Bees in Ontario range from about 11 to 22 mm and come in yellow, black, brown and sometimes metallic green or blue. The feature that separates them from wasps is hair. A bee looks fuzzy, carries a rounded body and has thickened hind legs or a hairy underside for carrying pollen. Honey bees are slim, amber and brown banded, and about 12 mm long. Bumble bees are large, round and densely furred in black and yellow. Carpenter bees are similar in size to bumble bees but the top of the abdomen is bare, shiny and black. Mining bees and sweat bees are smaller and often solitary. Only honey bees have a barbed stinger that stays behind, which means a honey bee can sting once. Other bees can sting more than once but rarely choose to.
Identifying the species first matters, because the right response is different for each one.
Bees follow flowers and shelter. Ottawa, the Toronto GTA and Hamilton all offer long flowering seasons in gardens, parks, boulevards and naturalized areas, so foraging is easy across the whole urban area. Nesting is where properties come in. Honey bee swarms move in late spring and early summer and look for a dry, enclosed cavity, which a wall void, soffit, chimney or shed roof provides perfectly. Bumble bees prefer an insulated cavity near ground level, such as an old rodent burrow, a compost heap, a space under a shed or the gap behind a deck board. Carpenter bees want exposed, unpainted softwood, so decks, pergolas, fascia and railings on older homes draw them in.
For most people, bees are far less of a threat than their reputation suggests. They sting in defence of a nest or when trapped against skin, not to attack. The exception is anyone with a sting allergy, for whom a single sting can be a medical emergency, and anyone who disturbs a large honey bee colony at close range. The property risk depends on the species. Most bees do no structural damage at all. Carpenter bees are the exception, because they bore galleries into wood and expand them year after year, and woodpeckers often open those galleries up further. Bees are also essential pollinators, which is why destroying a colony should be the last option rather than the first.
The aim is to keep bees out of the structure while leaving them free to work the garden.
We are licensed, insured and bonded, and we work in homes, apartments, condos and businesses across the Toronto GTA, Ottawa and Hamilton.
Not as a first step. Honey bees are pollinators and we prefer relocation or leaving them alone where the situation allows it. We only treat when the colony is in a place that puts people at genuine risk and cannot be moved safely.
Look for hair. Bees are fuzzy with rounded bodies and thick hind legs. Wasps and hornets are smooth, shiny and narrow-waisted. Wasps also hover around food and bins, while bees stay on flowers.
That is most likely a honey bee swarm resting while scouts look for a cavity. Swarming bees are usually calm. Keep people back, avoid spraying it, and call us so it can be dealt with properly.
If an established honey bee colony has been inside a wall, yes. Left behind, wax and honey can stain drywall, seep through ceilings and draw in other insects and rodents.
Usually not. Small solitary bees nesting in thin, dry turf are harmless and short-lived, and they improve the garden. If the nest sits where children or pets play, we can look at it with you.
Click the ant type to learn what to look for and why the right treatment plan matters.
Other pests we deal with that often turn up in the same places.
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