Hi friends, I'm struggling with a similar problem and could really use some advice. I apologize for how long this is, but it's kind of a specific circumstance. My fiancée and I just moved into a little apartment with a lovely little deck that we'd love to be able to use and have friends over on. Unfortunately, the frame of the back door that leads out onto the porch is also the entry point for what appears to be a pretty large nest of honeybees. We have no way of knowing how old this nest is because we moved here from out of state (I've just started grad school in the area) and only discovered the bees when we were moving in (mid-august). The bees certainly aren't aggressive, but I have a crippling fear of all things-with-stingers because of a bad experience when I was very young (I've been stung since then in my life; I know it's not terrible, and that as long as we leave them alone it's highly unlikely, but when is fear ever rational or easily controlled?). I'm beyond disappointed we can't use our porch for this reason��"even opening the back door before they've gone to sleep causes a lot of stress and anxiety��" because it's one of the reasons we chose this place, but much MORE IMPORTANTLY than that, as the weather is starting too cool down here, they are finding their way into the warmth of our living space now and then. THAT I am completely unwilling to deal with in any capacity. Bees are completely unwelcome inside my house. We simply CANNOT tear apart our walls from either side because we do not own this building (nor are we financially-eqipped or have the time to do so), and while our leasing-management was great about sending an exterminator (twice) when we complained, all he did was spray around with some general pesticide that of course didn't even get into hive or probably kill more than a couple of bees if any. From the research I've done, no exterminator is equipped to handle this anyway. We're only going to be here for a few years while I complete my degree, so at this point, I'm not looking for ways to get rid of or move the bees, but ways to minimize our interactions with them so we can just deal with them as a temporary problem and I can function a bit better, with less anxiety issues (since our leasing-office seems disinterested in actually taking care of them, they can deal with every tenent they ever have complaining about them, I guess). We can't locate how the bees get inside the house so we haven't been able to seal it, but if there's some sort of spray or something we can use generally on our walls and in the area to discourage them from coming this direction, that'd be great. Recommendations, traps, or other ways to lure them away from the door/minimize their presence on our porch would also be great, but at this point, the only thing I NEED accomplished is to keep them from coming inside. I am unopposed to any methods that involve killing them. I truly wish I didn't have to, but there's simply no way we can get them moved. When they're outside, that's their business, but bees that come inside my house and violate my safe-space feeling have forfeited all empathy I have for them.

Caulking! I haven't tried it, but have read a number of times that cornmeal poured into an ant hole will kill ants. That is assuming you know where the ant holes are! Ants don't like spearmint or cinnamon. I tried painting spearmint oil near where they came in years ago. They defintiely don't like the stuff, but one has to keep reapplying as it evaporates and loses scent. I also used cinnamon powder, but that requires some clean up in the long run. Because it was the only poison I had, I eventually poured flea powder into the small hole at the base of a door jamb, where they entered. I used a skewer to tamp the flea powder in good. I never had another ant come in. The flea powder sealed the hole like caulk, and probably killed quite a few ants, too. Lorna

You might want to post this in the regular Florida forum. This one is just for plant exchanges and lots of people don't check it.

Forgot to add, I used to simmer water and cinnamon but the cinnamon would turn my pans a dark color. The cinnamon spray from B&BW is fantastic. If I know company is coming I spray it about 30 minutes before. I'm pretty sure our new "mini" Walmart SuperCenter won't sell these items, so I ordered 3 solid Citrus thingys (not the spray), and one Lysol automatic neutral spray. The only drawback I read about it is it can sometimes leak on the floor. So I'll find an obscure place in the LR and have a little towel under it. Can't wait until they come in! I'm definitely going to put one of the solid Citrus things in the back bedrooms where our very old carpet is.