Insect HELP!

 

These bees are a gold and brown colour (not yellow and black).  There can be anywhere from 25,000 bees in spring.  In the summer the population grows substantially and in a healthy hive there can be anywhere from 80,000 to 100,000 bees.  Because there are so many honeybees, they must have a fairly large cavity that they can nest in.  Also, they need a mostly closed in location such as inside a hollow tree, a barrel or inside the walls of a home.

 

They do survive through winter.  They don't hibernate but they do cluster together to keep each other warm all winter long.  When they pick a home for themselves, they take into consideration whether there is enough insulation to survive in winter.  That's why hollow trees are excellent places for wild bees because they provide a good cavity and also excellent insulation.

 

Beekeepers are most happy to collect swarms of bees (for info about what a swarm is visit Swarms Explained).  Beekeepers will also remove bees from buildings, walls, trees, etc.  For a list of beekeepers in Ontario that can help with that visit Swarms.

 

This is black and yellow hairless wasp is the most commen pesky insect.  They are omnivores so they eat meat, veggies and fruits.  The like to be around people when they have food outside.  In the fall as food is scarce, they can pester people who are outside with food.

 

They create paper nests to raise their young in.  They don't store food but instead gather each day the food they will eat that day and feed their young.  These paper nests can be created in any small to medium sized space.  The same as bumblebees, they can use old mole tunnels in the ground where they can build their paper nests.  They can also create nests in the small spaces of a house wall and the siding or in any space in a soffit they can enter.

 

In the fall when the frosts come and food is scarce; the workers will die.  They do not winter over.  Only the queen will leave the nest and hibernate for winter.  Each spring when the queens wake, they search for a nesting site to start again.

 

If wasps are entering under siding, are nested in the ground, are entering in a gap in the soffits, once they are all dead in the fall you can then safely close up any gaps that are allowing insects to enter.  That way you can prevent them from returning in the spring.

 

These black and white fairly large hornets create round paper nests that you will often see hanging from a tree branch, the soffit of a house or hanging under a deck.  They are omnivores and eat what we do although they are not well known for pestering people with food.  They can be seen taking nectar from hummingbird feeders, along with yellow jacket wasps.

 

They do not overwinter.  Once fall frosts come and food is no longer available the workers will die.  The queen will leave the paper nest and fly away to find a place to hibernate.

 

They will not return to the paper nest in the spring.

 

If the nest is small, it can be removed at nighttime and even relocated, however once the nest gets to a certain size there will be guards on the outside of the nest that will attack if you come close.

 

These big black and yellow and fuzzy bees can nest in different ways.  Bumblebees will nest in old moletunnels in the soil.  Preferred soil spots are under decks or beneath soffits so there is some rain protection.  They do not gather nesting supplies but instead will use whatever grasses, chewed fabric, etc., that the moles would have left behind.  They will build small honeycomb pots that they will use for small amounts of nectar and to raise babies in.

 

A bumblebee hive might have around 30 bees.  In Spring the queen starts on her own and chooses a nest sight.  Once she has offspring they will take over foraging and the queen will stay in the nest.  They only produce a few teaspoons of nectar and they don't store any of it.  This large bee is very gentled and prefers to fly away than to sting a person.

 

They don't winter over.  When the cold frosts come and the food supplies are gone the workers will all die.  Only the queen will leave the hive and find a spot to hibernate for the winter.

 

If you have bumblebees nesting under a deck and coming up through the floorboards where you sit, you might consider putting down a small rug to redirect where they fly out from so that they aren't appearing where you are sitting yet can find another way to exit.

 

If they are nesting in a shed wall, etc., if you are willing to wait until fall when the workers die and all activity stops, you can then safely block off or repair all holes where they are gaining access.  That will prevent a queen from returning to that same location in the spring.

 

They have fuzzy yellow backs and a shiny black body.  They drill perfect round holes in raw wood and lay eggs inside.  They are solitary bees and do not have a hive.  They prefer raw wood to painted wood.  Staining or painting the wood of a deck can help to deter them.

 

There are several more types of solitary bees, but they are not ones known to be pests so aren't listed here.