I have bees! Now what?

First of all, congratulations! Some sort of insect has decided to live in your yard. That is very exciting! Your level of excitement might depend on the type of insect that you are dealing with. And therefore, the first step is to identify what kind of insect you have.

Many of us are familiar with bumble bees as they are large, hairy and obvious. However, there are many other types of bees in Alberta. Most are ground nesting bees. These come in all shapes and sizes, but are typically small to medium-sized bees that can be black, black with white stripes, dark or brilliant metallic green. They are typically not very hairy especially compared to bumble bees, but some are very hairy! 

Tunnel nesting bees like leaf cutter bees, mason bees, small carpenter bees, etc, are often medium-sized bees that nest in hollow stems or decaying wood. Some are black with hairy bellies (an adaptation for carrying pollen), while others are shiny green or blue. 

Honey bees are medium-sized bees with a moderate amount of hair on their thorax (middle body segment) and dark brown and light brown striping on their abdomen. Although honey bees in Alberta are typically all one species there is a fair amount of variability in the coloration (i.e., there are lighter coloured honey bees and darker coloured honey bees).

Once you’ve determined the type of bee you have, determining the next course of action is easiest once you understand its life cycle.

Life Cycle of Bumble Bees

In the spring, bumble bee queens establish their nests in abandoned rodent holes, tree cavities, under piles of debris and sometimes under a step or even in your home’s insulation. The queen creates a ‘honey pot’ out of a waxy substance where she stores honey to feed her developing workers. Those workers start off as eggs laid in nest cells created by the queen. The workers develop into larvae, pupate and emerge as adults in three to five weeks. Toward the end of the summer, the queen lays eggs that will become new queens and eggs that will become males. The new queens and males leave the nest and mate. Soon after, the old queen, the workers and the males die off naturally. The newly mated queens prepare for hibernation.

If you have bumble bees:

If you have a bumble bee nest in your yard at most it will have 100-200 bees in it. Bumble bee nests can be relocated but often with lethal results. Bumble bees do tend to recolonize nesting areas that have been previously colonized so if you are not keen to have them back in future years, wait until fall and seal up the area so that bees cannot enter. This should prevent a new queen from establishing a nest in the same location.

As a last resort, if you cannot live with your bees in their current location, you can try to find someone to relocate the nest. If this is not possible, the absolute last resort is to have them destroyed.

Life Cycle of Solitary Bees

Most of our 321 native bee species are solitary and most of those nest in the ground. Many of these ground nesting bees are small and relatively hairless (compared to bumble bees). These bees need access to bare soil in order to create their nests. You might see little mounds on the soil surface surrounding a circular opening and you may notice a bee entering or leaving these openings. These are most likely females who excavate tunnels in the soil, dig out a nest cell, lay an egg and leave a pollen ball for the developing bee. Ground nesting bees are only active for three to six weeks so you may notice them for a portion of the spring or summer and then they seem to disappear. Some of these bees nest in aggregation so they work alone but nest near their sisters and others are actually social!

Other solitary bees nest in tunnels in dead or decaying wood and hollow or pithy stems. they create similar nest cells one after the other along the tunnel or stem out of pieces of leaves, mud, plant hairs, etc., lay an egg and leave behind a pollen ball. Below are images of a bumble bee nest (Bombus spp.), a solitary ground nesting bee (Halictus spp.) and a tunnel nesting bee (Anthophora spp.).

If you have solitary bees:

If you have ground nesting or tunnel nesting bees in an area that is not ideal, transplant your hollow-or pithy-stemmed plants (when dormant) to a more appropriate location, move wood piles or establish vegetative cover in areas with bare soil.

Life Cycle of Honey Bees

Honey bees are a non-native species that typically rely on beekeepers to keep them alive and healthy in Alberta. These are the bees you see in hives and contain between 40,000 and 60,000 bees. Honey bee colonies naturally reproduce when a new (or is it old?) queen leaves the colony with a number of worker bees to find a new nesting site of their own. This is called swarming. Swarming honey bee swarms are typically docile as the bees are resting before moving to the next area. Honey bees that swarm and successfully establish a nest in the wild are considered feral. Feral honey bee nests are typically hidden with a small entrance hole. If you have a honey bee nest, you will be able to hear the bees and observe bees entering and exiting the nest. Feral honey bee colonies are rare and unlikely to survive the winter unless they are well insulated.

