Once you start studying the pollinators in your garden, you will see many different types. If you start recognizing some of your visitors, you will look forward to seeing those old friends and indentifying new ones. People seem to care more about the things they can put a name to, so I encourage you to spend some time with identifications.
The different species within the genera are very difficult to discern, but most people can learn to identify down to genus. That in itself is an accomplishment!
For instance, take the genus Andrena. The 1300 species in this genus are also called “mining bees” because they nest in the ground. Like most bee species, they are solitary, which means that all females are fertile and each one builds a nest by herself, provisions the nest with pollen and nectar, and lays the eggs. Unlike a honey bee colony, there are no workers, no honey production, nor any comb building.
The eggs hatch and the young bees progress through the larval stage to the pre-pupal stage before winter sets in. During the winter they remain in the pre-pupal stage until early spring when they complete their metamorphosis into adult bees, both male and female. The adults emerge from the ground, mate, and the females of this new generation begin to build their homes in a new underground chamber.
Solitary bees are often oligolectic, and Andrena bees are no exception. An oligolectic bee is one that collects pollen from only a select few plant species. Often these plants are very closely related—in the same family or even the same genus. In fact, some species of Andrena bees are monolectic, meaning they collect pollen from one—and only one—species of plant. It is easy to see that if that plant becomes rare or extinct, so does its pollinator. No wonder our wild bees are in trouble!
Andrena bees range from about 8-17 mm long. The females in this genus can be distinguished from other bees by the velvety patch of hair between the eyes and the antenna bases. They also have well-developed corbiculae—or pollen baskets—on the sides of the thorax and hind legs. Since the males do not collect pollen, they are not as hairy as the females. The males are also shorter and narrower than the females.
Because Andrena bees build their nests underground, they are adversely affected by farming practices such as tilling, plowing, disking, and spading. They also do not thrive in ground that has been completely cleared of vegetation because they like nesting sites that are protected from weather extremes by bushes or trees. Heavy mulch is also bad for Andrena bees because the females are not able to dig through mulch to get to the soil.
Needless to say, insecticides readily kill Andrena bees and herbicides kill the plants on which they are dependent. Maintaining a pesticide-free garden with plenty of bare soil and many plant varieties—including native species—is the best way to attract and conserve most native bees, including Andrena.
Rusty
Andrena fulva (female). Flickr photo by Mick E. Talbot.
Adrena haemorrhoa (female). Flickr photo by Mick E. Talbot.
Andrena (male). Flickr photo by jbaker5.
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I have found an underground nest in my garden. they are not aggressive. Also they look like honey bees but much darker in color. Any ideas?
thanks
It’s really hard to say. About 4000 species of bees live in North America alone, and most live underground. A picture would help, otherwise I would be guessing.
It’s cool, though. I’m glad you noticed them and you are trying to find out what they are. If you do find out, please let me know.
Hi. My father-in-law put a plant in the ground Tuesday the 14/06/2011 and when he got up in the morning he noticed that the leaves on the plant had gone. When we sat in the garden today 16/06/2011 we saw a couple of bees going into the ground. Do you know if they eat plant? Would be nice to have some reply on this because it is weird and I have never seen them before.
Thanks a lot
Danny James South Wales UK
Danny,
If what you saw were really bees, they would not have eaten the leaves. Bees take nectar and pollen from plants, but they don’t eat leaves. Some bees, like leafcutters, will take a small part of a leaf for their nests, but they don’t strip them bare. Even wasps and hornets don’t eat leaves.
If the leaves disappeared so quickly, I would say it was most likely slugs or snails–or even deer or rabbits–that did the damage, not bees.
This is the second year I have had a bee–huge, but docile–does not sting, but butts disapproval. I cannot pinpoint species. 1-1 1/4 inches long. Black with wing veining. Bright yellow furry “goatee” on black head. Thorax has three rows of dingy (muddy) yellow “fur” and black. The abdomen is half the size of the bee and black, hairless or sparsely so.
He is the guardian of my enclosed patio, chases other mining bees much smaller away. If I leave the gate open, he disapproves and flies in and out of it, to my sliding door and back, repeating until I shut it. If a wind is blowing, he is upset and checking each of my moving, hanging objects. I have a large batch of potted yellow-orange pansies that are fragrant, violets, and basket of Gold in front of the patio.
He brought his mate around for me to see one day–I know it was a mate, because he didn’t chase the similar-sized bee away. BEE, as I call him, will come when I call him, and he hovers a foot away from my face. If I have guests, he checks them out. I warn all, that he is doing just that and will not sting. However, when I hired a friend to clean out my car of glass from a baseball coming through, we had the gate open a long time. I sat and watched the antics. BEE was chasing much smaller mining bees away, sometimes several at a time. One knew it was not his territory and didn’t breech where the gate had been shut.
My friend came in at the end and sat talking with me. Neither of us thought to close the gate and he butted her in the back of the head–she was closest to the gate and had used it more than me. We shut the gate and that was the end of that. One windy day I didn’t get my key out fast enough for him, and he kept butting the glass door next to my head, encouraging me to move in out of the wind, I gathered. He tolerates my guests, even if eating lunch on the patio. I cannot see it (happens fast), but he may butt with the thorax and not the head. That being why his goatee is so free of soil? I live north of Columbus, OH. BEE has “pet” status. The same bee, second year!
Interesting stuff. I know that some bees are very territorial and will chase other bees away, and I know bees will butt large creatures like dogs and humans, but your bee sounds pretty darn persistent. I have no idea what it is.
Marlene, I had a similar situation. I named my bee Benny.
Sounds like a robber fly
We live in the mountains of WNC. My husband used a machete and weed eater on the front yard before we left for out of town. Upon our return late last night, he was stung on the back by what we at first thought was a yellow jacket.
This morning I found an open nest in the ground with layers of “combs” around the yard that he either 1) hit with his machete, or 2) was dug up by a wild animal as we have thousands of deer as well as fox, coyote and bear in the area.
Now I’m wondering what bee is at our front doorstep. If it’s yellow jackets, I’m going to have to destroy the nest as I have children and pets and that’s our main entrance to our home (I’m physcially disabled). If it’s honey/wild mining bees then I’ll have to bite the bullet and work with stairs for awhile until they find new digs. If that is the case, any suggestions on how to help them “move” along without hurting them?
Carole,
They sound like yellow jackets, or some similar wasp, to me. Yellow jackets have combs that are usually round disks that look a lot like honey combs. This is where the young are raised. Honey bees normally nest above the ground in a tree, under an eave, or in a wall. Mining bees are usually solitary—a single bee raises a small batch of young in a small ground cavity. Mining bees do not build combs. Without any pictures, my money is on yellow jackets.
We’re about to set up a new hive in our suburban backyard. Our backyard is seriously aerated by ground bees. Should we expect any interaction between the bee varieties, especially from the ground bees robbing the honey producers? Thanks!
Dave,
You are so lucky to have native bees digging up your lawn! Seriously, I’m jealous.
The ground bees won’t affect the honey bees, although the honey bees will probably have an adverse effect on the ground bees. Honey bees are hoarders, taking as much nectar and pollen as they can possible find, whereas your ground bees take just enough to moisten their pollen balls and have an occasional snack. It is a minute quantity compared to what a single honey bee will take.
Also most ground bees, other than bumble bees, forage very short distances–a couple hundred yards, whereas honey bees can forage for miles. Once the honey bees use up what’s close, they’ll go further and further in search of food. This may wipe out your ground bees because once the honey bees take everything, the small bees may not be able to find food close enough to home. It’s possible the ground bees may forage on different plants, which would be good for them and might save them. The ground bees are in no way a threat to the honey bees and will not rob the hives. Yellowjackets and other wasps, however, often rob honey bee hives.
Thanks so much for the quick, informative reply. It relieved our concern, so we’re going ahead with the plan: adding livestock! Chickens may be next…
We have had ground bees in our yards for YEARS. I have felt they were pests until recently learning of the declining bee population. I’m now, after reading this article and others, hesitant to really pursue removing them from the yard. Is there any way to provide additional food sources for them? We live on the corner of a very busy street so our yard is limited.
Also, I just want to make sure they are not producing honey of some sort that we could use. They are sure collecting a lot of pollen compared to the honey bees I’ve seen in our backyard.
Any additional insight would be very much appreciated as I am now coming to learn to live with, and appreciate, these bees.
Thanks!
Kristin,
Ground-dwelling bees, like other native bees, are an important part of our environment and responsible for a lot of pollination, as you already noticed. They collect very little nectar compared to a honey bee. Each female lays a dozen or two eggs. For each egg she collects a ball of pollen held together with nectar. The ball is about the size of a pea. She lays the egg on top of the ball and seals up the compartment she laid it in, and then goes on to the next one. That tiny bit of nectar, along with some she eats herself, is all she ever collects. The new bee doesn’t emerge until the following spring.
We have THOUSANDS of mining bees and I can’t bring myself to try to get rid of them, each year their nests spread further across our lawn, even the grassy areas. But what an experience! In the weeks they are active it sometimes looks like our lawn is moving because so many of them are hovering. My children have learned to accept them, and explain them to their friends. The bees will hover on their hands, my children run the yard with flip flops on, no one has ever been stung. The only negative…in the fall our yard is taken over by the American Oil Beetle which I understand feeds off the bee larvae and I HATE the oil beetle!
Suzann,
That is so, so cool. I am jealous. I’ve heard people say that the ground can look like water with all the movement and the sun glinting off the bees. Some have even said it makes them feel “seasick.” Most of the the mining bees are small and, although they have stingers, they are not large enough or strong enough to pierce human skin. Seeing all those little bees is something you and your kids will never forget. And they are important pollinators, so hang onto them.
They really are peaceful creatures. One of our house guests actually was PETTING one this spring!
Hi, I currently live in Germany and I noticed a lot of bee burrows in the yard mowing. Looking closer they seem to be mining bees which I’m happy to have because they are beneficial to our yard and garden. The problem I have right now is I’ve found what look to be some wasp (yellow jackets) and am not fond of them whatsoever. My question is will the mining bees take care of the wasp, or should I try and handle them myself? My dilemma is that I’m not 100% sure which burrows belong to who? Any suggestions? Thanks!
The mining bees you have are probably the type that live singly—each bee having it’s own burrow. Yellowjackets live in big groups. They should be fairly easy to tell apart. Mining bees won’t be able to handle yellowjackets. Most of the mining bees are a fraction of the size of yellowjackets.
My mining bees come every May to my sweet corn patch. It’s approximatley a half an acre, and this year I was late getting in, and they have taken over about half of it, the sandy portion of course. I traced one of their holes once, seemed to start vertical, then angle or curve horizontal, for about a ft or so. It seems that after a couple months they, (the adults), are no longer there? There are weeds coming that I must kill with either glyphosate, or 2,4-D. I could possibly wait till the adults are gone and the holes are covered up naturally in a month or so.
Each year I till, and sometimes plow the soil, does that mean I’m killing the young or covering them with several inches of dirt on the top of their tunnel and they won’t be able to dig out next year? Why do they come back each year to the exact same spot, or is that the young adults digging their way out, and starting all over. If the adults come from somewhere, where do they come from and where do they go when they leave? I don’t want to remove them entirely, and am willing to work with them, however I need to use my plot also? Your help would be appreciated.
Such an interesting question and good observations.
First off, the term mining bee is generally used for many different species of bee that live underground, so I can’t tell you exactly how deep they go or some of the other details because there are different possibilities.
But your observations are good. The tunnels generally go straight down and then branch off, either horizontally or at an angle. One tunnel usually has a number of branches. At the end of each branch is a chamber where the bee will lay one egg on top of a ball of pollen and nectar. You are also correct that the adults live only a few weeks, then they die. The egg will hatch into a larva, and then the larva will eat the ball of pollen and nectar, and then it will spin a cocoon. In the cocoon, the bee overwinters as a pupa. When I say overwinter, it really means the entire rest of the year.
