Nuisance Honey Bee Control in Kentucky
What Homeowners Need to Know
Pest Expert Matthew S. Hess
07/12/2025
Honeybees are extremely important for our planet. They help pollinate the crops we eat, the trees that give us oxygen, and they even produce that delicious honey we all love! But when they decide to make a home in your attic or inside your walls, they can turn from being beneficial to a bit of a problem. And in the right circumstances, that problem could get ugly real quick!
At Four Seasons Pest Solutions, we support pollinator protection, as do the products we use. We believe bees are a vital part of our world and must be preserved as much as possible. Yet we also believe our homes should be safe and sting-free and that everyone deserves the right to live a pest-free quality of life.
This guide aims to distinguish between beneficial and nuisance pollinators, empowering homeowners in Kentucky to appreciate the vital role that many bees play in our ecosystem. It’s important to understand that not all bees pose a threat; in fact, they are essential to our environment. We will also explore how to identify situations when bees may become problematic and provide practical steps for responsible management, ensuring both the safety and preservation of these important creatures.
Swarming Bees: Should You Be Worried?
Encountering a cluster or swarm of bees resting on a tree branch or bush can certainly catch you off guard. However, it’s important to know that swarms are typically not aggressive, especially before they’ve settled into a new colony. The swarming process generally begins as early as April and can last well into June. During this period, it’s not uncommon to spot these swarms in unexpected locations as they search for a suitable new home.
While these bee clusters are generally harmless, they may become defensive if they feel threatened or disturbed. That said, if left undisturbed for a few days, the bees will typically find their new home, and the swarm will disperse. In most cases, you won’t see them again after that. Understanding their behavior can help ease any concerns you might have when encountering these important insects in nature.
Swarms typically stay put for a short time while scout bees search for a suitable cavity—like a tree hollow or, unfortunately, a wall void in your home. If left undisturbed, swarms often move on within a day or two.
What should you do if you spot a swarm?
- Don’t panic. Keep your distance.
- Do not spray the bees or try to disturb them.
- Call Four Seasons Pest Solutions or a local beekeeper. Many swarms can be safely and responsibly relocated.
These swarms pose almost no threat and are a natural part of the honey bee’s life cycle. These bees are crucial to our environment, and unless they pose a direct threat to us, they should be allowed to follow their natural processes. And, if the bees locate a home nearby, they’ll certainly benefit your landscaping, flowers, or garden while remaining virtually invisible after their home is established.
Swarming honey bees pose little threat and should be left alone if possible. They will usually move along within only a few days.
When Honey Bees Move Into Your House
It’s always best to practice prevention rather than extermination when it comes to honey bees. Numerous resources on the web ridicule the killing of honeybees for any reason, but very few resources promote prevention. If we begin to pest-proof our homes and other areas we frequent, as discussed later in this blog, we will be much less likely to have nuisance honeybees in the first place. Often, it’s our fault that pests enter our homes and other human-occupied areas, simply because we lack the education to prevent them.
Yes, occasionally, bees decide your home offers the perfect nesting spot. Poorly sealed areas around the house can provide access to wall cavities, roof eaves, and attic spaces, which can mimic tree hollows, especially in older or drafty homes. The bees don’t know they’re in your home, but once inside, they build their comb, raise young, and store honey.
Colonies that have established themselves in your home pose a different problem compared to a temporary swarm. These bees are protective of their nest and are much more likely to sting if they feel disturbed. This presents a potential danger for anyone living in the home, particularly when going outside near the bees’ entrance and exit points. In addition to the risk of stings, honey bees nesting inside a home can lead to a variety of other serious issues.
The presence of a colony in a home can cause:
- Structural damage from combs and leaking honey
- Walls, insulation, paint, wallpaper, floors, ceilings, wiring, and more can be damaged. Fire becomes a potential as well.
- Secondary pest problems like wax moths, carpet beetles, flies, and many more.
- Even after the bees are gone, the remnants of their presence remain, attracting more pests than we have time to mention.
- Terrible rotting smells
- When bees abandon their hive and honey, it begins to break down and rot inside the walls or wherever it is located, causing a potentially terrible stench to emanate throughout the home.
- Persistent bee activity from other colonies trying to rob the honey
When honey bees establish a hive within the confines of a home, many beekeepers are often reluctant to intervene. The process of safely removing the bees can be labor-intensive and complex. Moreover, there is no assurance that the beekeeper will be able to access the entire colony, nor that the bees will thrive after relocation. As a result, the challenge of addressing such a situation can outweigh the perceived benefits.
When honey bees make your home their home, it’s probably time to call Four Seasons Pest Solutions. Our team of expert, certified service specialists understands what it takes to eliminate a colony from start to finish, all while maintaining protection for you and your family. When honey bees move into your house, they become a pest, even though they are still technically beneficial; they pose a potential direct threat to the occupants and the structure itself and should be professionally removed.
Entry points like this allow honey bees free access inside the walls, eaves, and attic of your home.
