Honey Bees and Pesticide Problems

Honey Bees and other insect pollinators play an important role in the production of many crops in Ohio. Notwithstanding, since most crops should be protected from insect pests and illnesses, pesticide poisoning is the most serious problem for pollinating insects in agricultural areas.

Protecting pollinators, particularly Honey Bees, from pesticide poisoning must be part of any pesticide program.  The following recommendations can help minimize bee kills.

Pesticides on Blossoms.

The blossom is typically the only part of a plant that honey bees visit.  To avoid killing honey bees, do not apply pesticides perilous to honey bees during the blooming period.

When the treated area contains the only attractive plants, in bloom within flight range, injury may occur to colonies several miles away. Treating non-blooming crops with a hazardous pesticide when cover crops, weeds, or wild flowers are in bloom within (or near) the treated field might also cause heavy bee losses.

Drift of Pesticides.

Drift occurs from nearly all spray or dust applications of pesticides from a short distance to miles downwind. Pesticide dusts drift farther than sprays.

Pesticides applied by plane generally drift farther than those applied by ground equipment. Typically, it is less hazardous to apply pesticides near apiaries with ground equipment than by plane. Drift may be lowered by applying pesticides in the evening or early morning when the air is calm.

Time of Application.

Ideally, pesticides ought to be applied when there’s no wind and when honey bees are not visiting plants in the area.  The time and intensity of bee visitation to a given crop depends on the abundance and attractiveness of the bloom.

For  instance, apple trees or clover in bloom could  be attractive to honey bees all day while cucumbers and corn are generally attractive in the morning and early afternoon hours. In general, evening or early night applications are the least harmful to honey bees.

Formulation of Pesticides.

Dusts are generally more hazardous to honey bees than sprays. Wettable powders often have a longer residual effect than emulsifiable concentrates. Granular pesticides seem to present very little hazard.

Ultra-low volume (ULV) formulations of some pesticides are much more toxic than regular sprays. No effective repellent has been created that may be added to pesticides to keep honey bees from treated areas.

Toxicity of Pesticides.

Most agricultural pesticides have been tested for their toxicity to Honey Bees. Nonetheless, laboratory and field results do not always coincide, due to peculiarities of bee behavior, length of residual life of the pesticide, or the effects of different formulations.

Insecticides affect honey bees in one or more ways –  as stomach poisons, as contact poisons, and as fumigants. Pyrethroids, organophosphates, and carbamates vary in their toxicity to honey bees from relatively nonhazardous to very hazardous, depending upon the individual material or combination of materials.

Some bacteria, protozoans, and viruses that are currently recommended for biological control pose a serious hazard to honey bees.

Herbicides, defoliants, and desiccants like paraquat, MAA, and MSMA reportedly were extremely toxic when fed to newly emerged worker Honey Bees or when sprayed onto older honey bees in field tests. Most tests have shown other materials in this class to be nonhazardous to honey bees, except that they kill or damage nectar- or pollen-producing plants.

Fungicides seem to cause little trouble for honey bees. Captan at field dosages has caused brood damage.

Sex Lures, Attractants, and other Hormones ordinarily cause no problem for honey bees. Occasionally, several Honey Bees and bumblebees have been found in traps containing Japanese beetle lures.

Precautions for Farmers and Applicators

1. Be sure to apply pesticides only when needed.

2. Make certain to use the recommended pesticide at the lowest effective rate.

3. Make certain to use the pesticide least dangerous to honey bees that’ll control the pest involved. When all advised pesticides are equally dangerous to honey bees, use the one that has the shortest residual effect.

4. Make sure to use sprays or granules instead of dusts.

5. Make sure to use ground equipment in lieu of aerial application to apply pesticides near bee hives.

6. Be certain to apply pesticides in late afternoon or at night when honey bees are not working the blooms.

7. Be sure to prevent drift of pesticides onto plants that are attractive to honey bees.

8. Be sure to notify beekeepers several days before applying any pesticide that is dangerous to Honey Bees. This will give them a chance to protect their colonies. Nonetheless, notifications are not a release of responsibility.    

Precautions for Beekeepers   

1. Make sure to place colonies where they will be away from fields that are routinely treated with perilous pesticides and will not be subjected to pesticide drifts.   

2. Make sure to identify your apiary. Post your name, address, and phone number in a conspicuous place near your apiary. Let farmers and custom applicators in your area know where your apiaries are located so they’ll not unknowingly poison them.   

3. Make absolutely certain to be familiar with pesticides widely used in your area and what their application dates are.   

4. Make sure to relocate colonies that are exposed repeatedly to hazardous pesticides. Moreover, remember that soon after colonies are moved to a new location, foraging honey bees search for water. They might collect water that has been contaminated with pesticides.  To reduce the chance of bee losses, provide clean water near the hives.    

Bee Kill Estimations Number of deaths    Severity

0 – 100 dead honey bees per day    Normal die-off

200 – 400 dead honey bees per day    Low kill

500 – 900 dead honey bees per day    Moderate kill

1000 or more dead honey bees per day    High kill

The Insecticide Container Label   

Though not a long document, the insecticide label represents vast amounts of research, legal regulations, and instructions.    

