When honey bees swarm and establish new colonies, they often move into hollow trees or voids inside walls of houses. Non-beekeepers are not accustomed to the sight of natural bee colonies, and they may react toward them with fear and hostility. Beekeepers are frequently asked to rid someone of unwanted bee colonies.

Someone with a natural bee colony should first decide if a problem truly exists. Honey bees, even those in walls of houses, do not cause any structural damage. Bees high in a tree or in the walls of an upper story are usually so far removed from people that there is virtually no chance of stinging. Unless people directly encounter the bees, the property owner should consider them an interesting opportunity to study nature!

If you decide to eradicate honey bees from a wall void, be prepared to pay for the services of an experienced beekeeper and a carpenter. To permanently solve the problem, the entire nest and the bees must be removed and the entrance resealed. It is not enough to simply spray inside the nest entrance with an insecticide because after the insecticide degrades, the cavity and combs are attractive to future swarms of bees. Moreover, if bees in a wall are killed but the nest is not removed, the combs are no longer ventilated and wax and honey may melt and stain interior walls. An experienced beekeeper can expose the nest and remove the bees and comb. The property owner is generally responsible for hiring a carpenter to reseal the void.

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How to Get Started Keeping Bees / UGA Honey Bee Program / UGA Entomology Department