Minnesota Pest Control | Bee and Wasp Control

Wasp and Bee Control MN

People who are not familiar with bees often have a fear of them. Swarming bees are generally not inclined to sting provided they are left alone – but the following precautions should be taken.  Getting rid of these pests can sometimes be fearful, especially if you are allergic. A large nest may mean an attack and stings on you or other people in the area. Hiring a Professional Pest Control Expert can mean safe and efficient handling of the wasps and bees.

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Minnesota Pest Control Management

Characteristics Of Bees

Bees are reliant on pollen as a protein source and on flowers nectar or oils as an energy source. Adult females collect pollen primarily to feed their larvae. The pollen they inevitably lose in going from flower to flowers is important to plants because some pollen lands on the pistils (productive structure) of other flowers of the same species, resulting in cross pollination. Bee’s are the most significant pollinating insects, and their interdependence with plants makes them an excellent example of the type of symbiosis known as mutualism, an association between unlike organisms that is beneficial to both parties.

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How Do You Tell the Difference Between a Bee and a Wasp?

What is the Difference Between Bees and Wasps?

Wasps and bees are beneficial insects, although they are generally considered to be pests because of their ability to sting. Wasps, in particular, can become a problem in autumn when they may disrupt many outdoor activities. People often mistakenly call all stinging insects “bees”. While both social wasps and bees live in colonies ruled by queens and maintained by workers, they look and behave differently. It is important to distinguish between these insects because different methods may be necessary to control them if they become a nuisance.

Bees and wasps all belong to the order Hymenoptera. They are also members of the suborder Apocrita, characterized by a common narrow waist. This waist is really a thin junction between the thorax and the abdomen, giving these insects a waist-like appearance.

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Controlling Bees and Wasps In Minnesota

Minnesota Bees and Wasps Control

Because of their environmental value, many pest companies recommend controlling bee populations rather than exterminating them.  You can prevent a wood-burrowing species from damaging your home or establishing a colony in a dangerous area by applying bee repellents.  Other repellents can be sprayed near areas where bees already exist, but you should be cautious.  Not only is this method dangerous for one who is unprotected, it is dangerous for others.  The bees may simply swarm to a neighbor’s home, rather than to a safer place.

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Controlling Bees and Wasps In Minnesota

Controlling Bees and Wasps

Because of their environmental value, many pest companies recommend controlling bee populations rather than exterminating them.  You can prevent a wood-burrowing species from damaging your home or establishing a colony in a dangerous area by applying bee repellents.  Other repellents can be sprayed near areas where bees already exist, but you should be cautious.  Not only is this method dangerous for one who is unprotected, it is dangerous for others.  The bees may simply swarm to a neighbor’s home, rather than to a safer place.

While you can buy and use chemicals for bee extermination or control, you need to keep in mind that they can be quite dangerous.  It is critical for you to take proper precautions and cover yourself from head to toe.  A particularly dangerous or severe bee infestation may call for extermination.  Those who are allergic to bees should forgo do-it-yourself extermination and hire a professional.  Those with pets or small children who could be adversely affected by these chemicals might also consider hiring a professional.  There are specific bee and wasp pest control methods that a professional can help you with.  Hiring a professional pest control can mean safe and efficient handling of the wasps and bees.

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Controlling Bees and Wasps

Bees & Wasps In MN

According to Pest Control Experts, there are several bee species. While most people envision bumblebees, that is to say bees swarming around a hive, many bees actually live in burrows.  Some burrow into wood.  Wasps, like bumblebees, create colonies. Wasps are particularly dangerous because while a common bee can only sting once, wasps can sting several times.

While there have been instances where wood-burrowing species have damaged homes, most prefer the rotting wood of trees.  Bees who develop hives can still cause great damage to one’s home should they find a means of establishing a hive within the structure, such as within a wall.