There are thousands of registered pesticide formulations. Each label obviously gives a brand name in bold letters across the label while the common name and chemical ingredients follow in the section called “Active Ingredients.”    

For  instance, the Chevron Chemical Company manufactures Orthenex (brand name). In the “Active Ingredients” section of the label, the name acephate (common name), is followed by the chemical name.   

Any chemical control should be a last option as worker populations will die following a hard freeze or a number of frosts. You can find literally many insecticide products in many different formulations labeled for hornet and wasp control. Control of these social wasps, though usually not tough, does have it’s element of danger in being stung.

It is ideal to conduct control operations on nests at dusk or even after sunset in order to avoid being stung, because almost all of the  hornets and wasps will have returned to their nest.

When applications must be made during daylight hours, the use of protective equipment, like gloves, hat, bee veil, coveralls, etc., will help prevent stings from any airborne wasps and hornets.

For control of hornets and wasps that build aerial nests near windows, eaves, in trees, etc., insecticides are formulated in pressurized containers that emit a long, narrow stream of spray 15 to 20 feet. Wasp freeze or wasp stopper compounds, containing highly volatile solvents mixed with resmethrin, pyrethrins, carbamates or some of the newer pyrethroids, produce almost instant knockdown for wasps hit.

While getting close to a wasp or hornet nest, spraying in a sweeping motion, the area may be cleared of guards at the nest, followed by directing the spray stream into the entrance hole at the nest bottom to kill those inside. During the day, this technique does not alarm other hornets returning from the field.

No other insecticide needs to be introduced into the nest since all adults present are killed and the immature stages (eggs and larvae) die from lack of care. Ordinarily after one to two days, the nest can be removed carefully. Northern or paper wasp nests are easier to treat.

There are many other insecticides labeled for control including chlorpyrifos (Dursban), diazinon, allethrin, fenthion (Baytex), acephate (Orthene), cyfluthrin (Tempo), cypermethrin (Demon, Cynoff), fenvalerate (Conquer), deltamethrin (Suspend SC), lambda-cyhalothrin (Command CS, Command Pestab) and permethrin (Prelude).

Persons who are specifically sensitive to stings ought to get a few competitive cost estimates from reputable, licensed, specialist pest management providers who have the ability, equipment and most effective insecticides to get the best job done.

Paper wasps and hornets have a lance-like stinger and can sting repeatedly. When a paper wasp or hornet is near you, slowly raise your hands to protect your face, remaining calm and stationary for a while and then move very slowly away. Never ever swing, strike or run rapidly away since quick movement often provokes attack and painful stings. Restrain kids from throwing rocks or spraying nests with water. Avoid creating loud noises and disturbance near the nest.

When outdoors, avoid the use of heavily scented soaps, shampoos, perfumes, colognes, after-shaves and cosmetics. Avoid shiny buckles and jewelry. Cover exposed skin and wear gray, white or tan rather than bright colors.

Aside from that, remember that if a paper wasp or hornet gets into the car while driving, never panic. It wants out of the car as much as you want it out. Gradually pull over off the road, and open the car windows and doors. Trying to remove or kill a paper wasp or hornet while the car is moving can result in accidents.

Paper Wasps and Hornets –  Treatment of Stings

After being stung, immediately apply a poultice of meat tenderizer to the wound. When the sting is not deep, this will break down the components of the sting fluid, decreasing the pain.

A commercial preparation like a sting kill swab may be used. Antihistamine ointments and tablets taken orally appear effective in reducing sting reactions. Persons highly sensitive to stings ought to consider a desenitization program in an allergy clinic.

Consult your physician about medical kits like Ana-Kit, which contains antihistamine tablets and aqueous epinephrine (adrenalin) administered by injection, a tourniquet and sterile alcohol swabs for cleaning the injection site. Frequently, a bronchodilator material (inhaler) is needed.

Hypersensitive persons should never be alone when outdoors at the summit season of wasp and hornet activity. When stung, help may  be needed to start prompt emergency treatment measures. Medic Alert Tags could be purchased from Medic Alert Foundation, Box 1009, Turlock, California 95381-1009, Telephone –  209-668-3333.

Paper wasps and hornets may become a nuisance when nesting around homes and other structures where individuals  live, work or play. Although considered beneficial to agriculture, (since northern or paper wasps feed abundantly on corn earworms, armyworms, tobacco hornworms, etc.  Andhornets on house flies, blow flies, harmful caterpillars, etc.), it is their painful stinging ability that causes alarm and fear.

Nonetheless, unless the threat of stings and nest location present a hazard, it’s often best to wait for Mother Nature to kill these annual colonies with freezing temperatures in late November and December. Stinging workers don’t survive the winter, and the same nest usually is not reused the following year, except by the yellow and black dominulus paper wasp, on occasion.

Identifying Paper Wasps and Hornets

The northern or paper wasp is about 3/4 to 1-inch long, slender, narrow waisted with long legs and reddish-orange to dark brown or black in color. There are yellowish markings on the belly (rear body part).