When the adult emerges from the cocoon in the spring, she first mates and then builds the tunnels and chambers to lay her eggs. Once a chamber is ready, she collects the nectar and pollen, lays an egg on top, and then builds another chamber. She does this until she dies.
So, you see, the adults don’t go anywhere. They are hatching in your field, mating, laying eggs, and dying. Then next year the new generation emerges from the same holes their mothers built. Yes, if you plow or disk the soil, you are probably destroying many of the young. Like I said, though, different species go different depths, so I can’t say for certain how deep yours are going. The reason they nest in the same place is they like sandy soil, which you said you have.
Can you tell me where you live? Just generally, like what state or province? I might be able to tell you more based on that.
I have some sort of either a bee or a beneficial wasp in my yard. The first year I noticed a bunch if holes about the size if a pencil. One day outside I saw the insects. There was a swarm of them all flying to where the holes are and each one would land and then wiggle down the hole. I can walk along this area when they are coming in for landings and have never had them sting or actually come near me. The ones I have seen close I can’t see a noticeable stinger. I am not wanting to eradicate my yard of them if they are peaceful, but I don’t know what they are. I realize that you can’t ID these guys by my description alone, so if I can catch one to get a good photo of is there an email address I can send a photo to? Thanks for your help.
Stacey,
Most solitary bees that live in the ground seldom sting. Many of them have stingers that are too small to go through human skin. You should leave them alone and let them pollinate. They will only be active for a few weeks and then you won’t see them again for a year.
My mom got stung by a bee that lives underground; it is black and white. Her hand is swollen and she can barely stand up; her legs shake.
I have been obsessed with finding out how to get rid of my bee problem. We have hundreds of holes in the ground and I was worried considering I have three kids. After doing a lot of research I just found out that I have miner bees. I have a new understanding for the little creatures and I feel bad for wanting to kill them. I have a friend who is a beekeeper (in MT) so I have a secret obsession to want to do that. Now that I have a miner bee colony, I can say with some reservation that I am a beekeeper and I will visit my little guys/girls regularly. I am a nerd.
Me likey miner bees,
Certainly if you are keeping them and not killing them, you can safely call yourself a beekeeper. Thank you so much for seeing the light. The little uncelebrated bees of the world provide services to our ecosystem that we don’t fully understand, but we know enough to know they are important. There is some variation among the species, but most of the mining bees are so small their stingers can’t puncture human skin, so they aren’t much of a threat to you or your family.
You are lucky to have the bees. I’m preparing to travel a great distance just to photograph ground-dwelling bees and their homes, so I consider you blessed. If you want a challenge, try to photograph them coming and going from their burrows. If you get a good one, I’d be happy to publish it here on the site.
So congratulations! You are a beekeeper . . . and you don’t need the reservations.
I took some pictures but I am not sure how to get them on this site??
I have been out cutting the grass outside in my front garden this morning and noticed a lot of what looked like honey bees emerging out of the ground! I had no idea that bees could dig into the ground until I have looked this up…I know there is a decline in bees in England so I’m really hesitant to destroy the nest! Are these bees easily annoyed at all? I have children but can direct them to stay away from where I have found this nest so could I just leave them alone?
Shell,
I can’t give you a good answer. Basically, there are 20,000 species of bees worldwide and 70% of them live in the ground. I don’t know how many live in England, but probably a lot. Many of the ground dwellers look similar to honey bees, especially some of the Anthophora and some of the Andrena. Honey bees generally do not live in the ground, although they do occasionally. Bumble bees usually live underground as well. Many solitary ground-dwellers live in groups or communities, so even though they each have a separate nest, the nests are close together. Most solitary bees are not at all aggressive, and many have stingers that cannot penetrate human flesh even if they wanted to.
Hi,
I was weeding today while slowly walking through ankle-deep ground cover (vinca). After I pulled a weed, I suddenly felt a sharp pain on my arm and then felt “bees” zipping all around me. I started to run and it took a couple minutes to shake the bees! I was stung several times on both arms (and it killed!).
When I went back to the ground cover to figure what kind of bees they were, I saw several buzzing around the ground, some of them seemed to be slowly flying back into the area under the ground cover. I couldn’t get one to stay still for a picture with my cell phone, but they did NOT look like wasps and definitely were not yellowjackets. The best way to describe them were maybe somewhat like a honey bee?? Maybe a little darker? I googled about “ground” bees and most websites say that they are not aggressive and rarely sting. This bee was aggressive! What do you think it could be? If it’s native, I don’t want to hurt/remove them… its in an area where not many people go. Just curious… love nature!
Hi Karen,
I’m just guessing, of course, because I can’t see the bee. But if it looks a lot like a honey bee–generally the same size and shape–it could be an Anthophora or maybe an Andrena. Both types live in the ground. Anthophora are often confused with honey bees. These are large groups of bees with many species. Most are gentle most of the time, but if they get riled up they can definitely sting, especially the larger ones. The very small ones usually are not strong enough to penetrate human skin.
You probably got close to an aggregation of nests. These bees are solitary ground dwellers, but although each bee has her own nest they often live in groups or communities. The other possibility is some type of ground-dwelling wasp. Some of the less familiar wasps and bees are very difficult to distinguish in the field. Not only that, but many solitary wasps have evolved to imitate the appearance of bees. This is so they can easily invade the bee’s nest and lay their eggs there.
At any rate, I’m glad you are willing to let them live. Most of these solitary bees and wasps are active for only a few weeks a year and then you won’t see them again until the same time next year.
This morning I noticed a hole in my garden under my lavender bush. Something had been digging, there were bees flying around obviously unhappy. As I was putting the soil back the bees kept chasing me away. I know there are bees that live underground but from what I have read they don’t produce large amounts of honey. What animal would want to get at their nests? I do have skunks that frequently visit my yard, could it have been them and what were they looking for?
Mary,
When mammals invade bee nests–and this includes big ones like bears–they are not looking for honey as much as bee larvae. The larvae (the grub stage) are extremely high in protein and are an excellent food source. It could have been a skunk, or even something smaller, that was looking for bee larvae. The larvae are plentiful this time of year, so it would not surprise me at all.
Was out weed eating my mother’s lawn yeaterday and got popped on the arm by a bee. Afterwards I noticed a swarm around the area and a few holes. I know they are beneficial but how do I get them away ? Their nest is beside a small patio my 70 something mother likes to sit and read. I don’t want to kill them but also want my mom to be safe
Troy,
They will disappear in a few weeks. Be patient. Too many people are killing too many things.
I discovered a hole the size of a basketball where some animal had unearthed a nest. On the ground were large pieces of combs that appear empty. Bees are still coming in & out of this hole from deeper in the ground. Will the bees dig out if I fill in the hole? Did the animal excavation eliminate the survival of this particular nest?
Maureen,
To me it sounds like a wasp nest. Are the combs round like plates or some other shape? If the insects are still coming in and out, they may be able to recover from the attack. If you fill the hole too tightly, they will likely become trapped. If you fill it loosely, they can probably dig through it. If they are wasps, and if you live in a place with cold winters, the colony will die out with the first freeze.
While mowing today, I discovered a large hole in my yard, at least as big as a softball, with many., many little bees going in and out of the hole. They are not yellow jackets or sweat bees. One of the little buggers stung me through my thin top! I don’t want to destroy them, but I have to mow there or it will be a jungle! I live in Kentucky. Do you have any advice?? Can you send an email to me to help me decide what to do?
Karen,
It sounds like a semi-social bee that is using a common entrance area. I’m guessing they have individual nests coming off separate tunnels under the ground. Or it may be a primitively eusocial type of bee. In any case, fully 70% of the 20,000 species of bee live underground, so it is difficult to say what it is. You say it’s not a sweat bee, although I am less sure of that. There are something like 500 species of sweat bee in North America. They are very different from each other and many of them have some degree of sociality, like what you describe.
These bees are important pollinators and part of a healthy ecosystem, so it makes no sense to destroy them. The nest will soon go inactive as cold weather approaches. Put on some heavier clothes and just mow over it. Or mow around that area. Sometimes conserving valuable resources causes some amount of inconvenience in our lives, but imagine where we would be without them.
In my chili pepper field (Indonesia), there are some insect like bees. It’s black, digging on soil, making its home inside, eating caterpillar that eat my chili leaf (HELP ME A LOT). It’s solitary I think, but many of them, hundred maybe thousand. Soil that it dig have some like earth worms shit, it’s also like heat of sun, because on field full of weed (shade from sun), the population is small, it’s also pollinate my chili. That bee resist Deltamethrin, Chlorpyrifos, Imidacloprid, Abamectin, and even tobacco leaves extract, because it’s population growing even when I spray my chili field against leaf mites (on recommended dosage of course), but sadly, it’s gone if raining. It’s not aggressive even when walked near them (but of course who want to touch them!), is that a real bee family or some kind of other beneficial bugs??? Help me please. Oh yeah, it is sized around 1,5 cm long.
Arya,
It’s impossible for me to say for sure, but if it looks like a bee, burrows in the soil, lives in communities, likes full sun, pollinates chilis, and eats caterpillars, my guess it that it is some type of wasp. It’s not a bee if it eats caterpillars. That you have any living thing in your field is a miracle, given your spray regimen.
cuando se estraee la miel de estas abejas de la tierra. o conocida como merino aca en la campaña .
Mining bees are not honey bees and they do not produce honey that can be harvested. They just mix nectar with pollen.
Hi!
Thank you for this wonderful information. I have a question–can I put rocks down on top of where the mining bees came out this spring? Will the bees be ok? I will leave spaces between the rocks for them to get in and out, but it won’t be the stretch of dirt that was there before. (I won’t use gravel; the rocks are softball-to-basketball sized.) And once the bees have come out of their holes and stopped buzzing around, is that the time to put the rocks down? Thank you!
Stacy,
Is that like Monmouth College in NJ?
Bees definitely like areas of bare dirt, but as long as you leave space between the stones I think they will be okay. It depends to some extent on the type of bee you have. Some nest randomly, wherever they find room. Others like to build large, extended communities where they benefit from each others ability to find off intruders.
As soon as they emerge they will mate and start to build more nests. So as they are emerging is probably the best time to add the rocks. At least you know where the old and new openings are so you won’t cover them up.
That’s Monmouth College as in Monmouth, Illinois. The same Scottish Presbyterians who founded Monmouth College (now Monmouth University) in New Jersey kept moving west and founded Monmouth College out here in the prairie, where, apparently, mining bees are very happy!
Thank you so much for your helpful response. I will get out there this coming weekend to try to reposition the rocks selectively and decoratively! I really, really, really appreciate the quick and useful answer to my question. I have been very worried about those bees, who have been living here for at least nine years. Thanks!
Thanks Stacy! I once took a writing course at Monmouth College (it was college at the time) in NJ, so I was wondering. Enjoyed the history lesson!
So I just bought a house and it became spring and I got a bunch of bees that have taken over my side yard with a bunch of holes in the ground that they are going into. I want to know how can I get rid of them? I have kids and don’t want them to not be able to play in the yard.
Matt,
You are so lucky to have native bees in your yard! What an asset! Please don’t kill them.
I’m sure you’ve heard that bees are in trouble all over the world and we have to do everything possible to save the ones we have left. Most solitary mining bees do not sting or sting only lightly. They are not dangerous, and they are active only a few weeks per year. It depends on the species but, most probably, at the end of a month or so, you won’t see them again until next year.
Rather than keep your kids away, show them the holes and explain that by pollinating the flowers, bees allow seeds to be formed and plants to grow, including the plants we eat. I don’t know the age of your kids, but if they are school age, they will be the most popular kids in town once their friends know they have mining bees.
