How to Prevent Bees and Wasps from Nesting Around Your Home This Spring

We’re really getting into the thick of spring, heading toward summer, and now is when you might be seeing clear signs of bee activity around your property. Wasps are also waking up and looking for a place to build their home for the year. Like it or not, our warm, dry, climate-controlled homes and the various structures we typically use are often prime real estate for bees and wasps to set up shop. Whether queen wasps are establishing a new colony or bees are swarming, we’ll get into the steps you need to take to prevent these stinging insects from nesting around your home. 

Cleveland Bee and Wasp Activity in Spring

Though honey bees and wasps have different life cycles, they’re both very active in spring. 

Spring is swarming season for honey bees. As days lengthen and temperatures rise, food sources become more plentiful and bees are on the wing, getting what they need to feed their growing colony. If the number of bees gets too high, or if there are multiple queens, the group may split, and a large horde of honey bees could be looking for a new place to call home. Protected spaces, warm, dry environments, and any entry points into structures are particularly appealing. 

As for wasps, only the queens survive winter. Once they’re out of dormancy, they start building a small nest. They lay eggs and once born, the new workers take over and the colony rapidly expands as we wind our way into summer. This same life cycle is typical for various types of native bees and wasp relatives, like hornets. 

But in the end, regardless of whether we’re talking about bees or wasps, they’re all looking for a warm, dry, protected place to live, and that often means around your home, shed, garage, or other structure.

Early Warning Signs To Watch For

Common nesting areas around the home for both bees and wasps include roof eaves and soffits, attics and wall voids, sheds and garages, and any structure–natural or otherwise–that provides shelter and isn’t often used or moved. The list is truly endless when it comes to the areas where bees and wasps will set up their home. So keep your eyes and ears open for clues to early nesting behaviors. These can include increased activity that’s localized to one specific area, small starter nests, audible buzzing and flying insects crawling in and out of small openings. If bees in your area are swarming, you may notice dense clusters of them hanging out on trees, in shrubs, under decks, or along exterior walls. 

If you aren’t seeing activity yet, that’s great! Now is the best time to take preventive measures so that you don’t end up sharing your home with wasps or bees this summer. Here’s what to do.

Prevent Bees and Wasps From Nesting

Honey bees will typically squeeze through gaps around 3/8" (about 6-9 mm) in size, but if need be, they can use openings as small as 3/16” (~5 mm). If the scouts have found a place that would make a good home, the bees will put up with the inconvenience of a smaller entry point. 

Wasps can enter through very small openings too–even as small as ⅛ of an inch (~ 3 to 4 mm)! Their smooth, slender and flexible bodies allow them to get through even the smallest crack in your home’s exterior. If you can see the gap, a wasp can likely use it.

Key places where bees and wasps may enter your home include: 

• rooflines, chimneys and soffits
• unsealed vents or damaged screens
• cracks in siding or foundation
• gaps around windows, doors, and utility lines

The easiest way to prevent entry to both bees and wasps is to seal every perceivable crack or crevice on your home’s exterior. You can use silicone caulk in some cases, weather stripping in others, and you can also repair damaged screens and install fine-mesh screens over open vents to prevent infestation. 

Additional strategies to prevent bee and wasp nesting on, in, or around your home are basically not attracting their interest in the first place. Things that we may not think twice about could be the very things that are drawing them in. Think of how quickly ants show up when you drop a crumb of food. In much the same vein, spills, crumbs, and sugary remains of food on your patio, deck, or around your grill or garbage cans could be just the thing to bring in these stinging pests. If they think they will have an easy food source nearby, that will only encourage bees and wasps to set up their new home on your property. Immediately clean up food remains and use tight-fitting lids on trash cans to prevent attracting bees and wasps.

Another way to make your property inhospitable to bees and wasps includes keeping outdoor areas clean and tidy. Trim back hedges and trees from the house, store firewood away from the home’s structure, and don’t leave toys or other items laying around unused for too long–better to put them in storage than to unknowingly create a wasp home. By reducing potential nesting sites and sealing off access to your home and other buildings, you can prevent bees and wasps from nesting around your home this and every spring. And if you start to see the small beginnings of a nest that are built by the lone queen, get rid of those right away. If you need help, you know who to call–your friendly neighborhood wasp exterminator in Cleveland, Cleveland Bee Removal. 

What About Viral Online Repellent Tactics?

We’d advise against all the hyped, supposedly easy deterrent methods you’ll see on social media channels. Yes, it’s true that some essential oils may not be appealing to bees and wasps, but if they are determined enough, and you have a perfect entry point, they will find a way to make it work, regardless of aroma. You’ll also see folks recommending putting up a fake or decoy wasp nest. The theory goes that wasps are territorial and so will not try to build if there is already an existing nest nearby. This is also a myth. Some may have had success, but this anecdotal evidence isn’t enough to justify doing this. You will also see recipes for DIY sprays–do not use them. If you are not an experienced wasp exterminator, you won’t be able to read their behavior or understand their activity and could wind up injured.

Always Choose a Professional

If you’ve taken all precautions that we’ve mentioned above, you’ve done your part. Early prevention steps matter, because once they’re inside, wasps and bees quickly build huge colonies, become more aggressive, and it’s harder and more expensive to remove them. That said, if you do end up seeing signs of bees or wasps scouting or building, regardless of the work you’ve done, it’s time to call a professional wasp exterminator in Cleveland. 

Active nests near your home, bees or wasps entering walls, large or hard-to-reach nests along with allergy or safety concerns make a professional’s help necessary. It’s also important to know that the team you work with will ethically relocate the honey bees. You’ll want to look for honey bee removal in Cleveland when you search for a company to work with. At Cleveland Bee Removal, we work to avoid unnecessary harm to the bees, and eliminate wasps for a safer, more enjoyable property. 

Honey Bee Removal In Cleveland

When it comes to preventing bees and wasps from nesting around your home, a little work up front can help to ward off big problems later. Of course, you can rest assured that if your best efforts fail, you can rely on us for bee control in Cleveland. At Cleveland Bee Removal we specialize in humane honey bee removal, along with hornet and wasp extermination.

So don’t ignore the early signs or attempt to remove any nests on your own. Focus on sealing entry points well before insects enter your home. And when you need professional expertise, please reach out. We will inspect your property, identify the species in question, safely remove and relocate or eliminate, and offer prevention recommendations going forward. Call Cleveland Bee Removal to set up an appointment.