Paper-like nests, shaped like tiny umbrellas, are suspended by a short stem attached to eaves, window frames, porch ceilings, attic rafters, etc. Each nest consists of a horizontal layer or “tier” of circular comb of hexagonal (six-sided) cells not enclosed by a paper-like envelope.  The ends of the cells are open with the heads of the larvae exposed to view.

New to Ohio in 1991, the dominulus paper wasp is somewhat smaller than our native northern paper wasp. It’s black with bright, yellow stripes and spots resembling yellowjacket wasps in color.

Baldfaced hornets are up to 3/4-inch long with black and ivory white markings on the face, thorax (middle body part) and tip of the abdomen. Paper-like nests are grayish-brown, inverted, pear-shaped up to three feet tall with the nest entrance at the bottom. Each nest consists of a number of horizontal layers, stories or “tiers” of circular combs, one beneath the other completely enclosed by a paper-like envelope as a covering. Further, the cells aren’t exposed to view.

Paper Wasps and Hornets –  Life Cycle and Habits

Paper wasps and hornets are social insects, living in colonies containing workers, queens and males. Colonies are annual with only inseminated queens overwintering. Fertilized queens occur in protected places such as houses and other structures, hollow logs, in stumps, under bark, in leaf litter, in soil cavities, etc.

Queens emerge during the warm days of late April or early May, pick a nest site and build a small paper nest in which eggs are laid. One egg is laid in each cell. As she adds more cells around the edge, eggs are deposited. Larvae in the center are older with the younger larvae further out. It’s the cells at the rim of the nest which contain eggs.

After eggs hatch, the queen feeds the young larvae. When larvae are ready to pupate, cells are covered with silk, forming little domes over the individual openings. Larvae pupate, emerging later as small, infertile females called “workers.”

By mid-June, the first adult workers emerge and assume the tasks of nest expansion, foraging for food, caring for the queen and larvae and defending the honey bee colony. Do not forget with paper wasps, the nest is the work of a single female, has a single layer or “tier” of cells and is not enclosed by envelopes.

In hornets, the nests usually consist of a number of stories or “tiers,” one under the other and completely enclosed by spherical walls. Each cell could  be used for two or three successive batches of brood.

Adult food consists of nectar or other sugary solutions like honeydew and the juices of ripe fruits. Paper wasps and hornets also feed on bits of caterpillars or flies that are caught and partially chewed before presenting to their young. Hornets might  be seen nearly any summer day engaged in their winged pursuit of flies.

Northern or paper wasps nest in window sills, along eaves and in open areas sheltered from the rain. It’s expected that the dominulus paper wasp will become a permanent, widespread and common resident in Ohio. Reports indicate it is much more “alert to activity near its nests” than our present indigenous paper wasp species.

The Honey Bee benefits the economy immensely. Honey Bees produce millions of dollars worth of honey and beeswax, in addition to pollinate commercial fruits, vegetables, and field crops.

Notwithstanding, by establishing a colony in a house, building, or hollow tree next to the home, Honey Bees may become a nuisance or hazard to humans. Some individuals  have severe allergic reactions to the sting of a Honey Bee. Although it is not unlawful to destroy Honey Bees, it’s always best to save them when possible. Identification

Honey Bees are characterized by the presence of a long, pointed tongue, social habit, front wings with three closed submarginal cells, and no spurs at the tips of the hind Tibiae (4th segment of the insect’s leg). Adults consist of three castes –  queens (3/5- to 3/4-inch long) are fully created egg layers with only one in each colony; drones (3/4- to 5/8-inch long) are functional males; and workers (2/5- to 3/5-inch long) are undeveloped females.

The first Honey Bees introduced from Europe were black German bees.  The common Ohio variety of Honey Bee is the Italian, which is a golden-brown and black bee covered with short, dense hair.  The forepart of the abdomen is yellow and there’s some yellow between the four brown bands on the rest of the abdomen.

The Caucasian variety, a mild-tempered bee, is dark, and its stomach is banded with gray.  The carniolan is a gray bee similar in appearance to Caucasian. Most individuals  see only the workers, which regularly fly in and out of the nest.

Honey Bee Life Cycle and Habits

The Queen

The queen is the only female in the honey bee colony capable of laying fertilized eggs. She is extremely important, because without her no young honey bees would be replacing the old honey bees as they die.  The rest of the honey bees pay a lot of attention to her. There’s only one queen to each bee colony, and she may live two to five years. She should be fed by the others in the honey bee colony, and she can do none of the rest of the chores that need to be accomplished to make honey and keep a clean nest.

The Drone

Drones are male honey bees within the honey bee colony. There may  be several hundred drones in the spring and summer, but they are all eliminated in the fall and winter when their services are no longer wanted.  The drone develops from unfertilized eggs and exists only to fertilize or mate with young queens. He typically lives 40 to 50 days, and is larger than either the queen or workers.

The Worker

The majority of honey bees in colony are worker honey bees. They perform most of the functions honey bees are known for, such as making honey and stinging for defense. Although workers are females, they can’t lay fertilized eggs. There may  be as many as 60,000 workers in a colony, though the typicalfigure for the whole year is 30,000.

