One thing we know about bees is that bees try their best to keep other bugs away.
The reason is that these bees provide pollination to large-scaled orchards and commercial farms.
Because of this, bees do not like other bugs to come and pollinate their territories.
Bees can be quite territorial, especially at places they feel they have been pollinating for a period.
Bees want to be the only ones sucking the nectar and pollen from flowers and plants.
We would talk about the way bees keep other bugs away and how they do it.
Check out the rest of this article to find out more.
How do they do it?
Bees keep bugs by delivering various negative impacts to these bugs.
They could attack other bugs and sting them just the way they sting humans when they feel these bugs want to take control of their space.
They could keep other bugs away by either attacking them together as a hive or facilitating the spread of weeds that disrupt these bugs and chases them away.
There are various cases where it was noticed that bees affected bugs and chased them away or killed them when these bugs intruded in the space of the bees.
It was seen that these bees were quite aggressive when it came to which insect would pollinate the interface of the flowers.
These bees also fought to gain resources with native honey-consuming birds.
As a result of the massive number of bees present in a beehive, the bees won most times.
Related: Here is an article I wrote on are daisies good for bees?
Do bees kill other insects?
Yes, bees kill other insects which try to pollinate flowers or those that want to take the territories of the bees.
Bees could sting any organism if they feel that the organism threatens the hive or the bees.
There are available cases recorded of hornets disturbing the hives of bees and the bees in the hives attacking them back.
The bees are pretty successful at times as they end up piercing the strong exoskeleton of the hornets.
There are some bugs that bees stinging them to do nothing to prevent the intrusion.
These are the type of times that bees gang up on the bug or organism using what is known as heat (a situation where all the bees in the hive climb the invading bug or insect and keep vibrating to increase their temperature till they cook the bug to death).
Do bees eat other insects?
At this point, we can call bees assassin flies.
We give them this name because there are times when bees feel like insects want to take something that they own.
When bees feel the presence of intruders, they could do anything to keep their territories.
These things could include eating the insect.
Bees cannot eat insects individually.
They all come together, collide and eat the insect together.
This ends up scaring all other insects from disturbing the beehive in the future.
Do bees protect each other?
Bees do their best to protect one another in the presence of an insect or a bug that wants to either disturb their hive or disturbing another bee from the hive.
These bees come up with intelligent ways to kill gigantic insects or bugs that threaten their hives. These insects include wasps.
If there’s an organism that isn’t supposed to be there, like an intruder, the bees get together, hide in corners, and then they all attack the intruder in a way the intruder wouldn’t expect it.
Somewhat like a sneak attack.
Bees do this by forming what is known as a Bee Ball.
They form this Bee Ball around the intruder and keep flapping their wings to make a deadly intolerable environment where the intruder cannot survive.
There’s a combination of carbon monoxide and heat from the flapping of the bees’ wings, which merges and ends the intruder’s life.
Bees use propolis for their sneak attack. Propolis refers to a mixture of sap, saliva, and wax.
As they sneak out, they pour propolis on the intruder before they create the Bee Ball.
Propolis weakens the intruder till they create heat and kill it. Bees can be pretty violent when an intruder crosses their path.
Do bees keep mosquitoes away?
Bees keep mosquitoes away.
Like wasps and bugs, bees could kill mosquitoes when they have violent disputes on pollination or disputes on flowers.
How do you repel bees without killing them?
There are several ways you could repel bees without actually killing them or getting rid of them.
We would talk about five ways you could repel bees, and they would survive.
The reason you might want to get rid of bees might be probably because you might have people around that are allergic to them.
But these bees are essential.
That’s why they should just be repelled without the need to kill them.
As you try to repel bees without killing them, make sure you wear essential equipment as you do this.
Make use of things like a beekeeper’s suit and leather gloves.
If you want to repel bees in substantial quantities, we advise handling them with care cause they can be pretty dangerous.
We advise you to call a professional if you’re allergic to bees.
To repel bees without killing them, try the following methods out;
- Smoke
Using smoke is one of the most effective methods of getting rid of bees from your apartment.
This keeps them far away. Bees are susceptible to smell.
Whenever they perceive smoke, they feel it might be a forest fire.
This chases their bees away, and they would never come back to that area.
You could build a fire that’s smoky using dead firewood and cardboard just under the hive of the bees.
Make sure you don’t stay close by when the bees start running away because of the smoke.
The smoke makes the bees aggressive. It’s best to get back inside as soon as possible.
- Garlic Spray
Just like using smoke, bees can easily detect the smell. We know garlic has a strong scent.
Try crushing some garlic cloves and mix them very well with some water.
At this point, it turns to a garlic spray.
You can then spray it around your apartment or the hive.
Soon all the bees would leave in a hurry.
- Citronella
This works very well when repelling bees and mosquitoes.
If you want to get rid of a beehive around, you could make use of a citronella candle.
This would chase all the bees without harming them.
The only issue with this is that it takes some time to repel the bees.
The candles should be left burning for some days for them to be somewhat effective.
If it is windy outside or if there’s rain, the bees would find it quite challenging to go out and perceive the candle.
It is best to do this on a day that the weather wouldn’t interfere.
- Peppermint
Also, having smell bees are sensitive to, peppermint could be sprayed at areas where bees like to hang around.
This would chase the bees away.
- Cinnamon
The pungent smell of cinnamon chases away bees.
You could spread it all around the areas where you want bees to disappear.
We advise doing this every day for around a week.
This way, it lasts for a more extended period.
This method works correctly if you would like to chase bees from inside your home.
But it doesn’t work very well if you want to get bees away from your garden or your yard.
If you don’t mind having bees around your compound, but you don’t like them inside your house, this technique should work correctly.
Conclusion
Bees have various methods of keeping bugs away.
Bees can be violent, primarily when they work together.
Bees can settle down and kill insects irrespective of the size of the insect.
It doesn’t matter if the intruder to the beehive is a wasp, a hornet, or a bug.
They would merge carbon monoxide and heat to kill the intruder.
Bees make use of propolis or use a sneak attack to destroy anything that crosses their path.