Your kids face many greater risks than those posed by bees: riding in a car, crossing the road, exposure to pathogens at school, riding bicycles, even falling off a curb are all more dangerous.
Please see the bees as an opportunity: a learning experience for the kids, a chance to better the environment, and most importantly, a way that you can do your part to help the bees.
Rusty’s right. We’ve had mining bees for years. They aerate the soil and do their pollinating. We’ve walked on them, run lawn mowers over them, and never have been stung. I still feel guilty about my first silly and futile attempts to eradicate them.
Dave–True! My mining bees appear for about ten days in the spring, and then they’re gone. They do no harm and they’re a lovely harbinger of spring. My son and the neighbor boys have played around them every year—and no one has ever been stung or harmed in any way.
Matt, I hope you can find a way to co-exist. If you don’t use that part of the yard for a week or so, it should be ok, in my experience.
I am glad I came across your website. We have mining bees that have grown to cover a good percentage of our yard. We were thinking of spraying pesticide to get rid of them because we have children. We have educated them and assure them they are harmless but with a special needs child afraid of bugs she becomes frantic and has anxity attacks. Hopefully we can ease her fears because I believe they are more beneficial as neighbor’s after reading your blog.
Aarin,
I’m so glad you will let the mining bees live; they are much safer than pesticides for your kids.
Hi,
I live in east Tennessee and I think I have these mining bees as well. They show up in the spring and are gone by summer, their are holes in the ground, and they fly close to the ground. They don’t seem to be aggressive as I too have walked through them and mowed over them, etc.
I was concerned they might be Africanized honeybees but they all seem to do their own thing. I tried to take a picture of them but they have proved to move too fast for me to snap a picture. They have gotten into my greenhouse and unfortunately can’t seem to find their way out, so I have a lot of dead ones lying about. I can’t help that problem even when I try to catch them to put them out the door or through the ceiling window.
Glad to know these bees are not dangerous.
Sue,
I’m glad you mentioned that they fly low to the ground because that is a good way to know they are mining bees. As someone else remarked, the ground almost appears to move when they are at their most prolific. I’m very happy to hear you are letting them live; they are great pollinators and part of a healthy ecosystem.
Thanks for the info. My garden has an abundance of these and my son is allergic to bee stings. He’s been scared to go through our front door, so knowing they aren’t aggressive helps him. I worked in my garden the other day and didn’t have any trouble or aggression though I was in close proximity to them and their tunnels.
Heather,
Here’s another post on mining bees. It includes comments from other people, like you, who have lots of them.
Thank you so much for this information! It’s a relief to know they’re not aggressive. I’m pretty sure I have mining need as well, but the hive entrance is in my new garden, right next to where I wanted to put some plants in. It’s strange that they don’t do well in areas without vegetation because the garden is just a big patch of dirt at the moment. Are their tunnels deep enough that I can dig to plant? I want to make a nice garden but now I’m afraid to dig in it.
The tunnels are usually about a foot deep, although some species go much deeper. However, they don’t hive a hive or a hive entrance, they have individual holes. Some species share tunnels, but it is definitely not a hive in the usual sense. They do well in areas where there are few plant roots to get in the way.
I discovered a nest of small bees in a large pot containing a very large Queen Kimberly fern. I was watering the fern and one or two bees attacked my hands. The stings were very painful causing my hand to swell for several days and itch. How do I get the bees to move to the ground where they would be happier?
Ann,
It sounds like the bees are happy where they are but that you would be happier if they moved. Am I right? They probably like the moisture you add to the soil. Is the pot outside? It sounds like they might be solitary wasps instead of bees, but I can’t tell from here. You can wait and do nothing because they are only active a short time during the year. You could replant the fern in the ground while wearing protective clothing. You could dig out the soil around the fern, put it in the garden, and replace the soil in the pot. You can water the fern while standing further away. Bees and wasps are an important part of our ecosystem; don’t be too hard on them.
Two years ago on July 4th we had a swarm of bees that we heard flying our way for at least five minutes take residence in a birdhouse in our backyard. There were thousands of bees. It was amazing to hear them from a distance. We all sat back and said, “what is that sound” and within minutes they were in our yard.
Today, EXACTLY two years later, they swarmed back to the exact same spot. We have owls nest in that bird house every year and can’t figure this out… This time around as my son went out to take a picture of the swarm, they attacked him and he was bitten. Last time around they were very docile.
We also have mining bees in the front yard. They built what looked like honeycombs in the front yard where the water meter is. Of course the water company pulled them out and threw them in the yard… We didn’t know….til we saw the combs on the ground….
My question: since they attacked my son do we need to be concerned that they could be Africanized since we live in Florida??? Also, will they keep coming back to the birdhouse on this day every year??? I am stunned that exactly two years later they came back to the same house after we took that house apart and got it ready for the owls return. I have to say that it is an amazing sight to see hundreds of bees swarm and just cover over a huge area and take it over.
Having seen this twice I would like to know where I can look for more information about bees and their habits. Thanks for taking the time to read my email and any and all advice is greatly appreciated. Happy bee-keeping.
Oh, if I got one of those boxes that beekeepers have, would the bees move to there, or stay in the bird house??? Where would I get a bee house, if the bees would move to there???
Kathy,
Wow, lots of questions. Did you write last year about the bees in the owl house? Someone did. Anyway, here goes.
You say your son was attacked, but you don’t describe how badly he was stung. If the bees were Africanized, I expect you would know it because the stings can be in the hundreds and the bees just don’t quit. Normal honey bees can be aggressive, chase, and sting, but most people—even in a bad situation—wouldn’t get more than a dozen or so stings.
From your description, it sounds like the insects in the water meter box were actually wasps. Round combs that look like plates which are found underground like that are usually made by wasps, not bees. Certainly they are not mining bees as mining bees dig little tunnels in the dirt, just wide enough for one bee and they don’t build large combs.
The bees in your owl box are not the same bees that were there last year. In fact, most of the adult workers and all the adult males live fairly short life spans of about 4 to 6 weeks. The queens can live much longer, but it is a very low probability that she is the same either. But once a structure is used for a bee hive, the spot is extremely attractive to other swarms. The bees can pick up the scent of an old hive even years later, so it is no surprise that your owl house was repopulated. What happened to last year’s group?
To learn more about honey bees and beekeeping I recommend you contact a local beekeepers club. You can go to meetings and learn about bees, equipment, and technique. You can also learn where to buy hives and someone may help you get started if you are interested. By the way, you or someone else would have to move the bees from the owl house to the new bee hive.
We have cherished our mining bees for years. This morning my granddaughter asked, “Grandpa, exactly how can a little bee dig the tunnels they live in?” Do you know?
Steve,
This is a great question and deserves a detailed answer. Please be patient, it’s on my list.
I too have bees in my potted fern on the deck. It started off with a few in early summer now there are lots of bees. They fly very fast so I can’t even take a picture; when they fly out of the pot they fly straight up in the air. They seem to get agitated when anyone sits in the seating area near the fern. No one has been stung yet but it seems inevitable.
I have 2 small children and I have them stay away from that area. They’re starting to swarm. I want my deck back. They have been going strong since late May. Like the advise given to Ann with a similar issue. Are there any other options?
Camille
Camille,
You say “when they fly out of the pot they fly straight up in the air.” If that’s the case, it doesn’t sound likely that anyone will get stung unless they were hovering over the plant somehow. Even then, most ground-dwelling bees don’t often sting. Can you move the fern off the deck? That would be my first choice.
Mine are still in the fern. It is quite large and very heavy. It is in my deck 15 feet off the ground so there is no way to get it off the deck without getting stung several times. I have to water it in the dark and if it needs it be moved I have to do it at night. I have tried everything I can think of but nothing convinces them to move on. Right now the painters are trying to paint and not get stung. Help!
I am allergic to bee sting. I garden all over my property (less than 1/4 acre). Never had a problem with bumble bees or honey bees. Once when I lived in Tennessee I obviously mowed over a ground bee den and they came after me. Luckily I had a faithful pointer who ran over and got between the bees and me while I ducked into the house. She was stung several times bless her heart.
I digress, my daughter was doing some trimming (machine) last week near my bird feeders and just inside my garden when she was stung by a bee. It just flew up from the ground and nailed her. She removed the stinger once we were safely in the house and she took a homeopathic for stings and ran cool water over her finger. The stinging settled down and the redness disappeared in about an hour. Today she was walking past this same area and something flew up and touched her ear – no sting. She looked down and could see a bee hole. I haven’t had the courage to go out and look yet. I have tons of bees all over the yard – I walk among the flowers with bees on them – no problem but this is obviously a mean bee. I also have a dog who is in the yard everyday. He frequently sits on this bank and surveys the yard. He reacts strongly to stings as well. Any suggestion?
Bonnie,
Most ground bees are only active about four to six weeks in the spring or summer. Your mean bee will soon be gone. It could also be a solitary wasp; it is almost impossible to tell what it is without catching it, but the same holds true—it won’t be active very long.
The in ground bees turned out to be yellowjackets that nested in my very large fern on my deck. The painters as well as myself have been stung by them and my reactions were a lot of swelling. The large pot got sent done the 16 steps and landed on its side. The raccoons came by and dug out the nest and took care of them. We were able to divide the fern into 13 smaller pots and all is well. Thank you for the information.
Ann,
Wow, that is an interesting end to the story. I’m glad the culprits weren’t bees, and I’m happy the ferns, you, and the painters all survived!
Thanks, I’m glad the story ended well as well. I think I like the racoons better now. We have all sorts of wildlife around us and the armadillos are the hardest on the garden. The deer like the blossoms, the squirrels like the bird seed and the wasps like the hummingbird feeders as well as the hummers. The swallowtails are depositing eggs on the rue and nectaring on the phlox and lantana. All is well now.
I live in Michigan in the country and have encountered plenty of yellowjacket and bumble bee nests when mowing the yard. Of course these were not good encounters and was swarmed and stung several times. However when I was just mowing the yard today I came across a hole in the ground and there is a bee nest in it. With my history I left as quick as possible and nothing happened. I went back and tool a closer look and they are not yellowjackets but look more like honey bees. Will honey bees make nests underground?
Troy,
Honey bees have been known to nest underground, but it is very rare here in North America. And it would have to be a huge hole to support a colony of honey bees and all their combs. We have approximately 4000 species of bees in North America and probably three times that many wasp species, so there are a lot of possibilities. My bet would be on some type of social wasp, but it could be a type of communal bee. The bees and wasps are notoriously hard to tell apart, especially once you get past honey bees, bumble bees, yellowjackets, and bald-faced hornets. If you can get a close-up photo, I can take a stab at identifying it.
Hi Rusty,
I live in southeast Connecticut and have a small pond in my yard, and this spring when I went out to work on the waterfall I noticed a lot of bees on the edge of the pond drinking the water. They are not yellow jackets as I know what a yellow jacket looks like but are more like yellow bees but a little darker in color and seem very docile. I noticed this year I was seeing a lot of them and then about two weeks ago I happened to see a hole in my ground, probably an old chipmunk hole and I saw these bees going in and out. I would say in a minutes time probably about 20 or so were entering and leaving the hole. From what I’ve read, I thought these bees were only around in the spring but I’ve seen them all summer long and here it is mid September now and they’re still coming and going. I don’t want to kill these bees but it might become necessary if they don’t leave soon. I’ve heard that watering the area will drive them off. I’m not sure if that is fact or fiction. Any idea what I can do to make these bees move on?
Hi John,
This is an impossible-to-answer question. Without a photo or a positive i.d., I can only guess. Twenty passes a minute is a busy colony, and if they are all coming and going from a single hole in the ground that has been active all summer, my guess is going to be they are either a type of bumble bee or a type of wasp.