Workers live only 40 days in the summer, but may live a few months during winter. Some gather nectar and pollen in the field; others process the honey. Usually, the workers perform their duties based on age.  The younger ones are cleaners and helpers.  The older, more experienced honey bees, are builders and do the foraging in the field.

The nest is the comb on which the honey bees rest, rear brood, and store honey.  The comb is constructed of wax. It’s a central rib, with six-sided cells constructed on each side parallel to the ground.  The cells are the storage area for the bee colony and at the same time serve as the nursery for rearing young honey bees.

The life cycle of the brood is egg (3 days), larva (6 days), pupa (12 days) for a total of 21 days from egg to adult worker. This cycle is longer (24 days) for drones and shorter (16 days) for queens.

Honey Bee Removal from Walls

An established Honey Bee colony will on occasion divide itself, and one or more swarms will leave the hive.  The new swarm may cluster for a while on a tree limb or bush near the old hive while scout honey bees search for a suitable place to establish a new home. Normally scout honey bees find a hollow tree, but occasionally they will select the wall voids of a home. Unfortunately, honey bees may nest in the wall or attic some distance from where they enter the wall.

Carbaryl (Sevin) 5% Dust is an insecticide registered to exterminate honey bees from dwellings. When it is not applied properly, persistent efforts could  be needed to lastly accomplish the job. Sevin dusted into the bee entrance may not reach the nest, which could  be some distance from the entrance.

Foraging honey bees passing through the dusted area will be killed, but the queen and house honey bees that stay home to take care of brood and tend to the nest may continue to live for some time. When house honey bees (young honey bees that remain in the hive) mature to take on field work chores, the honey bee colony may recover, unless the insecticide treatment is reapplied. Quicker and surer results will be received when the nest itself is treated.

The nest can be located sometimes by tapping the wall with a hammer and listening for an answering buzz from the honey bees. When the nest is located, a hole might  be bored, preferably through the outside wall, so insecticide can be applied onto the nest.

Established swarms are comprised of more honey bees, more comb, and more honey. Established colonies are best killed in late winter or early spring when their population is smallest. Treatment is effective when done in the very early spring, like February or March, when stored honey is at its lowest level and the bee population is lowest and weakest.

New swarms are more easily killed soon after they enter the building.  The best time of day to apply the insecticide is late afternoon when all the honey bees are at home.  The honey bees will be less cross on nice days than when the weather is overcast or rainy. Do not plug the hole immediately after dusting the nest because this may force the agitated honey bees into the living quarters of the home.

Bees will find or make unused or new exits, at times indoors. Besides that, Honey Bees may be killed by exposing the nest to freezing temperatures during the winter.

After the honey bees are killed, remove the nest when at all possible, without causing excessive structural damage. Destroy the comb and honey, particularly when they were treated with insecticide. When the nest is not removed, the wax cells may melt or be riddled by wax moths and leak honey. Excess honey may seep through interior walls and ceilings, leaving permanent stains.

Wax combs near the inside walls of a chimney are fire hazards.  The comb and its contents may melt when exposed to hot summer temperatures without honey bees to keep it cool, particularly in walls facing the south.

After a dead colony has been removed and the structural damage caused in removing the honey bee colony has been repaired, clean the area thoroughly with soap and hot water. Paint and carefully plug all entrances through which the other possible bee swarms might enter. Odors left by the killed colony can linger for a long time and attract other swarming honey bees.

Pest control companies might  be contacted to destroy the honey bees if needed. Although killing adult honey bees is ordinarily fairly easy, removal of the comb and honey can be very challenging. It might be useful to have a beekeeper and carpenter or beekeeper with carpenter abilities present to assist.

Bees from other colonies can also be a nuisance around the home as long as honey remains to be robbed from the killed colony. Scavenging insects, such as carpet beetles, wax moths, ants, or flies, are also attracted to killed bee colonies.

Even if you are not sensitive to stings and are experienced in extermination work, it is best to be protected from distracting stings when exterminating honey bees. You could be in precarious positions, such as on a ladder or on a roof, with stinging honey bees present. At least wear a beekeeper’s veil and leather gloves.

A bee smoker is valuable to help calm the honey bees and lessen their tendency to sting.

Honey Bee Removal by Trapping

Honey Bees may be removed effectively by trapping; nonetheless, the process takes four to six weeks. While it solves the problem of opening up the wall and removing the comb and honey, it may not be appropriate when family members are allergic to bee stings.

To trap, place a wire mesh cone (18-inches long with 3/8-inch opening at the apex) over the nest entrance hole. Place a hive containing a queen and a few workers as close as possible to the “trap.”

The honey bees can leave the building, but they can’t get back in and will settle in the decoy hive. In three to four weeks, spray the old nest with a nonresidual insecticide, such as resmethrin, to kill the queen and any remaining workers. Then remove the trap and allow the honey bees in the decoy hive to go back in the building to retrieve their honey. Two weeks later, remove the hive and close up the nest entrance.

Destroy the honey if the honey bee colony has been poisoned with an insecticide. Trapping is typically not practical and results might  be unsatisfactory. Few beekeepers are interested in trapping. Established swarms (those with comb) cannot be gathered easily like the free-hanging temporary swarms and are typically not economical for a beekeeper to remove.

