Bees

Understanding Bees in the Coachella Valley

Get started with Rudy's Pest Control today! Effective service, affordable options, and great customer care. Call 760-775-7216 or click to get started.

Have you seen bees in or around your Coachella Valley home? Bees can swarm and sting if threatened, so it’s important to have a professional pest control company evaluate the situation.

The experts at Rudy’s Termite & Pest Control are licensed Coachella Valley bee exterminators. We want to preserve bees and the important work they do for our ecosystem, so we’ll relocate them humanely. Contact us today for quick and safe bee removal.

Physical description

Bees are typically hairy, with six-legged bodies that are either entirely black, or black or brown with orange and yellow stripes.

In Southern California, we see four common bee types: the bumblebee, the carpenter bee, the European honey bee, and the Africanized honey bee. The two types of honey bees look very similar to one another, but bumblebees are the one most people think of when they picture a bee: with a striped body. Carpenter bees look similar to bumblebees, but they have a shiny abdomen.

Habitat

Bees can enter a home in through its siding and settle in electrical boxes, attics, crawl spaces, chimney vents, and other small spaces. They can also build hives in or around a tree. 

How can you tell if you have a bee infestation? If you see bee hives in the corners of your home or garage, or see swarms congregating near your roof, keep family and pets away from the area. In particular, Africanized honey bees can be aggressive if they feel threatened, or hear loud noises.

Life cycle

The life cycle of a bee depends on its role. Bee colonies are populated with a queen bee, infertile female worker bees, and male drones. The queen bee can lay up to 1,000 eggs per day in a honeycomb. Fertilized eggs become female worker bees, and unfertilized eggs become male drones. Bee eggs hatch after three days, starting the larvae phase. In this phase, they have no wings, legs, or antennae. Depending on their role, in this phase they are fed a substance called royal jelly, or a combination of royal jelly, pollen, and honey. Larvae spin cocoons around themselves in a honeycomb cell and begins the pupal stage, where it grows into an adult bee.

The time from egg to adult bee is approximately 16 days for a queen, between 18-22 days for a worker bee. A queen bee lives for about two years. Female worker bees live anywhere from six weeks to six months, depending on the time of year. Male drones live for about 55 days on average, and die after mating with the queen.

Rudy’s Termite & Pest Control are licensed Coachella Valley bee control experts. Contact us today and let us solve the issue quickly and humanely.

Interaction with humans

Bees perform highly important work in our ecosystem, and are generally more concerned with collecting nectar and pollen than they are with humans and pets. With the exception of the Africanized species, honey bees rarely sting people. However, bees can swarm and sting if their hive is disturbed. If a bee stings someone with an allergy to it, it can cause highly dangerous anaphylactic shock, which is a medical emergency.

Potential dangers or risks

Dealing with bees nesting in the siding of your house or in a tree near your property must be done with caution. They can swarm and sting if threatened, and removing the hive is the only effective way of dealing with an infestation. This must be done by professionals who are trained and can perform the removal safely.

Bee stings can be life-threatening, so it’s important to call a Coachella Valley exterminator right away.