If they are relatively docile, I would be more inclined to say bumble bee. If you could get a photo of one, I could tell you more. However, if they are bumble bees you should leave them alone as this is the time of year when they mate. The hole will most probably not be used next year, and this year’s bees will all die, except for the newly-mated queens, at the first hard frost. The queens will hibernate in small holes in the ground, and come spring each one will look for a new home of its own.
Watering will probably not help (unless you really flood the area) because bees are used to downpours and deluges of various sorts. I think if you are patient for the cold weather, they will soon disappear.
Hi Rusty,
I was able to get a picture of one of the bees but don’t know how to send you the picture. Is there a way to do that on here?
John, I will e-mail you.
Now I know from having read all of your comments that we also have mining bees. We live in Essex Fells, New Jersey in a house that is new to us. At first we noticed hundreds of these tiny bees hovering over our property. Then just this a.m. we saw that their holes looked almost like ant hills with dirt surrounding each one – again, HUNDREDS of them! Is this typical of mining bees?
Marjorie,
Yes. Different species have different-shaped “hills” which are called tumuli (singular is tumulus). Many of the mining bees live in communities of hundreds or even thousands, but each female builds her own nest. They are generally active for 4 to 6 weeks and then they will disappear until next year. They are very gentle, uninterested in humans, and spend all their time collecting pollen. You are lucky to have these awesome pollinators taking care of your neighborhood!
Thank you so much! We learned something new and very valuable today!
Hi Marjorie… I just saw this post… I live in Livingston (right by you) and have a healthy infestation of mining bees! they pretty much prevent us from using our yard for 2+ months… which is a problem having two young children and a dog. since we are neighbors.. would love to know how you’ve handled the problem. thank you!!
I am in PA, also with the mining bees. Some animal dug the hive up one night and drug the comb out and ate it. No idea what type of animal, just that it was nocturnal and had about a 10 inch wide x 3 feet long dig pattern that narrowed to a point. Found the remnants of the cone on the ground.
Doug,
Not mining bees. Mining bees live one bee to a nest, and the opening is about 1/4 inch wide. They do not make combs. What you saw was probably not a bee nest at all, but probably belonged to some sort of wasp.
Wow, ty. They stung the heck out of me while mowing the lawn last year. I wonder what type of animal would dig the comb up?
Hi, I live in Bolton, England. I have what I think is mining bees flying in and out of an airbrick in my back garden. Is it usual to find mining bees entering through an air brick, or could these be mortar bees?
Many thanks
Stu,
All of these names are just roughly applied to broad categories of bees. Miners, diggers, masons, or mortar bees could be just about anything; the names are applied to what they are doing more than what they actually are. If you can get a good close-up photo, someone could identify them for you.
Thank you so much for this site and all your responses to people. I have always loved bees but have had a fear of ground bees having seen them once swarm a child. Now I realize they were just antagonized then by some digging up of roots and shrubs and the child was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I have learned a lot here. I found ground bees in a section of garden that I was about to dig into to repair the stone retaining wall. My original thought was to try to invite them to move out as I have two young kids. After reading this site, I have no interest in relocation and have just educated my kids about them. I do need to repair the wall though and plan on waiting now until they are dormant. How can I watch for and be careful with their nests so that they are as little disturbed as I can make it for them? The area I need to work in is about 50% of their hive area I think.
Thanks so much,
Leslie
Leslie,
That is hard to answer because it depends on the species. Some tunnel very deep, so a little surface disturbance won’t do much damage. But some nest just below the surface. If during the dormant season you are just walking, wheelbarrowing, raking and so forth, they should be fine. It’s admirable that you are trying to save them. Good for you! And you have lucky kids. They will grow up appreciating bees.
I have some tiny little bee like critters burrowing into my potted plants and laying eggs to become small white larvae, this has happened to me in Utah, and now again in Boone NC. I “think” the larvae at larger stages come out after watering or in the night to feed on my herbs. The basil keeps getting munched away and I haven’t seen any caterpillars or slugs. Both cases of where I have lived and planted potted herbs are on high porches and the pots are up high on the railings. I have gone out to check the plants at night and have seen the larvae out of the soil and on the stems. I didn’t think that bees eat plant leaves, but….. I’m not sure what to think now. I’ve subscribed to your site, and made a donation, any help would be awesome. Thank you. Also, I have photos of the bees, but not the larvae yet. How can I send or attach these photos, as there is not a link to do so at this comment area.
Chris,
First, thank you for your donation; it really does help keep the site going. Next, this is interesting, but perplexing. Bee larvae do not leave the nest. First the adult female builds a tunnel in the dirt, not the plant. Next, she collects enough pollen to make a little ball at the end of the tunnel, then lays the egg right on top of it. Then she builds a partition. She repeats this step until the tunnel is filled. Next, the eggs hatch and the larvae eat the pollen balls. As soon as a larva finishes eating the ball, it spins a cocoon, grows into a pupa, and stays there roughly ten months until the following spring when the adult bee emerges from the soil.
Whatever is crawling out of your plant and eating your basil is not a bee. So yes, a photo would help. I’m not so good at non-bee identification, but I know where to get help. You can e-mail photos to me at rusty[at]honeybeesuite[dot]com or you can use your Dropbox account and send me a link. I look forward to the mystery.
Wonderful website!! I live in central NJ, and have just hired a local bee keeper to “deal with”, likely our mining bees in an area adjacent to our concerned neighbors, and next to our house. They aren’t bothering us at all, and for all of the reasons cited in many posts, we’ve been dragging our feet re. trying to remove/solve the “problem”. (Neighbors are concerned as they have a new baby.) They had similar bees on their side of the fence, killed by a pest contractor, 2 years ago.
Our beekeeper will use vinegar. Any other advice gratefully accepted!
Nancy,
Since you asked for advice, I recommend not kowtowing to the neighbors. You have a right to have the bees on your property. Mining bees are harmless, stingless pollinators that do nothing but good for the earth and its inhabitants. Certainly they are not going to gang up on your neighbor’s baby. That is ridiculous.
The irony is that if the neighbors want their child to have a good life now and in the future, a life filled with nutritious food and natural beauty, they would go out of their way to keep those bees alive. Without our native bees, the planet would look very different, and food would become scarce, both for her children and yours.
Take a minute to watch how one elementary school adopted the mining bees in their playground: http://www.katu.com/familymatters/go_green/TICKLE-BEES-255872371.html
I have about a dozen bees burrowing into some new hanging baskets I just put on the porch about a week ago. I know that bees are endangered, but these need to move along to another home. I cannot use the porch for guests with so many buzzing around, even if they aren’t aggressive. How do I get rid of them?
Carole,
I really don’t have an answer. We all want beauty in our lives, which is why we buy things like hanging baskets, but we don’t want anything to do with the creatures that make it all possible. There are so many humans on the earth now that we can’t expect the bees to always move elsewhere. We are running out of elsewheres. You are fortunate to have those bees. Who knows? Your guests might be enthralled with them instead of annoyed—lots of people are. Even the President is now urging us to conserve the remaining pollinators.
Hi Rusty, I live on 12 acres of forested land on the side of a mountain in western NC, they have plenty of elsewhere around here, LOL!! What I did was remove the baskets from the porch, tap the bees out, and put the flowers in a sunroom for a couple of days to encourage the bees to move on. My guests for a Memorial day picnic are all elderly, no one is happy with bees that close. Seems to be working, I’ll leave the baskets down until just before the lunch. Thanks, I am trying to conserve by preserving the forest and all its creatures.
I live outside of Portland, OR. I have tiny (1/4″) black wasps living in my hanging baskets. They seem to carry grubs or maggots into the pot. When I moved the pots to shade during some unseasonable 90 degree heat, I noticed many confused looking little bees in the area. When I put the pots right back, they disappeared. Any idea what they might be?
Marilyn,
I think you hit it: they are tiny, black, solitary, ground-dwelling wasps. There are thousands and thousands of species like this, all doing their part to take care of the environment. They feed their brood insects (instead of pollen the way bees do) and the brood will overwinter in the soil.
So – does that mean that when I need to repot my fuchsia baskets next spring I’ll be killing them? I usually do that before the new growth starts.
Marilyn,
These bees will be active at the same time next year as this year. Most hibernate about ten months, so the short answer is “yes.”
I have some little bees that when I water the plants they really come at you and sting you. How can I make them leave?
Carmen,
They sting you? Most of the little bees have stingers that are too short to penetrate our skin. Little bees or wasps that live underground are a sign of a healthy environment. I would just leave them alone. They will only be active a few weeks per year.
We have a rooftop garden in Vancouver, Canada, with two honey bee hives up there too. This spring we spotted a collection of little holes in one of our beds. My neighbours and I have been trying to catch the inhabitants when they’re out, but they are so FAST. Here’s one: https://flic.kr/p/tPwYWR
I studied your photos of mining bees, but I wasn’t seeing that fuzziness on these. They are fast though, so I definitely could have missed it. I have seen a much yellower looking one head down a hole too, I’m hoping it’s not a wasp. We have fenced off their nest area, and are happy to encourage them there. Let me know what you think.
Erin,
Oh awesome! Halictus rubicundus, what I call North America’s pollinator, is living in your garden. The photo you linked to (with yellow legs) is the male. The previous photo in your stream (with fuzzy golden legs) is the female. They are a type of sweat bee and they are remarkable pollinators.
Now, let’s back up. North America is home to 4000 species of bees and roughly 2800 of those live underground and are commonly called mining bees or ground bees. So naturally, with so many living that way, they won’t all look alike.
Another thing: you say you hope it’s not a wasp. But roughly 3 times as many wasp species live in North American as bees, roughly 12,000 species, and most of them also live alone underground just like the mining bees and don’t sting and don’t bother anyone. Don’t confuse a few pesky wasps (like yellowjackets and bald-faced hornets) with the large majority of unseen and innocent solitary wasps. It’s like confusing honey bees with little solitary bees . . . a whole different story. And the solitary wasps are a huge help to our environment, especially in the garden, where they eat many of the problems insects, including caterpillars.
I would love to post your great photos on this site, if you are so inclined. I have many Halictus rubicundus but I have never been able to find one of their holes. Here is a photo of one.
Oh terrific, thank you for the ID. I should have clarified, I was quite worried they were nasty wasps that would attack our honeybees. But you’re right there are many wasp species, many of them perfectly lovely.
My co-op neighbours will be thrilled to learn about our new bee species up on our roof. We will continue to keep their little area marked off and unplanted.
Feel free to use any of my photos! I am well chuffed to be asked!
I have a bunch that have nested in my driveway (it is a dirt driveway). We have to resurface the driveway with recycled asphalt. I don’t want to hurt them, one because I have never seen them around here before, and two because of the decline in the general bee population, three cause they are pretty cool. But I can’t move my driveway to accommodate the bees so… how do I move the new bees?
Danielle,
You probably can’t. Some nest a few inches below the surface, but some nest a foot or two down. Without knowing the species and their habits, it would be impossible to guess. If you managed to dig up the cocoons, you could move them to a similar area, but I don’t know if they would survive or not.
I discovered a nest of ground bees near my back door. Before I discovered the nest, we had noticed large numbers of bees around a purple flowering plant. The bees are not aggressive and we have left them alone. However, we have discoverd that our dog is allergic to bee stings and we have had a trip to the ER and another scare where we were able to treat her at home. She is too stupid not to eat the bees. I am not sure if it is these ground bees that she has eaten. I read that the mining bees stinger is too weak to penetrate human skin. Is that the case with the inside of a dog’s mouth do you know? I would hate to kill the bees but can’t have my dog getting stung all the time because she is too dumb not to chase them….
