5 Things You Should Know About Bees

We get a lot of questions about bees from customers while we are performing live bee removal services. Every once in a while we like to take the most common questions and post them up to our blog to help share information with others who might be curious about honey bees too.

Here are 5 common questions about honey bees that you should know as a San Diego honey bee enthusiast.

Question 1: Why do bees make honey?

Honey bee colonies are intricate communities. Every bee has a role. Even the design of the honeycomb itself is meant to use their space in the best possible way and to store as much honey as possible. So, it stands to reason, that honey bees would make honey for a particular reason. 

Honey bee colonies can live for many years. How can they do this, especially in the freezing winter months? Honey bees work hard all spring and summer and even in to the beginning of fall to collect nectar and pollen and convert it into honey. The honey is stored in the cells of the honeycomb to be used by the colony in the offseason when there aren’t as many flowers available.

Question 2: How can I provide a food source for honey bees?

There are many small things you can do to attract honey bees and provide them with a great source of food to help them thrive. The best thing you can do is to provide them with a garden filled with bee friendly plants and flowers and a water supply from which to forage. There are tons of resources on the Internet to help you choose the best plants for a bee friendly garden. 

In addition to bees, these plants can also attract other pollinators like butterflies and hummingbirds. Even if you live in an urban environment you can still contribute a food source to honey bees and pollinators by using whatever outdoor space you have – get creative!

Question 3: What can I do to protect honey bee populations?

In addition to planting a bee friendly garden and providing a local water source, there are a few other things you can do to help. Number one, never use chemicals and pesticides to treat a bee infestation. These chemicals will kill bees and can be harmful to other plants and insects in the area. Support your local beekeepers by purchasing honey and other bee products from them. And lastly, always choose live bee removal services if you are struggling with a honey bee infestation.

Question 4: Are bees and wasps the same thing?

Some research has shown that the bees we see today are ancestors of a very small wasp. As time evolved, the wasp started eating pollen and became larger in size. Over more time this insect was able to bring pollen back to the hive and feed it to the larvae. Even though they may share a similar ancestor, wasps and bees are two different insects. To learn more about wasps, read our article about the difference between wasps and bees. 

Question 5: Are all bees aggressive towards humans?

Did you know that there are over 20,000 species of bees in the world? Out of all of these species, most are considered to be non-aggressive towards humans. However, many of these species will act defensively if they are provoked. If you do discover bees on your property, you never want to poke at or spray the hive or swat at the bees in any way. This kind of behavior is recognized as a threat to the queen and the hive itself, and can easily result in a bee attack. 

Interestingly, worker bees have barbed stingers that, once stuck inside the skin of the victim, will remain in place and then tear from the body of the bee. Because of this, worker bees will die after stinging a victim, and so most bees are only able to sting once in their lifetime. This does not mean that you should risk multiple bee stings. Multiple bee stings can be lethal, especially for those who are allergic to bee venom.

San Diego Live Bee Removal Services

These five questions cover just some of the questions we get from customers just like you every day. We hope you learned a little something about bees, how you can protect them and how you can respond to an infestation on your property. If you are facing a bee hive or swarm on your San Diego property, call in the professionals at D-Tek Live Bee Removal. Our safe and humane methods of bee removal can make you feel good knowing that you are doing your part to protect honey bees and their role in our agricultural system.