instead, wait until new bees have emerged (usually by late spring), then plug the holes with cork or a wood dowel. Once sealed, paint or varnish the repaired surface to prevent reuse.
A few other tactics that work surprisingly well:
- Almond or citrus oil: Spray a mixture of almond oil and water on vulnerable wood surfaces a few times throughout spring. You can also dab oil directly into active nesting holes to discourage females.
- Decoy wood: Place a few scrap blocks of untreated softwood in a far corner of your yard to give carpenter bees an alternative nesting site away from your structures.
- Fake wasp nests: Inflate a brown paper bag, cinch the end shut, and hang it under your eaves. Carpenter bees avoid areas where they think wasps are nesting.
- Vibration and noise: Hanging a wind chime or playing music near an active nest can disrupt the bees enough that they relocate after a few days of consistent sound.
Keeping Bees From Nesting in Your Home
Prevention is far easier than removal once a colony establishes itself. Walk around your home’s exterior in early spring, before nesting season, and look for gaps that insects could use as entry points. Common problem spots include gaps where utility lines enter the house, spaces under fascia boards, cracks in siding, openings around vents, and gaps between the foundation and sill plate.
Seal small openings with caulk and cover larger gaps with fine mesh hardware cloth or steel wool backed by caulk. Pay special attention to soffits and eaves, which are favorite nesting spots for both yellowjackets and honeybees. If you have old, unused animal burrows in your yard, fill them with soil. Ground-nesting yellowjackets, particularly the eastern yellowjacket, frequently colonize burrows, leaf piles, and compost heaps, with colonies reaching 2,000 to 3,000 workers by late summer.
Keep garbage cans tightly sealed, clean up fallen fruit from trees, and avoid leaving pet food outdoors. These food sources attract yellowjackets far more than they attract honeybees, but reducing them helps with both. If you have a persistent yellowjacket nest in a wall void or underground, that’s a situation where professional pest control makes sense. Unlike honeybee colonies, yellowjacket nests die off each winter, so if the nest is in a low-traffic area and you can wait until cold weather, the problem will resolve itself.