Introduction
Bees are arguably one of the most important insects in the environment, but they can be hazardous to you and others around you if they aren’t kept in check. For anyone who is allergic to bees, they can pose a serious threat to your health and wellbeing, and large swarms or hives of carpenter bees can destroy wood on your house, deck, or patio.
That being said, there are lots of natural remedies that you can use for keeping bees away from you, your family, and your home. Follow these steps to prevent bees from overwhelming you and your loved ones.
Natural Remedies for Getting Rid of Bees
1. Citronella Candles
Citronella candles are a great way to get rid of the bee population in your direct vicinity. You may have known that these candles are effective for mosquitoes, but they are also great for all kinds of insects, including different breeds of bees.
Setting up citronella candles in the rooms where you know of or suspect openings for bees to enter your home, or existing infestations is a great way to get bees out of your home and prevent them from invading.
2. Garlic
Garlic actually has a powerful lethal effect on bees that you can use in a number of ways. You can let some fresh garlic gloves soak in some cooking oil for a few days, next add some inexpensive white vinegar to it. The cheaper the vinegar the more acidic it will be, therefore the more harmful it will be to the bees. You can spray the mixture directly onto bees or the hive; just make sure that you are careful when doing so. You can also spray this on holes where carpenter bees are, or have been, to kill them as well.
3. Making your Own Repellant
Making your own natural bee repellant is a great way to get rid of bees in and around your home. You don’t really have to do much, all you need is some garlic powder to sprinkle where the bees congregate or where you suspect them to be coming from. You can also try adding garlic powder and the mixture that we mentioned above into a spray bottle to spray around infested areas, or directly on the bees.
4. Using the Right Wood
Using the right kinds of wood around your home can prevent carpenter bees from damaging it. Carpenter bees prefer to prey on soft, untreated woods. Make sure that when you are building your house or adding new structures to it that you are using harder woods like maple and oak. If the wood is treated or painted, that will also prevent the carpenter bees from destroying it.
5. Pyrethrins
Pyrethrins are actually naturally occurring insecticides that are derived from compounds that you find in chrysanthemums. They contain potent toxins that will disrupt and even kill bees. You can use them in spray them directly on hives, bees, or where carpenter bees have been burrowing. Another great aspect of these is that they are naturally biodegradable, and the effects of them should wear off in about a week. This is the only method here that can actually kill bees as opposed to repelling them, so use it very sparingly. Generally speaking, bees are very much our friends.
6. Citrus
Citrus is another powerful repellant that you can use to drive bees away, and you can actually make your own citrus spray pretty easily and cheaply. Boil a pot of water and add slices of citrus fruit like lemon, orange, lime, and grapefruit to the boiling water. Let the water boil down to about a third of the volume that you originally added to the pot. Wait for the mixture to cool and add it to a spray bottle. Spray the compound into the holes where carpenter bees have been burrowing, around the hive, or around any cracks that you may suspect bees are invading from.
7. Make a Natural Bee Lure
It is really easy to make a natural bee lure, and you will find that they are really effective at getting rid of a beehive or infestation. One thing that you absolutely need to know about bees is that they love sweet smells. Bees will also relocate their hive toward food sources that they find around them, and you can use both of those to your advantage to get rid of them.
You can make a lure by adding slices of ripe mangoes and pears into a Ziplock bag. Leave the bag open, and place lure 15-20 feet away from the bee nest. After letting it sit for 3-4 days, move the bag about a yard further away from the hive. Continue this same process until the bees have established a new hive away from your home.
You can also use a more lethal method of extracting bees that involves a bucket of water. Take a bucket of water and fill it with sugar, then place it near the hive or where the bees are embedded. The bees will be naturally drawn to the water and drown themselves. If you are worried about them landing on the surface of the water, all you have to do is add some dish soap to the solution which will break up the water’s surface tension, causing the bees to fall through.
8. Natural Spray
You can also make a natural spray repellant using vodka and some essential oils. All you have to do is add citronella oil and lavender to a dark glass bottle. Mix in 16 ounces of pure vodka and use a spray nozzle to spray around the infested areas, hive, or the holes where carpenter bees have been burrowing.
Moving Forward
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