Rachel,
My dog eats bees, too, but he won’t go near my hives. Dogs can be strange. Anyway, I don’t know the answer to your question because the inside of the mouth is certainly more tender than skin. Most of the ground bees are very gentle and hardly ever sting, but of course if one is being swallowed that is reason enough to give it a try.
At any rate, if you poison your lawn, you probably want to keep your dog away from that as well. It might be better to let the bees run through their natural active cycle of 6 to 8 weeks. I try to keep my family and pets away from pesticides, but I realize other people are not so pesticide-averse, so it comes down to a personal choice.
I have a nest of, I believe, sweat bees, on the front of a property which is in the city. Being in the city, it has to be mowed, and the little buggers are aggressive. They seem to be placid until the mower gets near the hole, which is the size of a baseball – then they attack. My grand son, who we now know to be allergic after four hours in the hospital, was stung and persued yesterday. How can I get them to move. I don’t want to kill them, but I can’t have people getting stung, and the area can’t be left unmowed. I would like to persuade them to move.
Deborah,
Based on your description they are not sweat bees. Sweat bees nest in individual holes, each less than a quarter-inch in diameter. Also, most sweat bees have stingers too small to penetrate human skin even if they wanted to.
A baseball-sized hole in the ground could be a bumble bee or, if they are small, more likely a type of wasp. If they are bumble bees, they should be moved. If they are wasps, you may be able to call one of those place that will remove them in order to harvest the venom. The important first step is to figure out what they are. If you have a butterfly net, you can catch one.
Hi, this morning I noticed a mound of dirt in the middle of my lawn. It wasn’t there yesterday. It’s about an inch high, 4 inches in diameter. An hour later I was looking at the hole and a flying insect appeared. My first thought was, “Oh look, a hummingbird moth. Wait that’s not a hummingbird moth or is it?”
The insect is about an inch long with wings. It’s mostly black/dark brown with some yellow stripes on it’s back and some bright yellow around its mouth. It was not aggressive, but I stayed about 4 feet from it. I tried to get a picture, but was afraid, because I don’t know what it is. I turned my sprinkler on and it still persisted around the dirt mound. I don’t want to chase it away if it’s harmless or beneficial to us, but I also don’t want it in my yard if it’s going to become aggressive and multiply. It’s too big of an insect if it’s going to become aggressive and can sting. I’ll try to get a picture if I can get close enough. I’m in Burlington County, New Jersey.
Thank you
Maryann Farrell
Maryanne,
Yes, I would need a good photo to know for sure, but it sounds like some kind of solitary bee or wasp. Most of these creatures are not aggressive, but if you stepped on it barefoot, or grabbed it, it would attempt to sting.
Bees are beneficial in that they pollinate many of our crops, trees, and other plants. Pollination allows fruit formation and seed production. Wasps are insect eaters and are known to eat many damaging insects such as aphids and caterpillars. Wasps also clean up dead insects from the ground and from gardens and parks.
So, if you can live with it, that is good, although I understand that everyone has different degrees of tolerance for stinging insects. If you get a photo, I will happy to take a look.
While clearing brush and weeds between the house and street with a chain saw I hit some type nest or bee community. I had bees swarming everywhere. I was stung at least 40 times (head, neck, ears, arms, hands) If there was bare skin I had a sting in it. Found no stingers at all.
Bees looked like small honey bees and were very aggressive. I would like to eradicate them entirely as I am trying to sell the property. Locals say to put a water hose down the hole and flood it out. I am going to have a bad time trying to remove the ground cover to find the entrance hole(s). Any suggestions??
Tom,
The total lack of stingers only tells you they are not honey bees. It sounds like an underground social wasp of some sort, especially this time of year. If you can’t find the entrance, you will have a hard time killing them. If you live in a cold climate, I would just wait a while. The nest will die out with the first hard frost. It will keep you from getting stung, won’t cost anything, and they will be gone before you manage to sell the property.
Good morning! This is such an interesting website! I have a question about miner bees. I live in Illinois and have a large potted plant sitting on my patio. This morning I noticed something had burrowed in through one of the openings in the bottom, leaving a small pile of dirt. I believe I have mining bees in my yard. Could this have been done by a bee making a nest?? I am rather concerned about what could have crawled in there!
Christine,
It’s a well-known fact that ground bees love to overwinter their young in flower pots. However, a pile of dirt next to a pot isn’t enough evidence to say it’s a bee. Lots of insects borrow into the ground, including ants, wasps, beetles, grubs, and the list in endless. So, I guess you need to sit there and watch to know for sure.
Thanks for responding so quickly! This is a plant that needs to come in for the winter so I’m a little concerned about what got into it. Maybe next year I won’t put my houseplants outdoors.
Christine,
It’s funny. I had two questions like this, exactly the same, at the same time. I got them mixed up for a moment. But, like I told the other person, if they are bees, they will hibernate in your plant soil for about 9 to 10 months before they hatch. So if you put your plants back outside in the spring, the bees will emerge when the time is right. Of course, I only speak for bees. I know little about other insect life cycles.
I noticed bees coming and going out of a golfball size hole under a transplanted peony bush, when I watered the plant. Many flew back and swarmed above it, then went back in. I am allergic to their stings so wanted to remove it. After reading most of the comments, I am confused about what kind of bees I have. I first noticed them a few days ago. It is September so I am confused.
Patti,
I like to remind people that in North America we have about 4000 species of bees and more than 8000 species of wasps. It sounds like you’ve got one of those 12,000 species, but from your description, I will not be able to guess which one it is. I see more wasps late in the year, than I do bees, but even if I’m right, that doesn’t tell you much. And whether you are allergic to all of them, who knows?
This is a photo of a nest under our deck. Any idea what kind of bee and should we let it stay?
I have lived in the same house for 46 years and for the last few years my garden and my neighbours garden have been taken over by miner bees. Literally thousands. Our lawns are full of little mounds of earth and it is a nightmare trying to mow the lawns. The sound they make is like a small aircraft and trying to walk through them-that frightens visitors to the house!
However, they will never be hurt and can stay as long as they like. Our garden is theirs. Just would love to know where they stay over the winter.
Christine,
I’m glad you will let them live. The adult bees live only a couple of months in the spring, summer, or autumn depending on the species. The female burrows in the ground to lay her eggs, and she also stores pollen and nectar with the eggs so the hatchlings have something to eat. Afterwards, the adult bees die.
The eggs turn into larvae, which eat the food, and then they spin cocoons and become pupae. The pupae stay down in their holes until they emerge as adults the following year. So basically each generation spends about 10 months under ground and about two months flying around and preparing for the next generation.
Hello,
Two weeks ago I was walking my dog and he stopped to sniff something right between the two ponds and I felt something bite or sting the back of my leg. I had no idea what it was because it was so cold that day but my leg swelled and itched for days. Then 5 days ago I was mowing right in the same area and suddenly was swarmed by bees (I think). I reversed my mower and saw bees coming out of a hole in the ground. I got off the mower and ran all the way home but was chased and stung twice in my back.
Any idea if I’m dealing with bees or wasps?
Thank you
Catherine,
It’s hard to tell without seeing, but it certainly sounds like yellowjacket wasps. They live in holes in the ground and can be quite aggressive, especially this time of year. That would be my first guess.
Hello. I have a nest of mining bees. They are small with yellow and black striped butts. They do not seem aggressive. Last night an animal dug out their nest and made a huge hole in the yard. The Comb pieces that I found look flat. There are still many bees inside the nest. The nights are getting cold here in MA. If the nest was not dug up would they have survived the winter? If so is there a way I could fix the large hole to protect them without destroying the nest more? I wasn’t sure if I fill the hole loosely with soil if they could dig there way out? or would I be covering the actually nest too much and suffocate them? I want to save them somehow. I’m sad because I really was happy they nested in my yard!
Hey Meghan,
From your description, I would say you have a nest of yellowjacket wasps. The flat comb pieces in a large hole, the yellow and black stripes, and many insects in one nest all describe yellowjackets. Mining bees live in small holes, maybe a quarter-inch in diameter, just big enough for one adult bee to squeeze through. Many holes may be in a community but only one bee tends one nest. A mining bee nest is a little compartment in the soil, no comb.
In areas with winter freezes, all the yellowjackets still in the nest will die with the first hard freeze. Newly-mated queens will have already left the nest and found a warm place to overwinter till spring. In the spring, these overwintered females will each start a new nest. It is normally and natural for the rest of the wasps to die in the fall, and nothing you can do will save them.
Ok, thank you for your response. After a closer look you are right they are yellow jacket wasps. I guess I’m lucky they were non aggressive all spring and summer. Still seems to be a few large females in the nest and many males. They seem to be trying to save parts of the nest. They use to come out of a very small hole which now is pretty big from the animal digging. Your suggestion is to just leave the nest alone and not fill in with some dirt?
Meghan,
Yes, you can just leave the nest alone, especially since they’re not bothering you. Once they’re dead, though, I would fill it so it’s not used next year.
We had a nest in the ground, it looked like bees and stung me and looked like bees (a few got stuck on my socks and shoes stinging away). I’ve read the articles that the mining bees can’t sting humans, so I had no idea what these were. About 3 days ago, we went into the yard to find the hive dug up and a discarded comb laying to the side. It was irregular in shape, and due to the small size (about a quarter of an inch). I was pretty sure not yellow jackets. Both my grandfather and I have been stung and swelled up pretty bad in the area of the sting. I have always been allergic, but keeping my distance usually works. My grandfather has never had a reaction like that in 95 years. No idea what these were. We live in south eastern Pennsylvania . Any ideas? Thanks, Doug
Doug,
Mining bees live one bee per nest and the entrance holes are about 1/4-inch in diameter. Also, it is late in the year for mining bees. What you are describing sounds like some kind of social wasp, and it’s the right time of year to see them. I suspect that it is some kind of hornet, yellowjacket or other wasp. Allergy to one type of bee or wasp, does not mean allergy to all of them, so it is hard to tell from that alone. By the way, worldwide there are about 20,000 species of bee and 75,000 species of wasps, so there are a lot to pick from.
We have a rammed earth home and hundreds (thousands?) of mining bees have been making holes in the walls for over 20 years. In the middle of summer they are flying about everywhere. We are thinking of putting aluminium fly screen wire over the walls and putting a thin render over it to stop them nesting and try to convince them to go somewhere else – being on a farm, we have plenty of dirt around for them to relocate to. We have tried it in a small patch and they come out of the walls but don’t appear to be getting back in through the wire. What do you think? If we put the wire over the whole house, will they find their way through the wire and keep nesting?
Michael,
If the wire is small enough, it should discourage them, but it would be nice if the ones already in there had a way to get out. Is that what your are seeing? The old ones come out and the new ones are staying away? If that worked in your small patch, it will probably work for the whole house, especially if you have lots of other places for them to nest.
What have you been doing for the past 20 years? Repairing the walls? It must be like swiss cheese by now! So interesting. I’d love to see a pic, if you have one.
Rusty,
You are right in thinking the ones in the wall do come out. We have the wire open at the bottom so they fall down against the wire and then fly out of the bottom. We have put the wire up and so far so good. We are about to render over it to see if that gives them something to hold onto and dig through the wire.
We ignored them for around 10 years as we could just see a lot of 2 mm diameter holes in the walls and, when we put something into the hole it only went in 30 mm or so. But we discovered there is a maze of tunnels behind the holes and that got us a bit worried. We tried fibreglass fly screen a few years ago and they burrowed through that, so the metal is our next experiment. One consoling point is they don’t go inside the house so our earth walls inside the house are not affected. We think they prefer the outside walls because they are warmer than the inside ones.
I’ll try to forward a photo tomorrow; you are right about the swiss cheese look.
