Worst Summer Pests

Virginia’s worst summer pests are ticks, mosquitoes, bees and wasps. Many of these pests are capable of causing illnesses and even death. Not too long ago a local Virginia resident was attacked and killed by a swarm of killer bees. Although many people are familiar with the threat that killer bees can pose, they sometime over react when they come across a regular honey bee colony versus a killer bee colony. Honey bees pose very little threat and are increasingly becoming more and more endangered of going extinct. Should this happen, it will lead to serious agriculture problems. Today Eagle Pest Services will share how to identify honey bees versus killer bees to help more people--either residential or commercial property owners-- know when to contact a pest control company.

Africanized Honey Bee Invasive Species

Not everyone will take the time to learn how to identify the different species of bees, so it is not surprising that most people will think that every bee is a killer bee. They will kill the bees to protect themselves and their loves ones. Identifying a killer bee is actually a difficult task since killer bees look nearly identical to a regular honey bees. The reason for that is because they are closely related to the American honeybee. To be more exact, they are relatives. The killer bees that are wide spread throughout the U.S are a more recent problem. Due to increasing temperatures, the native American Honey Bees were dying due to their sensitivity to the increasing heat. In hopes to save our native bees, researchers took the rather aggressive African honey bee and cross bred them with our local honey bees. In a way it works. They produced a bee that can withstand the increasing temperatures like the African bee can. However our newly engineered species of bee also became more aggressive. Technically, the newly Africanized honey bees are the well known killer bee most fear today.

What Makes Honey Bees Aggressive?

Because of the cross breeding between the two species, the killer bee looks nearly identical to our native honey bee. Additionally, the diets and hive construction is also the same. However there is one rather painful way to tell them apart and that is through their aggression levels. A honey bee is far less aggressive than a killer bee. Honey bees will only attack or sting an invader if they feel directly threatened or feel there is a threat to the nest or hive. When a honey bee’s hive is under attack only 10% of the colony will attack the invader. The killer bee however, will attack anything that could pose a threat to their hive if they come within 100 feet of their hive. Killer bees are far more territorial than honey bees and killer bees will send out about 90% of colony members to sting the intruder. This is why many who are allergic to bee stings can be killed by killer bees.

Bee Relocation

If you are noticing a more aggressive species of bee around your property, you most likely have a killer bee colony nearby. However you don’t need to be stung to find out which type of bee is in your yard or neighborhood. You can simply contact Eagle Pest Services to relocate the hive safely. We can remove the threat of bees around you and your loved ones. Remember bees, even killer bees, play a vital role in our agriculture reproduction. It is better to leave these bees to the professionals who will relocate them but not kill them. Contact Eagle Pest Services today if you’re under the threat of a bee colony.