help i have a swarm of bees around my pond that wont leave!!

9 years ago

A few weeks ago we went and bought a couple water hyacinth for our pond and now all of the sudden we have over 50 bees that come and reside all over both of the water hyacinth, and since our pond is right by our back door and my niece whome is over quite a bit is allergic to bees this is a serious problem. Can anyone tell me how to get them to leave without using chemicals that im sure would harm our fish?

Featured Answer

phf13

9 years ago

Contact a local beekeeper - check with a master gardener if you have trouble locating one. If they are honeybees, a beekeeper will collect the swarm. If they are another species, they will probably be able to help too, or at least advise you.

Regardless of the species, please do not use insecticides. Most will be toxic to your fish (not to mention you), and will also kill many beneficial insects. Bees of all kinds are essential pollinators, and their populations are under great stress.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (7)

lazy_gardens
9 years ago
The bees are getting water - what you see is part of a hive that is on a water-collecting mission. The plants give them a landing spot to drink from.

They are not aggressive when collecting water, and aside from showing them to your niece and telling her that they are drinking water and to not bother them, you don't need to do anything.

You could remove anything from the pond (plants, rocks, etc.) that a bee could possible land on and they will get discouraged eventually.
sue_ct
9 years ago
I assume the hyacinths are blooming? If so, waiting for the blooming stage to pass or cutting off the blooms in the evening when the bees are not active and disposing of them would probably help a lot. I occasionally get bees around my pond because they need the water, but only a few at a time. If that is the case you might have a hive nearby without other good sources of water for them and then you might have to have the hive taken care of. Some will capture them live and "rehome" them to people who keep hives or want them released in orchards or other places.
Related Professionals
Citrus Heights Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Salisbury Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Tomball Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · East Patchogue Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Wilmington Landscape Contractors · Barrington Landscape Contractors · Braintree Landscape Contractors · Live Oak Landscape Contractors · Metairie Landscape Contractors · Pikesville Landscape Contractors · Royal Oak Landscape Contractors · Soddy Daisy Landscape Contractors · Waipahu Landscape Contractors · Waldorf Landscape Contractors · Wheat Ridge Landscape Contractors
frankielynnsie
9 years ago
If you can figure out where they are coming from you can give them a water source away from your house. See this you tube video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MwIYCjPcC4
waterbug_guy
9 years ago
I second what lazygardens said. They seem pretty focused on getting to the water, getting some and beating it back to the hive asap. They really don't want any trouble. They use the water primarily for cooling the hive. So you might see more or fewer depending on the temperature and time of day. I've only ever seen like maybe 10 max at a time taking water, normally more like 4-5.

Not sure how big this pond is but what I've done before is place a little shade cloth into the pond so the bees can land there and walk down to the water. They seem to like that. Maybe they feel some protection from getting eaten by fish. Place this furthest away from people. This is mainly to keep the people from freaking out.

Killing these bees wouldn't really change anything because the hive would just send replacements. Killing the entire hive or moving it is only possible if it's on your property. Bees can travel pretty far and we could even be talking about multiple hive. Plus I'd expect a new hive to move back in sometime down the road.
MissKayle10-3-13
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for all the help guys! I tried to find the hive but when i followed the bees they flew over our house across the street and into the neighbors backyard so i wasnt able to follow them any further, but they seemed to have slowed down as far as how many will be there at once, and they dont seem to be aggressive like lazygardens said. Ill definitely try and put a birdbath or something out front to deter them, hopefully it remains out front though, we live in kind of a bad neighborhood and have had things taken from our front yard before.
MissKayle10-3-13
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for all the help guys! I tried to find the hive but when i followed the bees they flew over our house across the street and into the neighbors backyard so i wasnt able to follow them any further, but they seemed to have slowed down as far as how many will be there at once, and they dont seem to be aggressive like lazygardens said. Ill definitely try and put a birdbath or something out front to deter them, hopefully it remains out front though, we live in kind of a bad neighborhood and have had things taken from our front yard before.