Bee Identification Guide

Bees are pollinators; they help ensure that plants, trees, and crops grow by transferring pollen between various flowers. They play a vital role in the environment, ensuring the plants that produce the food we eat are successful.

The two most common bee species in our area are the honey bee and the carpenter bee. Honey bees are social insects and live together in their hives in large groups. Carpenter bees are solitary insects, and the females build individual nests.

Despite their many benefits, bees are dangerous pests. Having bees nesting in our yards, especially near things like outdoor steps, walkways, and play structures, puts you and your family in danger daily.

Bees have stingers at the end of their abdomens they use to defend themselves. The venom they inject is powerful enough to trigger serious allergic reactions in people.

In addition, bees can be damaging pests. If a honey bee were to decide to build a nest in your home's walls voids, they could cause quite a bit of damage. When they abandon their nests, the decaying nest and its honey will cause mold and mildew issues; their decay will also attract other insects into your home.

Carpenter bee females create their nests by boring holes in the wood's exterior and tunneling through it and creating their nesting galleries. Carpenter bees can cause structural damage to homes and wooden structures located on our properties. It is important to remember that while a single female won't cause a lot of damage, many female carpenter bees tend to nest in the same area or in the same piece of wood.

Bees are in your yard because it offers them nesting sites or places to forage for food or water. The reality is that any outdoor space is at risk of becoming a place that bees live. Our yard's trees, gardens, flowerbeds, and wooden structures provide places to nest and feed to bring back to the nest.

Honey bees are most abundant where there is plenty of flowering vegetation. Properties near things like orchards, meadows, large gardens, crop fields, and wooded areas are most prone to problems with honey bees. In our yards, they will build their nests in tree hollows, between rocks, and in sheltered areas like under roof eaves or decks. They are also a species that will create a nest in our homes. Honey bees won't hesitate to take advantage of the protection our chimneys, crawl spaces, and wall voids offer.

Carpenter bees like to build their nests in pine or cedar, preferring wood more than two inches thick. Weathered or untreated wood is most likely to become a place where carpenter bees choose to nest. Having decks, wooden steps, shingles, play structures, and fences on your property can attract the attention of carpenter bees.

The safest and most stress-free way to eliminate any bee is to partner with a professional. At Encon, our business is to help people, and we take this commitment seriously. We treat our customers like family and work as a team to ensure your pest control needs are met, and your family is kept safe. Our professionals know the bees living in our area and the best way to remove or relocate them safely. To learn more about our bee control services, please give Encon a call today!

Reduce the chance of bees making themselves at home in your yard using the following prevention tip:

• Look over your home's exterior walls, foundation, and roofline, sealing any spaces you find to stop bees from moving into and nesting behind your wall voids. 
• Eliminate standing water that bees could use as a water source; keep gutters free of debris, repair leaky fixtures, and don't overwater gardens.
• Remove fallen trees, overgrown landscaping, woodpiles, or other debris from your yard where bees could build a hive. 
• Cut back shrubs and tree branches away from your home.
• Make sure to stain, paint, or otherwise treat wooden structures on your property.

Reach out to us today to learn more about our home pest control and commercial pest control solutions in Worcester, MA, and surrounding areas!