Honey Bee Swarm Control Measures

Allowing swarms of Honey Bees to leave on their own is often the best approach. A swarm of honey bees will remain clustered until scout honey bees have located a suitable site for permanent nesting. In two days or less, the swarm will normally break the cluster and fly away.

When it’s necessary to remove a swarm, make sure to contact a local beekeeper, who ordinarily will be glad to get the swarm of honey bees and provide them a new home. Names of beekeepers willing to take swarms are available aCounty Extension Offices.

Although not advised, the swarm could be killed or eliminated when sprayed, from a distance, with a resmethrin-based wasp and hornet spray, or with carbaryl (Sevin) or propoxur (Baygon). Wear protective clothing with bee veil when possible, and leave the area quickly after treatment. Spraying makes honey bees mad.

Honey Bees Insecticides

Treat nests with dusts of carbaryl (Apicide, Sevin), bendiocarb (Ficam D), or pyrethrins (Microcare), or sprays of Sevin, diazinon, or propoxur (Baygon). Sprays may not penetrate the nest well enough to give good control.

Additional insecticide formulations that only the licensed pest control operator are able to use include acephate (Orthene), bendiocarb (Ficam W), bendiocarb plus pyrethrins (Ficam Plus), bifenthrin (Biflex), cyfluthrin (Tempo), fenthion (Baytex 4), pyrethrins (Exciter, Kicker, Pyrenone), cypermethrin (Cynoff, Cyper-Active, Demon, Vikor), chlorpyrifos (Dursban), deltamethrin (Suspend), permethrin (Dragnet, Flee, Prelude), resmethrin (Synthrin, Respond), and tralomethrin (Saga).

It’s common procedure for beekeepers to improve their colonies by requeening colonies that are not performing well. One of the common desirable features a beekeeper looks for in the queen’s offspring are –  gentleness, good collectors of honey or pollen, illness and pest resistance, decreased swarming, minimal propolis use, effective pollination, or a desired body color.

Marking Queens

International Queen Marking Color Code  

Color –      For Year Ending In –

White (or gray)    1 or 6

Yellow    2 or 7

Red    3 or 8

Green    4 or 9

Blue    5 or 0

Because the queen is the source of all worker honey bees in the honey bee colony, it’s important that the beekeeper be sure that the queen is the one originally placed in the honey bee colony. It is nearly impossible to determine that a specific queen has been lost when the queen hasn’t been given a unique identifying mark.   

It’s common practice to mark the queen with a small spot of paint on her back (thorax). A color code exists within the beekeeping industry to indicate the year the queen was introduced (see table to right).   

Model car paint may  be used to mark the queen.  The identifying mark should be small, so that it does not cover any other part of the queen. A 1/16″ stick, lightly dipped in paint, is a good applicator.    

Ordinarily, queens are marked before being introduced, but they can; nevertheless, be marked at any time. Paint should be given ample time to dry before the queen is released into the honey bee colony. In fact, queens might  be purchased already marked by the queen producer.   

Some beekeepers also identify queens by clipping the tip of the tip of one forewing. If queens are replaced every two years, the beekeeper clips the left wing(s) on queens introduced in odd years, and the right on queens introduced in even years.    

The clipping practice may also supplement the paint spot technique as a back-up should the queen lose her paint mark. When clipped correctly, the queen won’t be able to fly. Notwithstanding, when clipped too closely, the queen may appear damaged and be superseded.    

Introducing Queen Bees   

When specific requirements aren’t met, the resident honey bees within a honey bee colony may reject, even kill, a newly introduced queen. Through the years, many procedures for introducing queens have been published. Regretfully, no specific procedure has been accepted universally as the best for all occasions. Most of the common procedures require an introductory period of about three days.    

During that time, the queen is confined in a cage and is fed by colony honey bees though the wire gauze covering the cage.  The caged queen might  be released by worker honey bees eating a candy entrance plug. This procedure permits the queen to emerge into a hive without beekeeper intrusion. Notwithstanding, the beekeeper can release the queen manually if desired.   

Ordinarily, younger house honey bees are more receptive to a new queen than are older, more established foragers. Younger honey bees could  be separated from the older honey bees by turning the honey bee colony entrance to face in the opposite direction. Then a different hive with at least one frame of honey, but without honey bees, is placed facing the original direction.    

As the foragers leave the redirected parent hive, they will return to the new hive. After a day, most of the honey bees remaining in the repositioned original hive will be younger honey bees, while the temporary hive will accumulate most of the older ones.  The queen can then be safely introduced into the hive of young honey bees. Afterward, the two colonies are united, and the queen is established.

A good technique for determining if the cage has been in the hive long enough is to observe if the outside honey bees are clinging tenaciously to the cage, or whether they can be brushed off easily. When they adhere to the cage, do not release the queen. When they can be brushed aside with ease, the queen can probably be safely released.

