Will Bleach Kill Bees?(Simple Answer With Alternatives)

If you are a beekeeper and using bleach to protect your beehive from viruses and other poisonous creatures it can be a matter of worry for you.

Or if you are a householder and are disturbed by bees and want to get rid of bees. It will be a little bit tough task for you.

 

You even don’t know which household cleaners can remove bees from your house.

Not sure about will bleach be the right choice to kill bees. Also, looking for a way to get rid of bees.

Then you are absolutely in the right place. In this post, I will try to answer all of your questions about will bleach kills bees or even if should you kill bees.

Also, If you are a beekeeper you will find an answer to the question should you use bleach near your beehive? with some more facts, you must know in order to keep your colony healthy and safe.

 

 

Does Bleach Will Kill Bees?

If you are spraying a mixture of bleach with water it won’t kill bees but it will help you to keep them away. But If you can soak them in bleach or spray high concentrations of bleach over bees then they will definitely die.

I have seen one of my neighbors trying to spray bleach water to kill bees inside his house. But he failed to kill bees and all the bees run away from his house. Also, he got himself a little bit poisoned.

 

Because Bleach isn’t an ideal choice infect It is not a pesticide. But it can be poisonous if it can enter the human body. So, if you are trying to use a light concentration of bleach to kill bees then it won’t be an effective way. But yes you can get rid of bees by using bleach.

If you spray bleach water on the bees. It won’t affect bees that much until they are soaked.

Because bees have hairy bodies and waxy layers to protect their body from poisonous substances. So, bleach can’t break through the layer of a bee’s body and won’t be able to kill bees.

But if any amount of bleach soaks into bees skin they will die. That’s why if you spray bleach with water bees will run away and never try to come back again.

Bees clean their bodies and remove pollen and other substances regularly. So, if you even spray a light concentration of bleach on the body of bees. They will clean the bleach from their body layer as soon as they clean their body as their usual habit.

So, spraying bleach water probably not going to kill bees but obviously help you to keep bees away from your household. So, it could be a great substance for you to keep bees away from your home.

 

 

What Is Bleach Actually And Usage Of Bleach?

Bleach is a chemical mixture of Sodium Hypochlorite(NaOCl) or a mixture of Hydrogen Per Oxide (H₂O₂)_, Sodium Hydroxide(NaOH), and Calcium Hypochlorite(CaClO)₂ which is mostly used to remove unwanted color or spots from cloths and other materials surfaces.

 

 

They are effectively able to remove color and unwanted spots from the surface of any material due to their oxidation ability.

 

Bleach is usually used to remove the color from white clothes or other white materials. It breaks the chemical bond of the substance that creates spots over the white color.

 

You shouldn’t apply bleach to clean other colored clothes instead of white clothes.

 

Below are some real-life uses of bleach as a house cleaner:

• Removing colored stains from white clothes.
• To remove or kill viruses, bacteria, and algae from such as swimming pool water.
• Used in toilet cleaner.
• Cleaning white floor.
• Removing stains from the surface of any white metals.
• Yes obviously help you to keep bees and other insects away from your household.

 

If you wish to get more knowledge about bleach you may check this.

 

 

Does Killing Bees All Right?

Absolutely not. Because bees are one of the main creatures of the environment to keep our earth healthy and safe. Bees are the pollinators that are the third largest source of the world’s food supply.

 

So, if you are killing bees that means you are making a harmful impact on the world. Because if you are killing bees that means you are creating hindrances in pollination. As a result, there might be a reduction in various flowers, fruits, vegetables, and other plants.

 

If you are thinking that killing one or a small number of bees won’t be a big matter of fact. But a lot of other people in this world think the same and kill bees.

 

Also, killing even only one bee can largely make a negative impact on the growth of the colony of bees. Thus it will largely negatively affect pollination.

So, if bees are serious trouble for you then you must look for better alternatives to get rid of bees instead of killing bees.

 

 

Will Bleach Kill Brood Bees?

Bleach can be deadly for brood bees in the larvae and pupae stages. So, If you think that your bee colony is attacked by viruses, bacteria, or any other disease then don’t use bleach to kill those germs. Besides killing viruses and bacteria, bleach will kill your bee broods. 

 

So, before spraying bleach water on your beehive make sure that your beehive doesn’t have any brood bees. If you can’t identify brood bees check this article on how you can identify brood bees.

I would recommend you even don’t try to spray any bleach water on your beehive as it could cause your bees to swarm away.

