# Honey bee

*Apis mellifera*

**Identification confidence:** Identifiable with care — Identifying a honey bee correctly is important because the right response is a beekeeper, not a pest treatment.

## How to recognise it

- Body is densely covered in fine hairs, giving a fuzzy appearance, and the colouring is muted golden-brown to amber with darker bands rather than bright yellow.
- Broader and less sharply waisted than a wasp, 12 to 15 mm.
- Hind legs are broad and flattened and often carry visible packed pollen.
- Barbed sting, so a honey bee stings once and leaves the sting in place; wasps do not.

## What it leaves behind

- A swarm — a dense hanging cluster of thousands of bees on a branch, fence, or wall — which is a temporary, generally docile stage while the colony seeks a new home.
- An established colony inside a wall or chimney, indicated by steady two-way traffic at a single gap and sometimes by wax or honey staining.

## Why an infestation persists

Honey bees are pollinators of substantial agricultural importance and are not a pest species. A swarm is usually temporary and often moves on within a day or two. A colony established inside a structure is a different matter and needs removal of the comb as well as the bees, because abandoned comb and honey attract other pests and can damage the building. Many areas have beekeepers who collect swarms at no cost, and killing a colony inside a wall without removing the comb reliably causes a secondary problem.


## Where it occurs

Throughout the United States, both managed and feral.

## What prevents it

- Seal gaps at the roofline, in siding, and around chimneys and vents in early spring before scouts locate the cavity.
- Cap unused chimneys and screen vents.

## Commonly confused with

- **Yellowjacket** (*Vespula spp. and Dolichovespula spp.*) — Bright, sharply defined yellow and black banding with a smooth, hairless, glossy body. A honey bee is fuzzy and duller golden-brown by comparison — this is the key separator.
- **Bumble bee** (*Bombus spp.*) — The entire abdomen is densely furry, including the top — this is the decisive separator from a carpenter bee, whose upper abdomen is shiny, black, and bare.
- **Carpenter bee** (*Xylocopa spp.*) — The top of the abdomen is shiny, black, and hairless — this is the decisive separator from a bumble bee, whose abdomen is densely furry.

**Verdict:** professional-recommended. The correct response is a beekeeper or a live-removal specialist, not a pest treatment. A colony inside a structure needs the comb removed as well as the bees.


Source: https://againstpest.shop/identify/stinging-insects/honey-bee/