In such instances there is some risk that the weight of the honey produced can actually cause drywall to crumble, subjecting residents to a swarm of angry bees.  This is also very rare.  Most colonies can be identified by a number of protective males swarming about the area, though some may be more difficult to pinpoint.

Ridding your home of animals or pests is the first step in home repair.  Next is finding a company who can repair damages. Hiring a professional pest control can mean safe and efficient handling of the wasps and bees. A professional can handle your entire problem from start to finish, including pest control or animal removal, and the repair of damages that may have occurred.

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Controlling and Exterminating Bees and Wasps

Have you noticed there are increasing amounts of bees or wasps near your property?  If so, you should check the outside of your home and property for a hive.  While bees play a crucial role in pollination, pest control and honey production, they can also harm people, pets and property.

Bees play an important role in nature.  They pollinate plant and flower life, control other pests and produce honey. However, they can also sting.

While a few rogue bees in your back yard now and again is certainly not cause for alarm, a swarm of them living in a playground, near a home entrance or other area where one is likely to be stung is.  Irritated worker bees can pursue what they sense is an intruder, which at best can lead to a few painful stings and at worst to death.  While this is rare, it is certainly a concern.

While you can buy and use  chemicals for bee extermination or control, you need to keep in mind that they can be quite dangerous.  It is critical for you to take proper precautions and cover yourself from head to toe.  Those who are allergic to bees should forgo do-it-yourself extermination and hire a professional.  Those with pets or small children who could be adversely affected by these chemicals might also consider hiring a professional.  There are specific bee and wasp pest control methods that a professional can help you with.  Hiring a professional pest control can mean safe and efficient handling of the wasps and bees.

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Getting Rid Of Bees In Minnesota

Getting Rid Of These Pests

Allergic reactions to stings, can develop anywhere on the body and can range from non-life-threatening reactions, such as hives, swelling, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and headaches to life-threatening reactions, such as anaphylactic shock, unconsciousness, difficulty breathing, and blockage of the airway.

Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction to a bee or wasp sting that affects a limited portion of the population (one or two out of every 1,000 people).  For these people, being stung by a bee or a wasp may be life threatening.

While fewer than 100 fatal reactions to sting venom are reported annually in the U.S., it is imperative that if it’s suspected that someone is allergic to sting venom, they be examined by a medical provider.

A medical provider may prescribe either a “sting kit” which includes epinephrine (adrenaline) loaded in a hypodermic syringe for injection, or an Epi-Pen which is an auto-injector loaded with epinephrine.

The best time of the year to control wasps is in June after the queen has established her colony and while the colony is still small.  The first step in bees and wasp control is to correctly identify the insect and locate its nesting site.

Getting rid of these pests can sometimes be fearful, especially if you are allergic.  A large nest may mean an attack and stings on you or other people in the area.  Hiring a professional pest control can mean safe and efficient handling of the wasps and bees.   Pest control experts are trained in handling these stinging pests and we can rid your home or business quickly using nontoxic organic products.

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Minnesota Bee & Wasp Control and Nest Removal Part 2

Wasps can be differentiated from bees as bees have a flattened hind basitarsus. Unlike bees, wasps generally lack plumose hairs. They vary in the number and size of hairs they have between species.

First stage

After emerging from hibernation during early spring, the young queens search for a suitable nesting site. Upon finding an area for their future colony, the queen constructs a basic paper fibre nest roughly the size of a walnut into which she will begin to lay eggs.

Second stage

The sperm that were stored earlier and kept dormant over winter is now used to fertilize the eggs being laid. The storage of sperm inside the female queen allows her to lay a considerable number of fertilized eggs without the need for repeated mating with a male wasp. For this reason a single female queen is capable of building an entire colony from only herself. The queen initially raises the first several sets of wasp eggs until enough sterile female workers exist to maintain the offspring without her assistance. All of the eggs produced at this time are sterile female workers who will begin to construct a more elaborate nest around their queen as they grow in number.