 

 

Alternatives of Using Bleach To kill Bees

As I already told you bleach can kill bees if they soak up bleach. Otherwise, bleach can’t kill bees but it will keep them away. If you can make bees soak in a high concentration of bleach they will die. But killing bees won’t going to be good.

 

So, you must look for better alternatives to get rid of bees. I usually recommend you look for a group or community that provides bee removal services.

You can also call a beekeeper who can collect swarms from the beehive. They will also take your beehive and bees with them for beekeeping purposes.

 

So, don’t try to kill bees using bleach or other poisonous substances to harm or kill bees. Instead either call a specialist or beekeeper community to remove bees from your house.

 

Yes, you can use bleach to keep bees away from your house. But don’t spray high concentrations of bleach as it could be deadly for bees.

 

 

How To Keep Bees Away?

Keeping bees away from your residence is a far better alternative to killing bees with bleach or other substances. If bees have already created a hive in the place which is a red alert for you, then call a beekeeper to remove the beehive and take the bees away with him.

 

If you wish to keep bees away from your residence you can try the following natural techniques:

1. Light Concentration of Bleach: You can use a light concentration of bleach water to keep bees away from your house. But don’t make the bees soak as it could be deadly for them.
2. Menthol: You can use menthol or put some pellet of menthol which can be brought from grocery shops and super shops in the place you want to keep bees away.
3. Vinegar mixer: You can mix vinegar and water in equal ratios and spray them if bees are trying to come to your residence. You can also spray it near the beehive to make the bees leave your place.
4. Cucumber: You can place some cucumber slices around where bees usually appear.
5. Peppermint and Garlic powder: You can put any of these substances in the place where you don’t want bees to come. 

These substances usually release some chemical gasses that produce smells that usually keep bees away.

 

The most effective way of keeping bees away from your house is planting trees more and more. If bees found trees to make their hive then they won’t enter your apartment for residential purposes.

 

You can plant some flower trees in the backyard in order to keep bees away from your house.

 

 

As A Beekeeper How Should You Use Bleach?

First of all, bees are needed a water source near the beehive. If you are a beekeeper and want to keep your bees safe then you must ensure a proper water source near your bee colony.

 

If your bees currently need to travel a longer distance for the water source. You can create a water source near the beehive.

To attract bees near the water source you can add a small amount of bleach with lavender oil or other essential oil to the water. It won’t be poisonous to bees instead it will attract bees. And your bees will start using that water source instead of traveling long distances for water purposes.

 

Moreover, you can spray a small concentration of bleached water around beehives to kill viruses, bacteria, and other poisonous kinds of stuff. But don’t spray bleach into the beehive otherwise they will swarm.

 

As a responsible beekeeper, you must have proper knowledge of which chemicals can be poisonous to your bees and you have to reject the usage of those chemicals near the beehive.

 

 

Household Cleaners And Chemicals That Kill Bees

If you are a beekeeper and your beehives are near your residence then you must be aware of using chemicals or household cleaners near your beehives. Because there are a lot of household cleaners that we are using that can kill bees. So, you must be aware and careful of using these chemicals.

 

The followings are the list of household cleaner and chemicals that can be killing substances for bees:

• Soapy water: Soap is a disinfectant substance that is strongly deadly for bees. So, don’t use soapy water spray near the beehive.
• Neonicotinoids and Carbamate: There is a lot of chemical like Neonicotinoids and Carbamate which are very dangerous insecticides for bees that can instantly kill them.
• Detergent Mixer: It is also a similar type of poisonous substance like soapy water for bees. 
• Vinegar Mixer: Besides keeping bees away from your house it can be a killing element for bees too.
• Usage of highly concentrated bleach water: If bees are soaked in highly concentrated bleach then they will definitely die. So, be aware of using bleach for killing bacteria and viruses in the beehive.

 

Final Thoughts About Will Bleach Kill Bees

So, in final words, Bleach doesn’t kill bees if you spray bleach mixer on bees but it will make them run away. Bleach will kill bees if and only if bees soak up bleach.

But I wouldn’t recommend you kill bees as they are the greatest friend of nature. By saving this pollinating creature you can participate in the betterment of the world.

If bees are a matter of worry for you try other natural substances as discussed above to keep bees away from your house instead of using bleach or other insecticides to kill bees.

If you are a beekeeper before using any chemical substances on or near your beehive first gather proper information about that substance.

If that substance is not deadly or poisonous for your bees then you can apply them otherwise don’t use them.

If you want to gather some knowledge and know some interesting facts about bees don’t forget to check out this article.

 

Mind it saving bees means you are saving the largest pollinators of the world consequently you are contributing to the better health of the environment.