Suggestions for Introducing New Queens

1. Be absolutely certain the honey bee colony is queenless and that any developing queen cells have been destroyed.

2. Allow the honey bee colony to stay queenless for a day or so.

3. If possible, allow the queen to be caged within the honey bee colony for about two days.

4.  To release the queen, place the cage between the frames with the screen side down and with the candy plug exposed near the vicinity of young honey bees and brood. Allow the honey bees approximately two days to release the queen. Remove the cage as soon as possible to prevent burr comb from being produced in the space around the queen’s cage.

5. If the queen is to be manually released, watch the surrounding honey bees to determine if they’re clinging tightly to the cage in which the queen is confined. If they’re showing aggressive behavior, do not release the queen until the surrounding workers act passively toward the caged queen.

6. After releasing the new queen manually, watch the surrounding workers to see if they react hostilely to the new queen as she explores the comb on which she was released.

7. When possible, do not open the hive again until the queen has had time to develop a brood nest of her own (about days).

Introducing queens into hives is never foolproof; but, usually, a good technique and careful handling will be successful. Environmental conditions, changing seasons, food availability, and beekeeper competence can affect the queen introduction’s outcome.

Laying Workers

If a colony is without a queen and her pheromones for awhile, some of the workers create the capability of laying unfertilized eggs. Because laying worker colonies are difficult to requeen, and most of the honey bees are old, beekeepers frequently decide to combine the honey bee colony with another queenright colony.

Nevertheless, if requeening of laying worker colonies is attempted, one should follow normal requeening techniques. Adding a frame of uncapped brood along with a caged mated queen increases the chances of acceptance by the honey bee colony.

Laying workers are indistinguishable from normal workers. Laying workers fly and forage freely unlike a normal queen that spends most of her life confined to the honey bee colony. Commonly, there are several laying workers within the hive, but on occasion, a laying working may briefly overtake all her worker rivals and carry herself in a queenly manner. Such workers are called “false queens” but are still incapable of producing fertile (worker) eggs.

In most situations it’s best not to eliminate ground-nesting bees and wasps since they are valuable in agricultural production by either pollinating many different plants or serving as useful predators in controlling harmful pests. Notwithstanding, when nests are located in areas like yards, gardens, flower beds or playgrounds, control might  be justified to prevent the chance of being stung.

Bumble Bees

Bumble bees are stout-bodied, robust shaped insects with black or gray hairs variously tinged with yellow, orange or red.

Adults have three submarginal (closed) cells in the front wings and the hind wings lack a jugal lobe. Moreover, there are spurs at tips of the hind tibiae and the belly is usually hairy.

There are three castes, ranging in size from 1/3 to 1-3/8 inches long, consisting of large overwintering queens, smaller males and much smaller workers (undeveloped females). Both the queens and workers can inflict a painful sting.

Only new queens, produced and mated in the fall, overwinter in loose bark, hollow trees or other dry protected places. They come out of hibernation in May, ordinarily nest in old nests of field mice, holes in the ground, old stumps, abandoned mattresses, old bales of straw or hay in barns, cornhusks in corncribs, along foundations, etc.

Colonies are annual, lasting only one summer. There are usually less than 200 individuals in a colony and nests are usually found in open grasslands.  The queen establishes the nest site by lining an existing cavity with dry grass or moss. She collects a mass of pollen and moistens this with nectar to produce a stored food called “bee bread.”

The first brood of spring numbers 5 to 20, all workers, who enlarge the nest, gather food and feed the larvae.  The queen continues to lay eggs throughout the summer and by late summer, reproductive males and females are produced.

These mate during flight and fertilized females move to overwintering sites. Remaining males and workers in the honey bee colony die with frost or the first hard freeze.

Nests may be detected by the presence of many males flying about the entrance. Stinging workers, at times called “dive bombers,” can respond quickly when their territory is invaded. Easily irritated, workers will aggressively pursue an intruder attempting to escape.

Bumble bees are extremely important pollinators of certain types of clover such as red clover due to their long tongues. Favored flowers are sunflowers, thistles, nettles, roses, partridge peas and certain clovers.

Sweat Bees and Mining Bees

These bees (females) dig 1/4 to 1/2 inch diameter, cylindrical tunnels in loose soil in shady areas where the vegetation is sparse. Halictid bees, called “sweat bees,” measure 3/16 to 5/6-inch long and are colored black with yellow, red or metallic markings.

They frequently alight on sweaty hands and inflict a sting which is somewhat painful lasting for a half hour or more. These bees are common at flowers, collecting pollen and nectar to feed their young. Nests occur in cavities in weeds or shrubs, or in the ground.

One species of sweat bee is small, shining black, 1/8-inch long with short white hair underneath, brown tipped legs and nests in ironweed.

Andrenid bees, as Halictid bees, are solitary, short-tongued and nest in burrows in the ground, occasionally in large numbers, nesting close together where vegetation is sparse. They’re gregarious and nest in groups. There’s one female per nest.

Digger Bees

Besides known as flower-loving bees, these robust bees normally go unnoticed as they feed by gathering nectar and pollen from many flowers in gardens and meadows. When solitary nests are built in certain areas, they become a nuisance to homeowners.

