Honeybee Swarms & Africanized Bees in North Texas

Our mild climate keeps bees busy nearly year-round

Honeybees are essential pollinators, and North Texas’ relatively mild winters mean colonies here stay active longer than they would further north. That extended activity, combined with rapid new-home construction across the metroplex, means we field bee and wasp calls in almost every month of the year — though spring is consistently our busiest stretch.

What a swarm actually is (and isn’t)

Each spring, an established colony sometimes splits: roughly half the bees leave with the old queen to find a new home, while the rest stay behind and raise a new one. That traveling group is a swarm — usually a temporary cluster resting on a tree branch, fence post, or eave while scout bees search nearby for a permanent cavity. Swarms are generally calm, since they have no hive or honey stores to defend yet. But a resting swarm today can be a wall cavity full of comb in a matter of days, so it’s worth a call rather than waiting to see what happens.

Common places we find colonies once they’ve settled: wall voids, attics, chimneys, soffits, hollow trees, and sheds — anywhere that offers a dark, protected cavity with a small entrance.

What’s actually true about “killer bees”

Africanized honeybees — a hybrid of African and European honeybee subspecies — have become more established across Texas in recent decades, North Texas included. They look identical to European honeybees; the only reliable way to tell them apart is in a lab. What differs is behavior: Africanized colonies tend to respond to a disturbance with more defenders, faster, and can pursue further from the hive. That’s a real difference worth respecting, but it’s not a reason to panic over every bee sighting — it’s a reason to let someone experienced assess an active colony before anyone gets close to it.

We treat every unknown colony with the same caution and the right equipment, regardless of which type it turns out to be.

Please don’t seal an active entry point

If you’ve found bees actively flying in and out of a gap, resist the urge to caulk or board it up before calling someone. Bees inside will look for another way out, and that sometimes means chewing or pushing through drywall toward light or sound — occasionally ending up inside your living space. It’s also worth knowing that swatting or killing a bee can release an alarm pheromone that alerts nearby defenders, which is part of why we suit up properly before working near an active colony.

The honest version of “what to do”

• Keep people and pets away from the area, but don’t disturb it.
• Don’t seal, spray, or spray-paint the entry point yourself.
• Note how long it’s been there, if you can — a fresh swarm and an established hive are different jobs.
• Call your nearest office and describe what you’re seeing. We’ll tell you honestly whether it’s urgent, and what your options are.

Before you call