Getting rid of a bees nest safely

The safe way to get rid of a bees nest is to identify it first and then choose the fix that suits it. A honey bee swarm hanging off a branch can usually be collected by a beekeeper, often free. A bumble bee nest can usually be left to die out, or moved. An established honey bee colony inside a wall, roof or tree has to be cut out in full, which is skilled work. Spray almost never settles it. This guide works through each case, the home remedies people try, and the point where doing it yourself stops being sensible.

Start by working out what you have

Look from a safe distance at the insects and at how busy the entrance is. Don't spray, block or dig until you know.

The bumble bee page and bees in walls and roofs go into those two cases in detail.

A swarm: leave it and call a collector

Swarming bees aren't aggressive unless provoked, according to Honey and Bees New Zealand, which also asks the public to leave swarms unsprayed. Around Auckland, the Auckland Beekeepers Club arranges free collection through volunteers.

Think of a swarm as a colony in transit, resting while scouts find a new home. It often goes within a few hours to a day or two. If it is somewhere harmless, waiting is a fair option. If it starts moving into the house, ring someone straight away. Moving a swarm on without killing it has the steps.

An established colony: not a DIY job

For almost everyone, no. A settled honey bee colony means thousands of bees, sheets of wax comb and stored honey, and the bees will defend it. Getting it out means opening the cavity, cutting out every comb and cleaning up, in a full bee suit. Get it wrong and you end up stung, with angry bees and comb left behind to melt.

Researchers at the University of Georgia and UC Riverside both stress that the whole nest has to come out, because leftover comb and honey can seep through walls and draw other bees. Bees defending an opened nest are far more aggressive than any swarm. Unless you keep bees yourself and have the gear, hand it on: a beekeeper who takes on cut-outs if one is available, or a pest controller if not.

Should you spray it?

No. Spray rarely fixes a bee problem and often makes it worse. Insecticide only really works on bees that moved in a day or two ago. On an established colony the dead bees, comb and honey stay put, and the poisoned honey harms any bees that rob it.

It reaches beyond your house, too. American foulbrood, a fatal disease of honey bee larvae, spreads when bees rob honey from weak or dead colonies, according to NZ Bee Health and Biosecurity. A colony killed and left in a wall is exactly that. Insecticide is the right tool for wasps. For honey bees the answer is removal, and where a colony is destroyed, the comb should still come out.

Do home remedies work?

The internet is full of them: peppermint oil, vinegar, cinnamon, citronella, mothballs, even WD-40. None reliably shifts an established colony, and we haven't found a New Zealand authority that recommends any of them. Bees with comb, brood and honey in a cavity won't abandon it over a smell.

At best a smell keeps a few bees off a spot for a while, but it does nothing about the comb, which is the real problem. Mothballs and solvents bring their own hazards indoors. A fresh swarm will probably leave anyway, and an established colony needs the comb taken out.

When to hand it on

Get help when the bees are inside a wall, roof, chimney or floor, when the nest is high up, when it has been there for weeks, when bees are getting into the house, or when anyone nearby reacts badly to stings. Those are the cases where DIY is most likely to go wrong.

The cost guide shows the published prices we found, from free swarm collection to cutting a colony out of a wall.

If the bees here don't match yours, the front page on Bee Removal Auckland sets swarms, bumble nests and wall colonies side by side.