Covered densely with yellow and black hairs, these digger bees resemble carpenter bees. Wings are clear but smokey at the tip.  The forewings have a small spot on the leading edge with the hind wings having a jugal lobe at the wing base.

Sand and clay banks lacking ground cover are attractive nest sites.  The nest entrance is hidden by a down-slanted chimney composed of mud. Inner-branching mud-lined tunnels extend from this chimney partitioned into brood cells each containing one egg.

Adult bees place honey and pollen in each cell to provide food for the developing larva after egg hatch. Larvae overwinter in the brood cell, pupate and adults emerge in late spring.

Planting ground cover on embankments may discourage nest building.

Leafcutting Bees

Adults resemble Honey Bees, but are usually darker in color (black, dark blue, purple or green covered with white, yellow, reddish or brown hair) and have shiny blue-black bodies.

These bees have two submarginal (closed cells in the front wings) and females have many long, stout hairs underneath the abdomen, forming a pollen basket normally loaded with pollen. Unlike social Honey Bees, they are solitary (no colonies formed) with a female nesting in the ground, in logs, in hollow stems, twigs or wood siding.

They cut out oval or circular (dime size) areas, in particular from leaf margins of rose, redbud, ash and other ornamental shrubs and trees. These cut out plant leaf discs are used to fashion thimble-like cells within the nest. an egg is laid in each cell after it’s provisioned with pollen and nectar.

Each cell is sealed over with pieces of leaves cut round and slightly bigger than the cell diameter, permitting a tight fit to result. These bees don’t defend their nest territory aggressively and aren’t a stinging hazard to humans. Notwithstanding, they could frighten people .

Digger or Threadwaisted Wasps

Both the blue digger and golden digger wasp are beneficial, appearing in the morning and flying over the lawn all day, then leaving in early evening.

Digger wasps are solitary wasps with each female working alone to produce her offspring instead of having the help of several workers as in social chambers or cells.

These chambers are provisioned with food for the offspring. After the eggs are laid in or on the “provision,” the offspring are on their own to live and grow to adults that emerge the following summer.

The blue digger about 3/4-inch long is shiny metallic blue on both the wings and body. This slender wasp provisions its nests with grasshoppers and crickets.

Besides, the inch-long golden digger wasp with shiny gold markings on the face and belly uses grasshoppers and crickets as stored food for their offspring. Often, wasps could be seen flying about a foot or less above the ground. Others could  be perched on shrubs and trees.

Due to their big size, they’re assumed to be extremely dangerous. Actually, they aren’t assertive but curious and investigate persons and pets near their burrows. Stings are quite rare. One can walk safely through them as they hover over the lawn.

Ground-Nesting Bees and Wasp Control

When ground-nesting bees and wasps may be ignored and their tunnels tolerated, do so since they’re valuable in agricultural production and helpful by controlling pests in nature.

If nests are in locations undesirable and stinging is a great possibility, control is justified. During the day, carefully watch where the nest entrances are located.

After dark, tunnels and the surrounding area could be treated with dusts of carbaryl (Sevin), bendiocarb (Ficam D) or diazinon when the nest is in the ground. Use pyrethrins, permethrin, resmethrin or propoxur (Baygon) when the nest is in the side of a building.

Other lawn and garden insecticide sprays can also be used, but dusts have the benefit of not soaking into the soil. Those who are allergic to bee stings, should contact a licensed, specialist pest control operator to perform the control job. Always read the label and follow directions and safety precautions.

European hornets, when not in direct competition with humans for space and resources, are very beneficial by destroying harmful insect pests. Don’t control these hornets unless necessary. They are primarily a forest species, having few contacts with humans and present a minimal stinging hazard.

European Hornets –  Nest Destruction

The best control measure is to destroy the nest. Make certain to work in pairs, wear protective clothing (with bee veil when possible) to cover the body and do the treatment after dark when most hornets are inside the nest. Use a flashlight (red cellophane over lens) while the other individuals applies the pesticide. Nests may  be difficult to locate and out of reach high into a tree or structure.

There are literally hundreds of products labeled for wasp and hornet control. Use special wasp and hornet pressurized jet sprays containing synergized pyrethrins, resmethrin or carbamates and quickly volatilizing organic solvents. Sprays are emitted in a long, narrow stream 15 to 20 feet.

When the nest is hidden in a wall void, puff carbaryl (Sevin), pyrethrins (Drione), bendiocarb (Ficam) or deltamethrin (Delta Dust) powder or dust into the wall hole that is used as an entrance. Workers in time will carry the dust back to the queen, giving good kill. When hornet activity has ceased, remove and destroy the nest.

When the nest is a considerable distance from the entrance, spraying the opening may have little immediate effect. Do not ever plug the wall entrance after treatment as hornets may chew out another entrance into the house.

European Hornets –  Baits

Poisoned meat baits, which could work well with some yellowjackets, are not effective against European hornets, which prey almost exclusively on live insects. For the occasional indoor hornet, simply collect with a vacuum cleaner or kill with a fly swatter.

Generally it is best to use the services of a qualified specialist pest control operator who has the experience, equipment, training and pesticides to do the job correctly and efficiently.

