SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – The recent attack by swarms of bees may be more than a coincidence.Pest control companies say all the rain has lead to more bees making a home in your neighborhood.
“We get so many calls, we can't keep up,” said Jeffrey Lutz of Bee Best Bee Control. Their work has more than doubled this year.
Lutz says recently, the company have been removing 12 to 15 hives a day. The removal process doesn’t take very long, as it involves tossing the hive into a box.
The hives go to a bee yard and eventually to beekeepers. Lutz says the smaller the swarm, the more likely they can save it. If the hive gets too big, they have to destroy it. That’s why you shouldn’t let swarms settle in.
“Once they go into a stable structure, they’re not leaving,” Lutz said.
Lutz says there’s not much you can do to stop bees from creating a hive in your yard. But there are ways to “bee-proof” your home through sealants and screens for your windows, doors and cracks so a swarm doesn’t settle in.
He says the best sign you have a hive is seeing bees two or three days in a row.
“You look for a flight pattern,” he said. “Follow the flight pattern and voila, you'll find the hive.”
Lutz says people have tried different things like wasp and hornet spray on bees, that usually doesn’t work. He also says people have tried hosing down hives or lighting them on fire, but he says that usually just makes them mad.
