Bees and wasps in Yuma
Being stung repeatedly right now: get indoors or into a car and keep going. Run in a straight line, do not swat, do not stand still, do not jump into a pool — they wait. Call 911 if anyone has more than a handful of stings, is having trouble breathing, or is a child or elderly.
Africanized honey bees have been established across southern Arizona since the early 1990s. They look identical to European honey bees, and no one can tell by eye. The working assumption for any established colony in Yuma County is that it is Africanized.
Get a colony removed safelyLicensed technicians · same-day where possibleWhat "Africanized" actually changes
The venom is the same. Three behaviours differ, and all three matter:
- They defend a much larger radius — tens of yards rather than a few feet.
- Far more of the colony responds, and responds to less provocation. A lawnmower or a leaf blower is enough.
- They pursue much further and stay agitated much longer.
The danger is not one sting, it is hundreds. That is a toxic dose for an adult, not an allergic reaction, and it is how people die in Arizona most years.
Where they nest here
Water meter boxes
Very common, and dangerous because they sit at the kerb where children and dogs walk past.
Wall voids and roof tiles
Entering through a weep hole or a gap under tile. Often invisible until you notice steady traffic at one spot.
Irrigation valve boxes
Same story as meter boxes. Lift lids with care in summer.
Sheds, BBQs, saguaro cavities
Anything hollow and shaded. Unused equipment is a favourite.
Do not do this yourself
Hardware-store wasp spray on a honey bee colony is how people end up in the emergency department. It does not reach the colony, it does agitate the whole thing, and you are standing at the entrance when it happens. The same goes for smoking them out, plugging the entrance, or spraying at night "while they are asleep" — they are not.
There is also a wall-void problem nobody anticipates: killing a colony inside a wall and leaving it there means pounds of comb and honey with no bees to cool it. It melts, it soaks into drywall, it attracts every other pest in the neighbourhood, and it smells. Proper removal means opening the void and taking the comb out.
Removal versus relocation
Beekeepers will sometimes collect a swarm — the temporary clump hanging on a branch, not yet a colony, with no comb and no brood to defend. Swarms are relatively docile and relocation is genuinely possible. An established colony in a structure is different: Arizona beekeepers generally will not take Africanized stock, and extermination is the realistic outcome. Anyone promising to relocate a wall colony out of a Yuma house should be asked directly what they do with it.
Wasps
Paper wasps under eaves and patio covers are the other common call. Less dangerous, still worth handling properly if the nest is above a doorway or a play area. Yellowjackets nesting in the ground are more aggressive and harder to reach.
See also: all Yuma pests.