Nothing brings a chilly thrill of fear like the sound of hovering bees flying past your ears. If agitated, the buzzing swarm can turn into an army of stinging fly-soldiers defending their territory. There is no pain so irritating and painful as the pain of one a bee sting. It is even more painful and devastating when you’re the stung by the whole swarm.
However, bees are not always the killer pests that we have known them to be. Without bees, there'd be no honey, the only edible byproduct we get from flying insects. Honey has lots of health benefits ranging from relieving colds and sore throats, to helping in getting sleep and a healthy immune system. All these benefits are part of the reason why killing bees when you find them camping in your compound is an almost inhumane act. Bee conservation is an important task that must be handled in the most humane and non-destructive way.
Differentiating Bees from Hornets
There are several stinging insects apart from bees in Singapore. The closest cousin to bees are the hornets, which people often mistake for bees. When either of them is flying nearby, you will get the same irritating and fearsome buzz. Telling whether it's a bee or a hornet is challenging when just judging from their buzz. Bees, unlike hornets and wasps, are not stingers as we perceive them to be. A bee will only sting you if you stand in their way or when you agitate them.
The easiest way to differentiate between honeybees and hornets is to take a closer look at the insect as it comes buzzing around. If it's a bee, you'll see it have a furry body with flattened legs. On the other hand, more predatory hornets have a thinner body structure and a glossy appearance. Hornets are more aggressive compared to bees, and when they attack, you can be sure you'll get multiple dangerous stings before they quit on you.
Signs of A Bee Infestation in Your Home/Environment
Although we now know that bees are good friends, especially for the honey they give us, they can pose a great danger if they come renting space all over your yard. You don't want to go home only to find your kids with swollen faces out of nasty bee stings. So, how do you know when these good-yet-stingy creatures have infested your homestead?
- Bees have a tendency of nesting in wall cavities of residential houses. They do so mostly when some colony members stray from their swarm only to nest in these commercial houses' wall clefts.
- Bees can dig up small shallow holes in the soil and put up a small swarm in there. Always check out for small holes in your compound o around your backyard where kids like to play.
- You may find a branch that has a swollen part at some point. Bees love to camp on such branches where they build their nests and can expand the territory into a hive of its kind.
Preventive Measures from a Bee Sting
While it may be difficult to outrun a bee when it is bound for a sting, you can decrease the chances of a bite by the following measures.
- When you spot a bee hovering around your head, avoid any quick movement. If a bee detects the slightest startle from you, you'll become an intruder, and you won't escape a sting.
- Avoid shouting or any form of noise. Any movement will spring the bees to sting-action.
- When you've spotted a swarm on a day when you put on the most fragrant cologne, avoid them and stay as far as you can.
- Warn your children not to think of bees as play partners whenever they go playing in the grass. Bees are no friends to disturbance.
DIY Options for Handling the Problem
We are a 21st century lot that always wants DIY options of handling any challenges that pop up in life. Well, you'll want to be careful here when handling bees. While we’re still going to offer some cool DIY hacks to deal with bees, we strongly urge the need to ask a professional to help handle the task.
But for the Singaporean millennial generation, here are some DIY options.
The surest approach when you want to eradicate, say, a bee nest from a wall cleft in your place is to have the nest removed. If you are trained to do it, then you have all it takes, but it is preferred that you have a professional pest control person do it for you.
Preventive DIY methods would include first identifying whether or not the suspected nest is of real bees or hornets or wasps. If the nest has bees, you may choose to leave them since bees will never sting unless provoked. But if you have children and pets around, it is better to have them removed.
Why hire a professional for bee removal?
As mentioned, bee nest removal can be dangerous as multiple stings could lead to severe allergic reactions, which could then end up in fatalities. Hiring skilled and trained personnel to get rid of the potential menace would save you from the stings and consequent casualties. Competent pest control service providers in Singapore like Aegis Pest Services would do the best to ensure that the removal of the bees is done because they threaten the safety of the immediate neighbourhood of the bee-infested residential or commercial area.
Verdict
There could be several different ways of getting rid of or preventing a bee problem at home or work but turning to a professional pest services company to get the problem eliminated wholly and thoroughly is the surest and safest method. We at Aegis Pest Services provides all the help you need with bee removal. Whenever you need this kind of service, you can always visit us or call to request a quote for free.
