A (stupid?) question about bees . . .

My backyard has been rendered almost un-usable thanks to swarms of hundreds of bees milling around a wall of ivy/our fence. I'm not going to pretend I know anything about this whole bee movement going on right now, but I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to kill honey bees. Or is it all bees? And how do I tell if they're honey bees specifically? How long do they live? I want my backyard back.
Any advice is mucho appreciated
xoxo

Any insects that are pollinators should be left to do their job, be it honey bees or whatever.


Killer bees

Maybe the botanic garden (BBG.org) could hook you up with a beekeeper in need...that die-off thing is serious, so very excellent not to kill them. All kinds of bees are pollinators, so it doesn't matter which has come to live with you...

I will call the BBG tomorrow - that's a great idea!
I don't want to/won't kill them either way, I'm just hoping their season in my backyard ends soon cause it's getting a little scary back there.

Visit: http://www.thebrooklynbee.com/

there's a honeybee swarm collector section that gives you contacts to help. Good luck!!

I love bees. I plant bee and butterfly attractors (plants/bushes/flowers) throughout my backyard. I have never been stung by them. Garbage can bees, which I believe are really wasps are the ones you have to look out for. Although I haven't seen those things for a couple of years.

The bees come by every day and visit my tomato plants, along with the butterfly bush and several other flowers. I don't bother them, and they don't bother me. I know they are doing their job and I think it's cool....but I don't have hundreds of them swarming my yard. That would suck.

Are you sure they're not yellow jackets? If they're honeybees and they are swarming and landing and creating like a "carpet" on your fence they could be honeybees looking to create a nest which might be strange this time of the year. But if they are just swarming, swooping down especially if they are going after your food they just might be yellow jackets especially now as the weather is changing. Those are wasps that look a lot like regular honey bees. Honey bees typically only want to go about their business of getting pollen. They'll only get worked up if you bother them. Yellow jackets are among other things scavengers and will make nests in rafters and underground . . .

i saw a swarm of honey bees on a tree on saturday, and they were definitely honey bees. (i know because i went and stood very close to the swarm -- to look at them and also to make the gf tell me to get away from it.) indeed, the bees were remarkably uninterested in me.

What happened to "garbage can" yellow jackets? I haven't seen them regularly in over a decade, not that I'm complaining. You used to have to throw your trash out from five feet away in the summer. Weird.

Lately, you have to do just that if you want to throw your trash out in the garbage cans at JJ Byrne park... tons of bees (or wasps) hovering.