5 WAYS TO BEE PROOF YOUR HOME

If your looking and hopefully reading this post then it’s most likely you have already been invaded by our honey making friends “Bees”

Yes honey bee’s are very industrious, crafty and dedicated to doing what they do and one has to be pretty diligent if they wish to bee proof their home or business. I have removed bee’s from almost everyplace you can think of but, it always surprises me with where they come up next to make a hive. It is nearly impossible to make your place 100% bee proof, But their are things you can do to help discourage a swarm from deciding that your house is the next place to make their next house!

First Bee’s love places that are high up off the ground (although not always) offer warmth and concealment and a nice entrance/exit. These are quite often wall stud bays or roof rafter bays or soffits on the roof overhang. These locations offer a nice “box” for them to construct all the honeycomb they plan on making inside your walls. In order to keep them out you must not give them a way in.

1. Go around your roof line of your home, be a detective and think like a bee:) If I wanted in where would I go……

A. the vent blocks that go around your roof line, typically have a wire mesh stapled across the vent holes to let the roof breath. Quite often these begin to rust out and are a prime spot for bee’s to enter. Replace all your mesh.
B. Fascia or soffit areas where two pieces of wood come to make a corner and through time has opened up a crack and could allow bee’s to enter and get into the roof. These need to be repair, sealed and caulked up.
C. Roof vents, the wire mesh has rotted out.. Replace them.
D. Basically any crack or opening to the roof needs to be silicone caulked and or have the wire mesh replaced or wire mesh could be used to seal up a big gap or crack.

2. Exterior walls.

A. Cracks in the siding or stucco have to be sealed.
B. Check the weep screens at the bottom of stucco as they tend to rust out and bee’s can gain access into a stud bay and set up shop.
C. Rotted wood or openings anywhere in the siding will allow access and potential to set up shop in a stud bay.
D. Openings at the top or bottom of siding. Knot hole’s in siding with no paper underneath is not good. Seal these up.
If you were a bee could you get in…. yeah probably:)

3. Walls.

A. These are like Exterior walls in that they are typically wood framed and then have some sort of siding or stucco on the outside. Bee’s love these stud bays so any opening into the wall will invite them in. Seal the stucco, siding. Close up any cracks or openings in corners or the bottom of the wall.

4. Boxes, bbq’s , trash cans, junk lying around the yard. Bee’s love a box or old piece of furniture to post up in and start a hive, so clean up the yard and around your house, especially in spring time.

A. Keep your lids closed on trash cans, especially on recycling cans as they often contain things that had something sweet in them which could attract a bee swarm.
B. Spa covers and the housing that surrounds the hot tub are a shining beacon to a swarm, I don’t know how many hives I’ve removed from Spas but they love them and they are no fun to get all that honeycomb out of so seal them up. All the wood has access doors and panels with seams between the underside of the tub, so use silicone caulk on all these areas.
C. Bbq’s, boxes, dressers, cupboards, underside of anything, it’s impossible to completely seal these up but just be diligent about closing things up especially in Spring.

5. Ground hives or water boxes. These are typically a kind of natural or man made “cave” that bee’s can access, attach the honeycomb to a roof of sorts and then fly in and out. Often you find bee’s flying around a bush or shrubs and upon closer inspection it is a plastic water box or a cave.

A. Water boxes, I take wire mesh and put it around the underside of the cover and then push it back in, this prevents the bee’s from entering through a gap or the hole used to pull the cover up. This works well.
B. Underground cave or hole, these you would have to find or know about before hand and if you do, fill them up with dirt, compact the dirt and fill some more, this works. Usually you will find the hole after the bee’s are there, have them removed and then fill it up immediately as they will come back sometime.

Well these are just a few things to look for and take care of before spring time as that is the busy season for bee’s to swarm and look for new homes. Bee’s will be active all spring and summer but a little bit of prevention can help you not have to have a hive removed from you place. It is always hard on the bee’s and costs you money so take a walk around and plug those openings.

I’ll write more on this subject in upcoming blogs but for now you can visit me
on beeman_live_bee_removal on instagram or visit my web page at
www.beemanlivebeeremoval.com and remember to be kind to these essential creatures of our environment which we share with them.
Mark Gadbois
Beeman Removal and Relocation