If you have honeybees:

If you have a  honey bee swarm, contact your local beekeeping association and someone may be willing to come collect the bees and place them in a new hive. The willingness of beekeepers to collect the swarm is often dependent on  the ease of access and the amount of work involved in doing so. It’s a good idea to ask for a quote as some beekeepers will do this for free and others might charge a fee for this service. If you take no action, the bees will likely move on, on their own within a day or so.

If you have a honey bee colony, a local beekeeper might be willing to come collect the bees. As stated above, this is often dependent on how easy it is to access them. If you have honey bees nesting in your home you will want to have them removed either by a beekeeper or an exterminator. Honey bee nests can cause mold and even structural issues within your home.

List of Beekeeping Groups in Alberta

• Alberta Beekeeping Commission

• Edmonton District Beekeepers Association

• Edmonton Beekeeping Group

• YEG Bees

• Calgary and District Beekeepers Association

• Red Deer Area Beekeepers Association

• City of Lethbridge Bee and Swarm Information

• Grand Prairie Beekeepers Club

• Honey Bees in the Hills (Turner Valley)

Wasps

Wasps are closely related to bees, which is one reason why it is often difficult to differentiate them. Wasps are typically less hairy than bees and none have the specialized pollen-collecting structures, and branched hairs seen in bees like honey or bumble bees, or leafcutter or mason bees. Like bees, there are both solitary and social species of wasps, with the solitary species far outnumbering the social species. However, the wasps you are probably most familiar with [in Alberta] are several species of yellowjackets or the large black and white yellowjacket we call a Bald-faced “hornet”.

Solitary Wasps vs. Social Wasps

Solitary Wasps

Solitary wasps hunt for insects and other invertebrates to feed to their young. They capture and sting a wide variety of insects, each species of wasp usually specializing on a particular type of prey, paralyzing the prey to place in chambers or cells, where they have laid an egg. A single female usually constructs a nest of one or several cells without help from other females.The prey include many pest species, like caterpillars or aphids, flies or beetles. Adult wasps, both male and female, feed on nectar from flowers and occasionally females obtain some fluid from the prey they are hunting.

Nests of solitary wasps are found in the same places where solitary bees nest. Some species nest in burrows they make in the ground, some in cavities in wood where they use mud or other material to wall off the chambers, and some make nests of mud, including some elegant looking pots, moistening soil to produce a mortar.

*There are hundreds of species of solitary wasps in Alberta, but few people notice any but the largest of these. Solitary wasps are intent on feeding themselves and their young, and it would take immense effort to convince one to sting you. They are best left alone, to help control other insects and contribute their bit to pollination.

Social Wasps

The most familiar species of wasps are the yellowjackets, of which there are more than a dozen types in Alberta. These make the familiar nests enclosed in paper, which are sometimes seen hanging from a tree branch or the eaves of a house, though some may be in cavities in the ground or in trees, or even in houses or other structures. The construction material is made by combining water and wood scraped from lumber or trees to produce a pulp, which can be spread in strips to dry.

Just like bumble bees, a single, fertilized queen establishes a new nest each spring - no wasp colonies survive over the winter - and early nests can easily be disposed of, since the queen is more interested in escaping than defending the nest. As the colony grows, however, yellowjacket nests can contain hundreds to thousands of workers (sterile females), each providing some task to build, heat, cool or feed the colony.

Once a colony is large, it is best to leave them if you can, as they are a valuable form of biological control of pests in your garden. However, social wasps can be a nuisance or worse, if they are in the wrong place. You may have had wasps sneaking bites of your hamburger or steak, or sipping sugary drinks like pop at a barbeque, which is inconvenient, but they are occasionally a public safety concern, and especially for those who are allergic to the stings. If you decide to destroy the nest yourself, use extreme caution. Pick a cold morning and ensure you wear clothing that will protect you. You may find it wiser to call a local exterminator.

One other group of social wasps, which is mostly tropical, is occasionally encountered in some parts of the province, especially in the south and southeast. Two species occur in Alberta, one native, and one introduced from Europe, which is just now beginning to appear in the province. These wasps construct nests in which the combs are visible, and the females can be seen on the nest. The material used to make the nest is the same, but there is no envelope of paper covering the entire outside. These wasps are usually relatively docile, and the colonies are small, sometimes including only a few to a couple of dozen individual wasps.

Other Insects

Other bee-like insects: Include sawflys and fly mimics.

Special thanks to photo contributors: Chelsea Sherbut, Jeff Kearns, Mark Wonneck, Rob Longair and Jesslyn Hayes; and wasp content: Dr. Robert Longair.