Hi Michael, I hope you’ll find this comment (I realise you posted your comment in 2016!) but I’m an architecture student currently doing a project with the intention of a building acting as a habitat for bees (in a farm setting) and one of the materials I was looking at is Rammed Earth! I stumbled on this post and your comment and was hoping to ask you about the effects on the bees on your house (what the holes looks like, the maze tunnels behind, etc) and how it affected you guys (living inside).
This is probably very random (especially after 6 years) but I hope you find this comment and very much looking forward to hearing back.
I have a swarm of bees in the grass. It looks like a honey bee swarm but in the grass. About a 1/2 foot in diameter of a blob of live bees. Not sure what to do so I staked it off so no will walk over them. Would appreciate any suggestions.
Denise,
If they are all in a bunch, like you say a “blob of live bees,” it certainly sounds like honey bees. My guess is they have found a temporary resting spot while the scout bees go out and look for a new place to live. These resting spots are sometimes on the ground, and they usually stay from a few hours to a few days. I suspect that in a day or two they will be gone, having decided where to live.
Thank you Rusty! That’s a relief. I’ve had a swarm on my house and they did leave after 24 to 48 hours as someone advised. I was hoping that was the case here.
I’m a facebook fan and very beginner beekeeper. I’m searching the internet trying to find our what kind of native bee I’ve seen around our beehives on the ground. They are darker than the honeybees and more segmented bodies. I was placing a sticky board under the hive yesterday and then had to do a little week waking to make a path, thought I’d hit a nest or something. Came back today to check the sticky board and noticed many of these darker native bees dead on the board and scattered in clumps under the beehive , looks like got into oil or water…. (I sprayed the sticky board with organic canola oil) I then saw one of these native bees walking around on the sticky board (it’s drier now) and looking like it was looking for things to eat. I then looked under the beehive that is screened bottom board and saw what had to be 50-80 of these native bees crawling under the screened bottom board! Wow! The bees seemed to be buzzing a little louder then normal, and I’m sure having the sticky board taped up under may have something to do with the bees maybe being stuck up there and them getting oiled and dying on the ground underneath. It looked to me like these bee were eating things that were dropping down from the supers and bees……ever seen or heard of such a thing? I’m very curious to see if they are still so many under there tomorrow after I’ve removed the sticky board. I live in Central Coast California. Thank you for your help! —Jennifer
I have a few very slender black and yellow wasps, about 1/2″ long or a little longer hovering around my mason bee homes. Occasionally they will go in a tube and come back out. Are they after the mason bees, their eggs, pollen? I would hate to kill them, but I need the mason bees for my apple trees and don’t need them infested with something bad. Suggestions?
Marilyn,
Could be a potter wasp or mason wasp. Does it look like this? If so, no problem.
What a great website with excellent info. I was curious, we have maybe 50-100 burrows in our front yard area, but the area looks kind of unhealthy in terms of being dry and generally aesthetically unpleasant. My wife and I wanted to put mulch down to restart the soil for next year. If we wait for the adult bees to die off naturally, which I assume will be in a month or so, will the larvae still hatch in the next cycle and be able to get out of the mulch. I know we could water the area and “force’ them to move, but we’d rather let them have the nesting cycle if it would still allow their young to survive next season and escape the mulch.
We would not be tilling the land, just laying maybe up to 4 inches of mulch over the entire area.
John,
Mulch is probably the worse things for bees because they can’t dig through it, especially when trying to nest. As to whether they can get out or not, my guess is that some will and some won’t. Four inches is a lot, so if they are a type that is sensitive about that kind of thing, it may affect their survival.
As for forcing them out with water, that also depends on the species. Some can be submerged for something like six months and still survive. Not all, of course, but it is easy to make incorrect assumptions.
I found a group of about a dozen small bees hovering just above the ground near my back patio. My toddler daughter and I actually walked through them before we spotted them. They were not at all aggressive, but didn’t really seem to be doing anything. They very much resembled the bee in this article, down to the patch of hairs between their eyes. The only thing I found odd was that I can’t actually spot any holes that they might be using. It also rained hard this morning, is it possible they got driven out and are waiting for their holes to dry out? I got some great pictures of one specimen if anyone would like them. How long will they likely last before they end their lifecycle?
There is an electric cable that runs into my garage below floor level, but above ground level and the entrance hole is used by communal mining bees. I observed the emergence of the smaller males around April 23/24 here in Southern England, and they hung around until about 25th. Since then it has just been females which are larger and broader. It seems as if they are active in the morning, but less so in the afternoon. Any thoughts why? Is it just shade?
Andrew,
Mining bees live in the ground. It sounds like you have some sort of tunnel-dwelling bee, masons or leafcutters perhaps. The males emerge first, mate, and then die off. The females persist for four to six weeks during which time they build nests and lay eggs. The reason for more activity in the morning is hard to say. Most plants give up more nectar and pollen early in the day, especially if the afternoons are warm, and that may be part of the reason. It’s somewhat species dependent as well. Mine seem more active in the afternoon, but then I have both different bee species and different plant species than you have.
Hi there, I’m glad I found your website. I was doing some gardening yesterday when I turned over a soil heap. Later I noticed that bees were flying back and gathering at the soil heap. I guess they were trying to get into an entrance but I could not see it. Is there something that I can do to help the bees or will they find a way to get back into their nest? Thank you. Gaz
Gaz,
They will probably find their way back in, as long as the nest isn’t buried too deeply.
Hi, Over the last few weeks I have been digging a large hole in my garden to create a fish pond. When I went up to it yesterday. I discovered, a hole the size of a tennis ball had been made near the bottom of my dig. At first I thought it had been made by a rodent. However on closer inspection I noted a regular stream of tiny bees going in and out. What can I do!! If I carry on digging out the pond and then line it etc. Will this kill the bees, or are they able to burrow out another entrance/exit if the original one becomes inaccessible. Thank you
Debbie,
You can try move the nest to another location if you wear some protective clothing. If you can find another similar rodent hole, you can just move the nest into it. I’m assuming they are some type of bumble bee, although they could also be ground-dwelling wasps.
Hi there,
Just this morning I while getting my vegetable garden ready I noticed quite a few bees hovering over the ground going in and out of cracks in the dry dirt. I have no problem with these bees in my yard and would love to encourage them to stay. However is there any way to encourage them to nest in a certain part of the yard? They’re right where I plant our veggies and I don’t want to dig them up or plug the holes but I need the spot.
The best way to get them to move is to start using their space. Some will die but most will move on.
We have a bocce court covered with fine white gravel. Yesterday I noticed small white and black bees burrowing into the gravel. I would say maybe 20 to 30 were in an area 10 x 10′. I watched them for some time and could not see that they were going into any flowers to gather pollen just going in and out of the holes being dug into the gravel. Any idea what kind they are? I would say they are 1/2″ or so.
We have had locust collecting bees last few years and found them fascinating. They were also in the bocce court area although not in the gravel. I just found your sight and found all the comments quite fascinating.
Hi Rusty,
What an amazing source of information you have!
I work for an elderly lady who has a blue-stone patio.
There are miner/leaf cutter bees nesting in all the joints between the stones.
This is the first time I have seen them in this area. I feel bad but she wants them removed. What would you suggest?
I appreciate your response.
Linda,
That is so sad. They are only active for a few weeks of the year, then they will disappear. She can’t wait that long? I know of no way of moving them without killing them.
I have an underground honey bee nest in my garden. I drowned them out a couple times while watering my garden before I knew they were there. Now that I know they’re there I don’t want to harm them, because they’ve been doing a great job pollinating my plants, so I don’t have to…
Does anyone have any ideas on how I can care for them and/or keep them safe?
Dave,
How do you know it’s a honey bee nest? It is possible for honey bees to live underground, but very unlikely. I can tell you more about caring for them if I know for sure what they are.
just notice a bees nest in ground they r black white bumble bees i am allergic 2 bees i swell big time i cut grass over them r they safe for us do not want to get stung when will they go away
Without knowing what kind of bumble bee they are, it is hard to say. But most species are active about 6 weeks of the year and hibernate the rest of the time. I know what you mean about bee stings. I get really swollen up too, especially if I get stung in the face by a honey bee, but that is a normal reaction.
I found this site to be informative. It’s nice to know that people do care about bees and want to protect and help them. The downside to this blog is when I read the comment from Jol Lynn Crouse. My 8 year old granddaughter can text, she uses complete sentences, she knows how to use punctuation and she spells words out completely.
Let’s hope your granddaughter can develop some humility as well.
Please can you help? In the garden we have a nest of bees by the grass edge. They work very hard and live in a mound of grass cuttings moss etc. It seems full of bees. What can we do? Leave them until they go or what do you suggest?
Jayne,
It’s very difficult to move ground bees without killing them. Since they are only active a couple months of the year, I would just leave them alone if you can.
Thank You so much. The bees seem very happy and work very hard. The cats don’t even seem to notice them now, they are making a very neat home for them selves.
Many thanks
I have had bees in the ground in my backyard that look like honeybees however when I have inadvertantly mowed over the hive (the hive is a hole that looks like someone poked a stick in the ground, no build up around the hole), the bees come out stinging. Have been stung several times now mowing. They do not look like yellowjackets, they look like honeybees, but are very aggressive. Ideas??
Ray,
There are so many species of bees and wasps that it is impossible to guess. The nest you describe could belong to a bee or a wasp, and it can be difficult to tell them apart without a microscope. The wasps tend to be much more aggressive than the bees, but of course there are always exceptions. A photo would really help.
Small mining bees are burrowing in my backyard. They are in a sandy area where the previous owners had a burn pit. I would like to lightly excavate that area as litter has caused an unsightly collection. Is it possible to remove what I don’t want and mow over the nests without harming them? It would be nice to keep these cohabitants around. Thanks!
Brad,
If you wait a few weeks until the cocoons are formed, you can dig up and move the cocoons. I don’t know how successful transplanting them will be, but it might work.
Hi I live in kent in England. I have a bees’ nest underground and it’s been active since April or May. It’s great to see the bees in and out the hole. Also have 2 rabbits who burrow right near them and have done for months although I fill the rabbits holes back in but they have no problem with the bees nor do I or my son. I came across a large bee hobbling on the grass today. Not sure if it’s from the nest but looked like it had a damaged wing. Gave it some sugar and water mix. I felt really amazing trying to help the bee but also a bit sad as I’m not sure if it’s alive still. Will see in the morning.
Heidi,
Most adult bees live a total of four- to six- weeks in the spring and summer, so it wouldn’t be surprising to find one that is old (by bee standards) and dying. Damaged wings are often a sign of an old bee. Basically, the wings just wear out.
Thanks for your reply. It did die I found it the next morning. I’m still glad I tried to help it tho. I still have bees active in and out the hole. They’re bumble bees by the way. Am I right in thinking that if it is a bumble bee nest that the queen hibernated there threw the winter?
Heidi,
No, the bumble bees queens hibernate in a little hole or borrow not much bigger than they are. In the spring, they emerge from the hole and begin to hunt for a suitable nesting spot, which is often an abandoned rodent burrow or something similar. The bees in your nest will die as winter approaches, and a new queen may or may not choose that site in the spring.
Thank you for replying it’s really nice to no more about them. There really fascinating to watch too. The hole they enter is about the size of a golf ball, quite small. I guess they must go further along or so to get to the actual nest.
I have a fern on my deck and it looks like honey bees are going into it and coming out of it. I tried getting the dead off the plant before I realized these bees were live here, and I got stung. I usually bring my plant in when it starts getting cold. What can I do? I would like to save my plant, but I’m not going to bring it in the house with the bees inside.
