Why Are Bees Taking Over My Yard?

Bees are crucial pollinators that help flowers turn into fruit or seed so that the process of growing plants can continue. Having bees in your yard means something is attracting them, either food or water. Honey bees will travel up to four miles away from their hive to find nectar from flowers. Just because you have several bees in your yard, does not mean you have bees living in your yard. By controlling a few key factors around your property, you can help keep bees from coming onto your property and taking over your yard.

Food and water magnets for bees

If you are terrified of getting stung by a bee or are afraid your children will get stung, a few things to avoid having in your yard are:

• Flower beds: Bees are pollinators and will be attracted to the brightly colored flowers in your flower beds.
• Vegetable garden: If you love growing your own vegetables, bees are needed to pollinate your garden. If you do not want bees, you should sadly give up growing your own tomatoes.
• Native flowering plants:  You may have some vine plants or even ornamental trees that flower yearly that may also attract bees.
• Water feature or bird bath: Bees need water just like any other animal. If you have readily available water in a bird bath or other type of yard water feature, you may attract bees to your yard.
• Hummingbird feeders: Bees like sweets which is why they make honey. So if you have some tasty sugar water in your hummingbird feeders, you may actually attract a few bees as well.
• Outdoor picnics: If you love to invite friends over for a cookout on these nice summer evenings, any sweet drinks or desserts you leave unattended may quickly be taken over by bees.

Bees are everywhere

While there can be several things that may attract bees to your yard, there  is one reason why the bee population explodes over night. A swarm of bees will sometimes engulf a tree branch, your mailbox, or a swing set seemingly overnight. A swarm happens when a bee hive needs to split and half of the hive swarms around a new queen as they look for a suitable place to begin a new hive. Bee swarms are temporary and will soon move on. If you are uncomfortable with the sudden number of bees taking over your yard, you can give a professional pest control service a call to remove the swarm from your property.

If you are in Chester County, give ECPC a call today. Our technicians at Environmentally Considered Pest Control are determined to keep your yard and home pest free while using eco-friendly methods. Bees are an important aspect of our ecosystem. Safely removing the hive from your property is what we do best at ECPC.