When Honey Bees Become a Nuisance
While foraging bees usually prefer flowers rich in nectar and pollen, they’re not picky. When blooms are scarce, especially in late summer and fall, honey bees turn to human spaces for sugar sources like:
- Trash bins
- Syrup spills
- Soda cans
- Overripe or damaged fruit in gardens and orchards
- and anywhere they can find sugar or sugary substances
In places like parks, recycling centers, and picnic areas, large numbers of bees can congregate quickly once they’ve located a food source. Just a few scout bees can alert an entire hive to a sugary buffet, and it doesn’t take long for that situation to escalate. Gas stations with garbage cans at the pumps become a favorite in late summer and fall. Zoos, amusement parks, and other recreational areas may also encounter nuisance honeybees. When this occurs, control measures become necessary to reduce or eliminate the bees. But what kind of control measures are best? Simply put, SANITATION!
Making sure to practice proper sanitation can help prevent honey bees from becoming a nuisance in need of control!
Prevention Starts With Sanitation
Keeping areas clean and sealed is your first and best defense. Overflowing trash bins filled with ice cream, sugary drinks, funnel cakes, and various other sweet treats must be well-maintained throughout the day. Litter on the ground, food out in the open, and spills must be monitored and corrected quickly. Once scouts spot a free meal, all the workers will be visiting to gather everything they can.
To reduce the potential for nuisance bees in late summer and fall, consider the following:
- Use trash can liners and tight-fitting lids to block access. If the bees can’t get in, they can’t eat. If they can’t eat, they move on.
- Clean up spills quickly, especially in areas where sugary drinks or fruit juices are handled. It may seem harmless to leave a spill on the ground outside, but it can be a significant hazard. After all, it’s outside. But that is precisely the problem; honey bees live outside, and they will gather to collect those sweet summer spills!
- Screen off entrances to outbuildings, garages, recycling centers, picnic shelters, and similar areas where sweets and sugars are readily available, but honey bees are not welcome.
- In orchards or backyards, remove fallen fruit regularly to prevent attracting honeybees.
Good sanitation reduces the chances of a bee swarm settling in or returning again in the future.
Most honey bees that become a nuisance do so because humans are the cause. Leaving open garbage like this out in public is just one way we make honey bees the enemy.
Proper garbage collection that prevents access by honey bees is the humane way to control nuisance honey bees; stop them before they start!
Removal vs. Extermination
At Four Seasons, we encourage the humane removal option first. Many times, local beekeepers are willing to extract the colony and relocate it, especially if it’s early in the season and the colony is accessible. However, once the bees are established as a colony, especially inside your home, this option is no longer viable. The location of the hive, the risk, the aggression, the danger posed to inhabitants of the home, and the cost of removal all contribute to the difficulty factor, warranting extermination instead.
We strongly discourage attempting DIY bee removal. Improper methods can:
- Enrage the colony
- Cause painful stings
- Damage the structure
- Leave honey and wax behind that invites future pest infestations
It’s best to contact the professionals at Four Seasons Pest Solutions and have your honey bee infestation inside your home professionally exterminated, saving you the trouble, risk, and regret.
Bee Control and Safety: What to Expect
When extermination is the only option, we use professional, targeted insecticides, such as insecticide dusts, applied directly to the bee’s entry point or nesting site. This allows each worker to pass through the insecticide and transfer it throughout the colony, causing complete elimination once the queen dies.
Important considerations:
- The hive’s actual location may be several feet from where the bees enter.
- For best results, treatments should be done in the late afternoon, when most bees are inside.
- Do not immediately seal the entry after treatment, or bees may look for new exits, including into your living space.
Personal protection is critical. Even experienced technicians should wear:
- A beekeeping veil
- Thick gloves
- Light-colored clothing with sleeves and pant legs secured
- The use of a bee smoker can help reduce agitation during treatment
Unless you are well-trained in the extermination of honey bees inside a home, it’s probably best to leave it to the pros here at Four Seasons. We’ll take all the risk so you don’t have to!
Clean-Up Is Key
After extermination, it’s vital to remove the comb, wax, and honey, especially if insecticides are used. Failing to do so can lead to:
- Leaking honey through walls
- Permanent staining
- Wood and drywall rot
- Wax melting in the summer heat
- Attraction of scavenging insects and future bee colonies
- Rancid, rotting smells
We recommend sealing and repairing all entry points once the clean-up is complete. This prevents re-infestation and stops future swarms from being drawn in by lingering hive odors.
Four Seasons offers not only the extermination of problem bee hives but also clean-up!
Preventing Future Infestations
Bees prefer to move into places where other colonies have lived. Odors left behind, even after removal has taken place, can attract new swarms. Here’s how to keep them out:
- Seal cracks and gaps in siding, soffits, and attic vents
- Install screens where appropriate
- Schedule regular exterior inspections, especially in older homes
We offer complete exclusion of any pest, including honeybees. We can button up your home so bees can’t get in!
Four Seasons Pest Solutions: Your Partner in Bee Control
While honey bees are essential to our environment, they don’t belong in your walls. At Four Seasons Pest Solutions, we believe in responsible bee management. We work with local beekeepers when possible and provide professional extermination when necessary to keep your home and family safe.
If you’re dealing with:
- A swarm in your yard
- Bees entering your walls or attic
- Increased sting risk near your property
Call Four Seasons Pest Solutions today. We’ll assess your situation, offer options, and help you regain control of your home, all while doing our best to preserve the honey bees when possible. We believe we need them, but we won’t tolerate them in your home! Like all your neighbors say, “It’s good to have Four Seasons on your side!”
And remember, it’s okay to live among pests… but you don’t have to live with them!
