Bumble bee

What bumble bees look like

Bumble bees are the large, round, heavily furred bees most people picture when they think of a bee. Workers vary a lot in size within the same nest, from roughly 10 mm up to 22 mm, and queens are larger still. The body is covered in dense hair banded in black and yellow, with orange, white or reddish bands depending on the species, and the whole insect looks soft rather than sleek. The hind legs of a worker carry a smooth, shiny pollen basket, often loaded with a bright yellow or orange lump. Flight is slow, low and noisy compared with a honey bee.

Signs you have bumble bees

• Low ground traffic. A steady trickle of large bees going in and out of a single hole in a lawn, bank or garden bed.
• Nesting under structures. Bees entering a gap beneath a shed floor, deck, step or garden box rather than flying to flowers.
• Cavity nesting. Activity at a soffit corner, wall vent, compost bin or a stack of insulation in a garage or outbuilding.
• Buzzing in a void. A muffled hum from a wall or floor cavity, typically softer and more intermittent than a honey bee colony.
• Defensive flights. One or two bees rising to circle a person mowing or working within a metre or two of the nest entrance.
• Seasonal build. Very little activity in spring, then noticeably more bees at the same entrance through July and August.

Colonies stay small, so a handful of bees at one hole is normal rather than a sign of an infestation.

Why bumble bees turn up around Ottawa and Toronto properties

A bumble bee colony starts with a single queen who overwinters in soil or leaf litter and goes looking for a nest site in spring. She wants a small, dry, insulated cavity at or below ground level, and that is exactly what our properties supply. Abandoned mouse and vole burrows are the classic choice. After that come the gaps under sheds, decks, porch steps, patio slabs and garden boxes, the spaces behind loose siding, compost heaps, stored insulation, and old bird boxes. Gardens across Ottawa, the Toronto GTA and Hamilton offer long, overlapping bloom from crocus through to aster, which keeps a colony supplied all season. Because bumble bees forage in cool, damp and dim conditions, they do well in our variable spring and shoulder seasons.

Are bumble bees dangerous?

Bumble bees are among the most valuable insects in an Ontario garden, and they are not naturally aggressive. They have a smooth stinger and can sting more than once, but they do so only when the nest is threatened or when a bee is pressed against skin or caught in clothing. Away from the nest they will ignore you entirely, even at arm’s length on a flower. The genuine concerns are narrow: anyone with a sting allergy, a nest under a step or in a lawn that gets mowed, and children or pets playing directly over an entrance. They cause no structural damage. Bumble bees do not chew wood, do not build large paper nests and do not store honey in volume, so nothing is left in a wall to stain or rot.

How to keep bumble bees away

• Close the small ground level gaps around shed bases, deck skirting, porch steps and patio edges before the queens search in April and May.
• Fill in old rodent burrows in lawns and garden beds, and tamp the soil so the cavity does not simply reopen.
• Keep compost turned and contained, and avoid leaving loose insulation, straw or fabric stored in open outbuildings.
• Screen wall vents, soffit corners and any open gaps in siding with fine mesh that still allows airflow.
• Clear and clean old bird boxes each spring, since an abandoned nest full of dry material is an ideal cavity.
• Site flowering borders, clover patches and water features away from doorways, play areas and the main run of the lawn.

Blocking the cavity in early spring is far easier than dealing with a colony in August.

How GO! Pest Control handles bumble bees

• Inspection. We confirm the species, trace the entrance to the real nest cavity, and judge how close the colony is to the way you use the property.
• Relocation. Bumble bees are important pollinators, so we prefer relocation or leaving the colony undisturbed until it dies back naturally, rather than destroying it.
• Treatment. Where a nest sits in a doorway, a step, a play area or a workplace and cannot be left or moved safely, we treat it with the proper equipment and protective gear.
• Repairs advice. We identify the ground level gaps, vents and voids that allowed nesting and tell you exactly what to seal, screen or fill once the colony is gone.
• Follow-up. We check back that traffic has stopped, that the cavity is properly closed and that no second nest has started nearby.

We are licensed, insured and bonded, and we work in homes, apartments, condos and businesses across the Toronto GTA, Ottawa and Hamilton.

Common questions about bumble bees