Amy,
It sounds like some type of ground bee is living in your planter. This is very common; for some reason ground bees love pots and planters. In a few weeks the new generation will hibernate down there for the winter and you will see no more activity. You can bring your plant in like usual and all will be normal. Then, next year at about the same time, the bees will emerge and be active again for about 6 weeks. You’ve probably had the ground bees inside the house previous winters without realizing it.
Rusty, I live in mid state Wisconsin and we get what we call mud hornets. They are ground dwellers and highly defensive of their nests. Today I was digging and got stung multiple times. No stinger so it isn’t a bee, they sting multiple time and usually several attack when disturbed. It is close to where there are children and the lake. They are about 1/2 the size of a honey bee and about 3 – 4 times the size of a sweat bee. They do not have elongated abdomens …. Almost always in clay soil… the stings are extraordinarily painful. These insects literally will chase you for a long while and you can get 5 on you within seconds of encountering. Do you know what they could be and do they over-winter in the same spot. Not a fan of stinging insects especially around populated areas of my yard. I am pretty eco-friendly or try to be and protect pollinators when I can. Oh these look to be black and yellow …more black than yellow… like a miniature yellow jacket. Only not,…
Thanks
Patty,
From your description, it sounds like the are some kind of ground-dwelling wasp. Most probably they will die with the first frost. Only the queens will overwinter somewhere, probably in the soil, and the queens will begin new nests the following year, usually in a different place.
By the way, you say “No stinger so it isn’t a bee.” That isn’t necessarily true. Honey bees leave their stingers behind, but the other 20,000 bee species do not. A stinger left behind is definitely a honey bee thing, not a bee thing.
PLEASE help me figure out what these bees are.
They have taken over my whole side yard that is about 20ft wide and about 100ft long.
they seem like solitary bees. there are pencil size wholes all over the ground. there are hundreds of holes. each year they spread and cover more ground. you can walk through and be ok, but you CAN’T mow the grass. they didn’t swarm but my husband did get stung 4 times enough for his ankle to swell for a few days.
i have a video of the amount of them. my exterminator has never seen anything like this. i thought they were mining bees but i don’t think they are from the wikipedia thing i read – it doesn’t show the same holes….. any advice is welcome – because kids don’t want to go to the back yard and we can’t mow…..
Kelly,
Sounds like some kind of mining bee. There are hundreds of kinds. The name just means they dig holes and live underground. I just hope you don’t have the exterminator put something on the yard. That is much more dangerous for your kids than the bees. The fact is, we don’t know the long-term consequences of pesticide exposure to children, so why risk it? The bees hang around four to six weeks and then they are gone for another year. Not such a big deal.
I hear you but it’s longer then 6 wks – last year it was april-june, I have lived with it now for 4 yrs and they are spreading. I’ve written to some bee specialists in my area – waiting to hear from them. I grew up allergic to bees – having to be hospitalized. We are currently living the house but may need to rent it out. This is not a great motivator for anyone moving in. Do you think peat moss or lyme that would help our lawn would help deter? I also so hundreds of holes – not 1-3 holes i mean the whole side yard.
Kelly,
I know what you mean about the holes, I’ve seen hundreds, maybe thousands, in a small area. I don’t know how to control the bees without soaking the lawn with poison or digging it up. I just keep thinking staying away from them is a better option. Also, every insect has different types of poison. The bee or wasp that gave you an allergic reaction may not be the same bee that’s living in your yard. Most of the ground bees are not aggressive at all, although they may get perturbed by loud noises, such as the lawn mower. If you get a few minutes, watch this video of the “tickle bees” at a Portland, OR elementary school. These are andrenas, probably similar to what you have.
i tried to follow and it wouldn’t let me
Kelly,
I’m not sure what you mean. You tried to follow this blog or that particular post or something else?
i don’t know – i got an email from this site – you must have something set up and don’t realize it
Kelly,
Could you forward the email to me so I know what is going on? I would appreciate it. Forward to me here: rusty@honeybeesuite.com.
Thank you.
ok
My son found a huge colony of bee’s in the woods behind my house in Henry county Georgia. I know they are not yellow jackets but I don’t think they are ordinary honey bee’s either. Can you tell by looking at a picture what kind they are and if I should be worried about him playing to close to them. I have a close up pic of one.
Jason,
Thanks for the pic and the e-mail. They are some type of Andrena, very sweet little bees and not dangerous at all.
There are literally hundreds of bees on my back patio. The patio is rock. I’m not sure what type. I can’t even go back there to enjoy because of all of the bees. They are going into the cracks between the rock so I’m assuming that they are some sort of mining bee. Definitely not yellow jackets or any type of wasp. They actually resemble a honey bee which I also have. Do you know what these could be and is there anything I can do about them? I can’t even sit outside there are so many of them.
Beck,
Sounds like you have “tickle bees.” The elementary school kids just love them as they are so friendly, and they are excellent pollinators. http://www.oregonlive.com/news-network/index.ssf/2014/04/tickle_bees_are_stars_at_sabin.html. Thousands of bees hover over the playground while the kids have recess. No problems.
Thank you for your quick response.
My dad plowed out the garden and I was helping him plant potatoes when we noticed what looks like honey bees in one area. My dad said they are still there and we will have to figure out what they are since they are in or at the edge of the garden because we plan on teaching my son about gardening. If I can get a picture of them I will send it to you to see if you can tell me what kind they are.
Octavia,
Yes, send a close up photo if you can. If they are some kind of mining bee, they are most likely gentle. You can attach the photo to an email and send it to me. rusty[at]honeybeesuite[dot]com.
We have some sort of mining bees in our front yard. They have been coming back each year for the past 5 years. Last year their numbers were much higher and now this year its out of control. We have left them alone because they are docile and we know they are pollinators but they are up close to the house on either side of the front door. All day long its a constant swarm and its becoming difficult to get in and out of the house without letting bees in. We run our sprinklers daily and it does not seem to deter them. What can we do to make them find somewhere else to live?
Christina,
Cover the area with bark mulch.
They are in my grass, hundreds of holes, and also in areas that have mulch. My one child has now been stung 3 times in the past week which has not happened before. I have some pics on my phone of them.
Christina,
Email a photo and I will take a look. rusty[at]honeybeesuite[dot]com
Thanks.
Ok, I sent a few pictures
Thanks
We have an entrance to a nest right under a door to a childrens’ play room. We are wondering if there is a second entrance if we plug this one. It is only a matter of time until one of the kids is stung.
Jackie,
I’m trying to guess what type of bee you have. It sounds like it might be bumble bees, as they live in groups underground and often under or near buildings. Generally, there is just one entrance, although I have occasionally seen a “back door.” If they are solitary bees, then there’s not a second entrance.
They are not aggressive at all, it is just the location of the entrance is right where the kids step. If we plug the entrance will they find another way out or can we do anything?
Jackie,
I can’t say with certainty, but my best guess is that plugging the hole will kill them. Some people have moved bumble bee nests by digging them up and burying them at a similar depth elsewhere, but I don’t recommend that without protective clothing. Especially if it’s bumble bees, they will get riled up if you disturb the nest.
Do hives have more than one entrance?
Jackie,
Hives (which are man-made structures for honey bees) can have more than one entrance. If you are asking about mining bee nests, they do not have more than one entrance.
We noticed back by our inground pool there are bees, we think they are bees, coming and going in a small hole they made in the ground by our filter. I do not believe they are mining bees because they all come and go in that one hole. They have shown no aggression towards us as of yet when we are back by the filter. They move too quickly to get a good look at them. They are very busy coming and going. Could these be mining bees? They look a little on the small side. They do not have separate holes.
Darline,
My guess would be small bumble bees or social wasps like yellowjackets.
Wonderful, informative site! I was never aware of mining bees until this past week, when literally thousands of them were hovering over a bare area on the property. My question is: most comments seem to refer to spring, and a relatively short span of activity. But this is early September! Does timing of activity vary that much with species, or is something else going on? (This is Salem, Oregon.) Hadn’t seen the myriad of individual, small holes in the ground (which is baked hard loam on the clay side, not irrigated during our dry summer) until I got down on my knees to look at/try to identify the fliers. From a standing position, it was impossible to see what they were because of their small size and rapid movement. This is in a garden area that has remained fallow for several years.
Keith,
Thanks for this excellent question. To answer it, I used it as part of a post that you can read here: Why do I see mining bees in September.
We have for the last few years have had ground bees on our front lawn which is on heavy clay base, every body seems to talk about them being active in the spring but this year now in 2nd week of September we have hundreds if not thousands of them with hundreds of nest all over our lawn. This is now become a nuisance as the lawn goes down the bank to the public pavement along the front of our property and is causing a problem to the general public, what can we do to get rid once and for all as they are now public enemy down our road.
Kind regard
Phil
Phil,
Bees are essential for a healthy environment, and in a couple of weeks they will be gone for the year. Why kill something that is providing you with food, flowers, fiber, medicines, and an untold number of other products. It’s like shooting yourself in the foot. The killer of bees is the real public enemy.
I have native bees nesting in an above ground, 15-gallon pot, in which a kumquat tree is growing. This winter I will need to move the kumquat into a small greenhouse. I don’t know what is best to do about the bees. If I move them into the greenhouse I’m afraid they won’t be able to get food. If I leave the tree outside until the temperatures reach near freezing will the bees leave of their own accord? I need advise.
Dorothy,
Please read today’s post about native bees. The bees in the pot will be hibernating for about 10 months, so you have nothing to worry about. They won’t emerge until next year.
I live in Cornwall in the UK, and for the last 3 weeks have had thousands of some sort of mining bees in my vegetable garden. I’m very happy to have them, but will eventually need to do weeding and hoeing again. I don’t use any pesticides or machinery. How do I do my gardening without harming them? I read that they will be dormant for 10 months, but read in your website that digging and hoeing is harmful. I also wonder why they chose my vegetable plot and not my neighbors’ garden plots. I would greatly appreciate your advice. Thank you!
Julie,
Weeding and hoeing will kill many of the immature bees, but most likely not all of them. There’s nothing you can do except don’t dig where you don’t have to. They probably prefer your garden because of the lack of pesticides and machinery. I can’t blame them!
Thank you Rusty for the prompt response and also for the lovely work you do on your website. I looked up what the larvae look like and found that I have seen a few of them while hoeing in the spring, but now I know what they look like so that I can try and disturb them as little as possible.
Hello! I haven’t followed this entire comment thread – because there are so many! I’ve been lucky enough to see quite a few early mining bees reappear for the past 3 years on a strip of dirt in Hammersmith. I noticed towards the end of last year and now early this year that are REALLY bad at navigating their way back to their hole. Last year I lost count of the amount of times they went into another hole to be met with another gal pushing the intruder out! They seem to fly around, often landing and then flying and hovering again and landing just a few cm away trying to find their hole – I recalled watching one bee for 4-5 minutes until it finally found its hole. Bear in mind, this little strip of land is about 2-3 meters long – it’s not huge but it’s covered with possibly hundreds of bees and their holes. Has anyone noticed anything similar? I haven’t seen anything documented on the internet.
Ruth,
That is typical behavior for ground-dwelling bees. I’ve watched them do it for hours. I’ve read that they get close to home by visual navigation, but once they’re in the right neighborhood, they have to go by scent. So they go in, and if it doesn’t smell right, they try another. Over and over they do this, until the find the right hole. They truly could use a GPS.
Hello Rusty, thank you for your response. I’ve only seen early mining bees and not other types of these bees so unable to compare! It’s very interesting – and so different to the behaviour of honey and bumble bees who are usually great at finding their hives / nests. They really could use a GPS, or cute little coloured flags with a sign post!
Will mining bees use a bee house if one is close to their nest. I have a sandy lawn with a bank of sand I put up a house just in case they do.
Dick,
No. Mining bees nest in the ground. But other bees, cavity nesters, may move in.
Here is my story. we have three maple trees on the south side of our home.
