Bee Removal Experts Explain the Different Types of Bee Stings

If there is a bee infestation on your property, it is important to seek out professional bee removal services like those provided by The Bee Man to take care of the situation and avoid stings. Bee stings can be painful and dangerous, which is why it’s important to do all you can to avoid getting stung. There are a few different insects that have stinging capabilities like bees, yellow jackets, and wasps. These insects sting because they are attempting to attack their prey, or defend their colony from foreign insects and threats. Most of these insects have the same reasons for pursuing a sting attack, but they vary in level of aggression. The different stinging insects are listed below, with insight on each one’s stinging capabilities. 

Honey Bees

These bees all have different roles in the hive. They are usually a worker bee, a drone, or the queen bee, however, most of the honey bees we see are worker bees. The worker bees are about ⅜ of an inch long and have four wings, and their bodies are black, brown, and yellow. These bees are usually not aggressive insects, and will only sting if they are severely bothered. They will also sting if they can sense threats to their colony. If they are stinging to defend their colony, they usually do this in a large group, called a swarm. They typically build their hives in sheltered areas so the colony can avoid as many threats as possible. 

Bumble Bees

Bumblebees are about ¾ of an inch long and are much hairier and larger than honey bees. They are more round in shape and also have yellow hairs. A bumble bee’s nest is typically underground to avoid external colony threats. Although their colonies are much smaller than honey bee colonies, they still sting for the same reasons and have similar levels of aggression. Unlike honey bees, bumblebees are able to sting multiple times.  

Africanized Honey Bees

Africanized honey bees are almost identical to honey bees, but most bee experts can tell the slight difference. These types of bees are usually very aggressive and will sting predators in huge swarms. Their colonies are built in similar places to regular honey bees’ colonies, but they will swarm at different times of the year. Africanized honey bees will swarm more than the regular honeybees and sometimes even abandon their hives altogether if they start to feel unsafe. Regular honeybees on the other hand swarm around 3 times a year, especially here in So Cal where the weather is warm.

What Happens When Bees Sting?

When Africanized bees and honey bees sting, they usually will inject venom just once, and then die a few minutes after. When the bee stings its victim, there is a chemical trigger in the victim that will cause more bees to be attracted to the victim and want to sting it. An Africanized bee sting will most likely happen with multiple other bees in a swarm stinging at the same time. A honey bee sting will often be just one bee, but the pheromones that it releases can attract other honey bees to the area to sting the same person.

Most bees, except for bumblebees, will leave the stinger and venom embedded into the skin of the victim when they sting. This causes the attacking insect to die. The stinger should be removed by scraping it off rather than pinching or squeezing the stinger. Pinching it could squeeze more venom into the affected area. Your best bet to avoid getting stung by bees is to consult The Bee Man which provides professional bee removal services to have the hive safely removed from your property.