Third stage

By this time the nest size has expanded considerably and now numbers between several hundred and several thousand wasps. Towards the end of the summer, the queen begins to run out of stored sperm to fertilize more eggs. These eggs develop into fertile males and fertile female queens. The male drones then fly out of the nest and find a mate thus perpetuating the wasp reproductive cycle. In most species of social wasp the young queens mate in the vicinity of their home nest and do not travel like their male counterparts do. The young queens will then leave the colony to hibernate for the winter once the other worker wasps and founder queen have started to die off. After successfully mating with a young queen, the male drones die off as well. Generally, young queens and drones from the same nest do not mate with each other; this ensures more genetic variation within wasp populations, especially considering that all members of the colony are theoretically the direct genetic descendants of the founder queen and a single male drone. In practice, however, colonies can sometimes consist of the offspring of several male drones. Wasp queens generally (but not always) create new nests each year, this is probably because the weak construction of most nests render them uninhabitable after the winter.

Unlike most honey bee queens, wasp queens typically only live for one year (although exceptions are possible). Also, contrary to popular belief queen wasps do not organize their colony or have any raised status and hierarchical power within the social structure. They are more simply the reproductive element of the colony and the initial builder of the nest in those species which construct nests.

Getting rid of these pests can sometimes be fearful, especially if you are allergic.  A large nest may mean an attack and stings on you or other people in the area.  Hiring a professional pest control can mean safe and efficient handling of the wasps and bees.  Pest control experts are trained in handling these stinging pests and we can rid your home or business quickly using nontoxic organic products.

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Minnesota Bee & Wasp Control and Nest Removal Part 1

Getting Rid Of Wasps In Minnesota

The various species of wasp fall into one of two main categories: solitary wasps and social wasps. Adult solitary wasps generally live and operate alone, and most do not construct nests; all adult solitary wasps are fertile. By contrast, social wasps exist in colonies numbering up to several thousand strong and build nests—but in some cases not all of the colony can reproduce. Generally, just the queen and male wasps can mate, whilst the majority of the colonies are made up of sterile female workers.

Characteristics

The following characteristics are present in most wasps:

• two pairs of wings (except wingless or brachypterous forms in all female Mutillidae, Bradynobaenidae, many male Agaonidae, many female Ichneumonidae, Braconidae, Tiphiidae, Scelionidae, Rhopalosomatidae, Eupelmidae, and various other families).
• An ovipositor, or stinger (which is only present in females because it derives from the ovipositor, a female sex organ).
• Few or no hairs (in contrast to bees); except Mutillidae, Bradynobaenidae, Scoliidae.

• Nearly all wasps are terrestrial; only a few specialized parasitic groups are aquatic.
• Predators or parasitoids, mostly on other terrestrial insects; some species of Pompilidae, such as the tarantula hawk, specialize in using spiders as prey, and various parasitic wasps use spiders or other arachnids as reproductive hosts.

Wasps are critically important in natural bio control. Almost every pest insect species has a wasp species that is a predator or parasite upon it. Parasitic wasps are also increasingly used in agricultural pest control as they have little impact on crops. Wasps also constitute an important part of the food chain.

It is possible to distinguish between certain wasp species genders based on the number of divisions on their antennae. Male Yellow jacket wasps for example have 13 divisions per antenna, while females have 12. Males can in some cases be differentiated from females by virtue of the fact that the upper region of the male’s mesosoma(called the tergum) consists of an additional terga. The total number of terga is typically 6. The difference between sterile female worker wasps and queens also varies between species but generally the queen is noticeably larger than both males and other females.

Getting rid of these pests can sometimes be fearful, especially if you are allergic.  A large nest may mean an attack and stings on you or other people in the area.  Hiring a professional pest control can mean safe and efficient handling of the wasps and bees.  Pest control experts are trained in handling these stinging pests and we can rid your home or business quickly using nontoxic organic products.

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