About five years ago the grass started to die right below the middle tree. Each year this seems to spread. The grass is gone totally below the middle tree and the grass is gone to the center half of both of the other trees.
A few years back [when this all started] I saw small bees fluttering around the lower branches of that center tree and there are holes in the ground, that same year we found many small dead bees in our basement close to the floor drain.
What I don’t understand, in reading the other comments above, no one has said that their grass has totally disappeared. Would you have some idea of what is going on?
We live in Minnesota!
Nancy,
The bees are not killing the grass, rather the bees are moving in and expanding their nests as the grass dies back. The grass is probably dying due to too much shade under the trees. As the trees grow, the shade gets denser, the grass gets thinner, and the bees are happier.
I put a bunch of mulch down and seemed to have covered a bunch of mining bees nests. They look like honey bees but they made holes in the sandy dirt. They are swarming now. Not sure what I should do? Move the mulch? Will they be able to make homes again? I don’t want to kill them.
Mel,
If they are able to dig down through the mulch, they may be okay. Moving the mulch now may confuse them. They sound like Andrenas.
Me and my brother was mowing this evening and he mowed over a hole in the ground and got swarmed by what looks like bees but someone else said they was a type of hornet. I took a pic of the one I found still on his shirt, could you please help identify it. Thanks bunches. Well I can’t figure out how to leave a picture if you could help with that also.
Stephanie,
You can email a photo to me here: rusty@honeybeesuite.com
Hi, I have honey bees on my front covered porch/deck at least 6 weeks now. I thought they were going down under the deck because it looked like they were going down under the wood planks but now, after getting stung yesterday (a very aggressive bee; I don’t harrass nor am I aggressive. I think the bee was in the plant I was picking up to move into a sunnier location. Got me good on my hand. HURTS! I got the stinger but the pain in my hand kept me awake last night. This morning it itches like crazy! So, when I went outside to get onto the sidewalk I have to walk right past them, they have started swarming in response to someone walking across the deck planks, or even if someone speaks. I now think they actually have their “nest” up under the siding where there’s an opening on the bottom of the wall so, since they have gotten so aggressive and agitated, I’m afraid they’ll get into my bedroom (the siding is on the outside wall of my bedroom). I’ve heard of bees getting into the walls and breaking in through the wall, swarming all around inside the house. I worry when I’m lying in bed at night. I’m 70 years old with varying autoimmune disorders. They scare me but I don’t want to destroy them. There’s at least couple dozen of them, all going into the same opening at the bottom of the wall up into the corner of the vinyl siding. I was surprised at how PAINFUL my hand is. I got the stinger out (at least I think I did) and now I’m afraid to walk out through my covered wrap-around porch to get to the car at the sidewalk. They swarm anytime somebody comes to the front door. The mailman is even reluctant to come onto the porch to deliver the mailbox right next to my door. Today, one of them almost followed me right on in the door. They seem very aggressive. How much longer will they be so active? Don’t they die out or hibernate throughout the winter? I know, sorry, lots of questions.
Thanks for the reply, to be clear, I don’t want to kill the bees , I just want them to move away so I can cut the grass. Being patient doesn’t work when there are also snakes that like the high grass.
Troy,
I don’t know how to make them move. They are only active a few weeks a year, and then they hibernate for about 10 months. It is quite unusual to get stung by them; you have to really work at it. They are not like honey bees or wasps that sting with less provocation. And in the rare event they do sting, it is not severe. Just go ahead and mow.
I noticed a bird pecking at and clearing out dirt and little rocks from a rock wall I have in my front yard. I would sweep the dirt and rocks back and next day same thing would happen. Then I noticed what looked like small fast moving flies flying around the area. After reading the comments on this site, I think I have mining bees. The birds must be after the bee eggs?
Debbie,
The birds are probably after the larvae or adult bees.
I was walking in the woods the other day in southwest Virginia and I stopped for a moment in a sunny spot. It took a few moments to notice all the activity around me… many many small honey bee looking bees… but 1/2-3/4 the size of a European honey bee – they were all coming and going from the bottom of an overturned tree. Many small holes in the dirt/clay, but there was so much activity I assumed it was a colony. Is this even possible, or (based on reading this thread) had they all just “happened” to pick the same spot?
Mike,
Neither. It sounds like an aggregation of ground-nesting bees. They live in communities (like a housing development) even though they have their own homes and their own entrances. Many, but not all, species of ground-dwelling bees do this. They’re fun to watch and the aggregation will return every year.
Hi,
This spring I noticed lots of bees swarming around in front of our house. We don’t have grass. We have bare soil (usually mulched) with lots of hostas, ferns, and other shade-loving plants. This area is heavily shaded by two large maple trees, it is west-facing, and it slopes slightly. We did not cover it with mulch last year due to inattention on my part, so in the early spring, the ground in between plants was mostly bare.
At some point, I noticed little dirt mounds and began to learn about ground-nesting bees. Gradually the dirt mounds were washed away but when I did mulch I was very careful to avoid areas with holes in the ground that remained. I have also started watering individual plants rather than watering a whole area to avoid lots of water going into the holes and/or causing the soil to wash over and close the entrance holes.
But we have had several big rains this year and large holes that were open have now been washed closed anyway, so my question is this: what does a big rain do to the bee larvae underground? If the hole is washed closed, are they able to stay alive and then dig themselves out in the spring?
We also plan to move in December. Would I be able to apply a light layer of mulch in areas where I know there were holes, but where the holes have now been washed closed, or should I leave the ground bare?
Based on what I have described is it likely that in the spring of next year another group of very busy bees will be flying around in this area? If yes, should I leave notes for the realtor (and the new owners) about the ground bees, to help them know they are not dangerous and (I hope) to ask them to continue to foster their presence?
Thank you!
Lisa,
Bees that live in the soil have ways of dealing with rain and wet soil. They often waterproof their nests with secretions and have methods of dealing with mold, etc. The young will un-dig themselves in spring and, yes, a lot will fly around just as before. A thin layer of mulch is okay, but none is better.
As for the new owners, I wouldn’t count on cooperation. Most people just want to kill them, and they do.
What ground-nesting bees are swarming now (late August) in southern Michigan?
I have several largish holes (each about 4 inches diameter) facing south in lawn that I initially thought were dug by skunks; the holes were not there last week when I mowed lawn. A swarm of eight to ten bees is flying at the entrance to each large hole; the bees are furry, rather small (smaller than big ole bumblebee), and yellowish-colored with encircling dark bands. One bee chased me short distance and bit (it didn’t look as if stinging with its abdomen) my knuckle though my stretch-glove even though I avoided the immediate area with my lawnmower. Other websites describe only solitary bees creating individual small burrows, but I have multiple bees flying into the same big hole. Other websites describe that behavior as spring (March-April) and not autumn (August-September).
Thanks for any information.
Tom,
First of all, ground-nesting bees don’t swarm. Swarming is a reproductive behavior in which a colony splits into two parts, thus forming two colonies where there was only one previously.
A group of bees at an entrance hole is nothing more than a group of bees at an entrance hole. It’s not a swarm.
In the fall, the only bees you are likely to see behaving like that are bumble bees. Yellowjacket wasps have similar behavior, but you you described them as furry, so yours are more likely bumble bees.
The bees in a bumble bee nest vary in size by huge amounts. The biggest, queens, are tremendous, and the workers vary in size from tiny to large, although not as large as a queen. The smallest bumble bees hardly look like bumble bees at all.
It is true that solitary bees only use individual burrows, which is why they are called solitary. But bumble bees are social, not solitary, and often live inside abandoned rodent holes or similar excavations with a single large opening.
Biting is unusual for bees since they don’t have the proper mouthparts for biting, although honey bees occasionally take a nip at a finger.
If you have a clear close-up photo, I can likely identify the species for you if it is a bee. But in any case, I can tell you whether it is a bee or a wasp or something else.
It is possible that I mistook yellowjacket wasps for furry bees, but it was a large number of them flying within the cave slightly below ground level.. Possibly one stung me rather than bit me, but I didn’t notice its abdomen bobbing up and down on my hand.
We had an intense amount of rain during the past few days that broke our drought, and yesterday I didn’t see any bees/wasps flying at the damp holes. If I see any flying insects, I’ll try to get a digital photo or two.
Question: how do I upload a photo to this thread?
Thanks for your reply.
Tom,
Your remarks about the drought make me think that perhaps the insects were going in the hole to collect water. It’s a good possibility, especially if they left after the rain started.
You can email a photo to me: rusty@honeybeesuite.com
A young beekeeper from Maridi County-Republic of South Sudan. The country has hills where other bees live and make swear honey, plus sandy in some parts, high quality, and multi bees include mining and andrena species that need feather studies. Generally, South Sudan has high-quality honey due to diverse nectar, honey harvest in 3 seasons: March, June, and September yearly, but hostile bees mostly harvest done at night which needs your inputs for us to crossbreed.
This past weekend we were at a piece of property that we are in the process of purchasing. It is very early spring, the ground was muddy and very wet – fresh snow on the ground. At the edge of the driveway where we parked, we could hear a very loud buzzing noise coming from the ground. We assume it is bees or wasps but can’t tell if it is more than one creature making the noise or not. It is loud enough that we can hear it within several feet of the area. Suggestions on what we should do? We have children and this is in an area where people will be walking. Also, is it possible to flip this so the most recent comments are at the top?
Thank you – this has been very informative – I just couldn’t find a post about hearing buzzing in the ground in late winter/early spring.
Darla,
I can’t even begin to guess what you are hearing, especially since I don’t even know what country or part of the world you are writing from. Different things live in different places. Colonies of most of the social insects do not overwinter. Usually, it’s just a single female that overwinters to begin a new colony. If it’s beginning to get warm where you are, it could possibly be a nascent bumble bee colony. It’s still pretty early for wasps, and honey bees don’t normally nest in the ground. Get a photo if you can. You won’t know how to deal with it until you figure out what it is.
I noticed some miner bee nesting holes near my vegetable garden recently, and was wondering if they pose any threat to the honey bees and other pollinators that are present?
Dennis,
Mining bees are some of the world’s best, most efficient pollinators and are an integral part of a healthy ecosystem. You are lucky to have them. They pose no threat to honey bees. If anything, honey bees pose a threat to them.
Rusty,
Thank you for so much information. I live in Jerusalem and have a flower pot on my back patio. I did not realize there were mining bee nests inside. I dumped the soil and found the tube-shaped objects all through the dirt and of course the little bees then began circling me. They definitely do not sting. I felt so bad and returned the dirt to the pot, but will the bees be able to rebuild the tunnels or have I killed an entire nest of miner bees? I feel so bad now. Four bees are flying around the pot and digging some although not much. Is there anything I can do to correct my mistake?
Jill,
You may be able to save most of them. The adult bees cannot rebuild the old tunnels, but they will build new ones. Because of the disruption, they will probably build tunnels elsewhere, but that’s okay.
As for the immature bees or “tube-shaped objects,” just return them to the pot, making sure they lay flat along their length, and then lightly cover them with soil (by that, I mean don’t pack it too tightly).
You probably can’t tell by looking at them which is the head end (which is usually nearest the exit). So by laying them flat, they can emerge at either end and still be able to dig their way out. My guess is that some will make it out of the soil and some will not, but at least this gives them a fighting chance. The tube-shaped objects are cocoons, so the bees will emerge as adults and don’t need any food between now and then.
Best of luck. If you ever get any photos, be sure to email one or more. Maybe I can identify them for you: rusty[at]honeybeesuite[dot]com
Thank you so much. I am not going to touch it again, as the bees are already tunneling again. There are new holes in the soil. Hopefully they can reach most of the cocoons.
Jill,
That’s great news. I’m glad they’re tunneling.