The European hornet is among the largest of hornets.  Though helpful since it feeds upon live insects including grasshoppers, caterpillars, flies and even yellowjackets, the European hornet is able to fly during the night and can even sting repeatedly in defense of the nest entrance.

In certain cases it builds its nest too close to dwellings, hunts in human-use areas, becomes attracted to lights, strips bark from ornamental plants, consumes tree fruits, and raids domestic Honey Bee hives.

How you can Recognize European Hornets

European hornets are large, up to 1-1/4 inches long with the head and thorax (middle part) red-brown.  The belly (rear part) is black with yellow markings. Occasionally they’re confused with the baldfaced hornet, which has a black head, thorax and abdomen with white markings.

European Hornets –  Life Cycle and Habits

European hornets typically are a woodland species which builds its nests in hollow trees. Sometimes, nests are found in attics, hollow walls, bird houses, barns, and abandoned bee hives in unprotected places. Nests are covered with a thick, brown envelope (paper-like) composed of coarse, decayed wood fibers which are quite fragile. These nests might have more than one entrance.

A mature colony will contain 1,500 to 3,000 cells in six to nine combs.  The lower two to four combs contain queen cells. There usually are 200 to 400 workers during the summit population.  The life cycle is similar to yellowjackets, with overwintering queens preparing nesting sites in the spring (usually in May). Queens make the nest and lay some eggs.

Currently, as the first generation is growing, the queen cares for the larvae by hunting food and enlarging the nest. After larvae reach adulthood, they take over housekeeping, nest expansion, hunting, and caring for the new larvae.  The queen lays eggs for the remainder of the year.

As the nest keeps growing in size and number of workers throughout the summertime and early autumn, output of sexually active males and females begins to build up in July. Mating occurs and inseminated queens spend winter in safeguarded places until next early spring. Following a heavy freeze in November, the nesting individuals die out.

During the summer, these hornets can fly at night and are often attracted to light. They occasionally fly into the beam of a flashlight (bumping into the cover glass) or appear at porch party lights, lantern lights at campsites, etc. Occasionally, some fly against windows, causing humans to believe they are attempting to get inside to attack them.

Workers girdle twigs and branches of numerous trees and shrubs including lilac, birch, ash, horse chestnut, dogwood, syringa, dahlia, rhododendron and boxwood. These plants are sometime killed. Much of girdling is done for sap collection, not fiber.

Various property owner problems involve nesting too near human-occupied structures; presence around picnic grounds and yards; consuming ripe as well as near-ripe fruit like for example apples, puncturing an opening and hollowing out the fruit; and raiding domestic Honey Bee hives. However, they aren’t as aggressive as yellowjacket wasps.

Occasionally, homeowners, especially in southern and southwestern Ohio become flustered in trying to eliminate nuisance, massive populations from lawns. Cicada Killer Wasps generally arrive the last week in July and are gone by the second week of August.

Wasps may become unbearable causing homeowners not to use their backyard during the day due to these wasps flying (skimming) around the lawn, shrubs and trees searching for cicadas.

One woman mentioned that she and her husband had killed over 50 wasps with tennis rackets, used five pounds of carbaryl (Sevin) dust in the nest entrances, and employed a pest control operator several times with little noticeable decrease in outdoor populations. They mow their grass in the evening (after 8 – 00 PM), and keep their children indoors much of the time until the Cicada Killer Wasp season is over.

Normally it is not necessary to control cicada killer wasps unless their presence is a nuisance. In certain cases these wasps may be troublesome in high traffic home and commercial areas such as berms around swimming pools, near planters at door entrances, flower beds, golf course greens and tees, and other unwanted areas.

On occasion they may fly erratically near people , causing fear. Males may actually defend their territory by dive bombing people ’s heads and shoulders!

Cicada Killer Wasp –  Insecticides

A lot of insecticides are labeled for wasp control. When control is necessary, locate the nests during the daylight hours. Treat after dark or before dawn when female wasps are in their nests and it’s cool, ideally less than 60 deg F. During darkness, use a flashlight covered with red cellophane for lighting. Wear protective clothing. Males roost on plants near burrow sites, and are best controlled by capturing in an insect net during the day.

One can apply bendiocarb (Ficam), carbaryl (Sevin), or diazinon dust onto each nest entrance if the infestation is not too widespread. Never disturb the burrow as the female must walk through the dust in order to get a difficult dose of the insecticide. When the entire lawn is involved (10 to 20 or more burrows), a spray with the same insecticides could  be more practical.

Repeat treatments may  be needed for two to three weeks when new wasps move into the area. At close range, adults may be killed with a wasp aerosol of synergized pyrethrins or resmethrin as they light on foliage or enter the nest burrow.

The professional, licensed pest control operator must be used especially when one is sensitive to possible stings. Other materials labeled for wasp control include acephate (Orthene), allethrin, amorphous silica gel (Drione), chlorpyrifos (Dursban), cyfluthrin (Tempo), cypermethrin (Demon, Cynoff), fenvalerate, permethrin, propoxur and resmethrin. Before using any insecticide, always read the label directions to confirm current listing of pests, and follow safety precautions.