What should I do about a honey bee swarm in my yard?
Leave it alone and keep people and pets back. A spring swarm is a colony on the move, usually calm because it has no comb to defend yet, and it may leave on its own within a day or two. Call us and we will try to put you in touch with a local beekeeper who collects swarms.
Honey bees pollinate East Texas gardens and orchards, and a beekeeper can often box a swarm from a low branch in minutes. Bees inside a wall, deer feeder or hollow tree are harder; some need a cutout by someone with beekeeping and carpentry skills.
Pest treatment is a last resort for honey bees, used only when a colony puts people at risk and no beekeeper can take it. Africanized honey bees have been found across much of Texas and look like gentle ones, so leave any colony that reacts hard to noise to professionals.
Is it safe to mow over a yellowjacket nest?
No. Mower and tractor vibration can set off a whole ground colony, and yellowjackets chase farther and sting more than most wasps. Flag the hole, mow around it with a wide margin and have it treated before you cut that area again. Late summer and early fall colonies are the largest and most defensive.
Pastures, road ditches and hay field edges around Hawkins are common places for ground nests, often in an old rodent burrow. People on a zero-turn or shredder usually find them the hard way.
Do not pour gasoline or diesel into the hole: it is a fire risk, contaminates the soil and often misses part of the nest. A dust treatment at dusk is safer.
Can wasps chew through a wall into the house?
Yes. Yellowjackets nesting in a wall void or attic will chew through drywall or a ceiling to find a new way out if you caulk or foam the outside entrance. That sends a live colony into a bedroom or kitchen. Leave the entrance open until the nest has been treated and the activity has stopped.
If a soft or stained spot appears in the drywall, keep the room closed and call. Once the colony is dead, the entrance can be sealed.
Where do wasps nest at lake homes and on docks?
Under dock decking, inside boat lift canopies and covers, in boathouse framing, under porch ceilings facing the water, and inside grills and light fixtures that sit unused. Check those spots on your first spring visit, before you crawl under the dock or pull the cover off the boat, and knock down small starts early.
Red wasps around Lake Hawkins often start nests in April and May while lake houses are quiet. A starter nest the size of a quarter is easy to handle; one left until July can hold dozens of wasps.
Our East Texas pest calendar shows when wasp, yellowjacket and carpenter bee activity usually peaks.
