How to Keep Away from Your Porch (5+ Actionable Tips)

Bees function the entire ecosystem. Bees allow plants to reproduce through pollination and are beautiful creatures and are enjoyable to watch flitting about in nature.  However, they are something that needs to be kept away from your porch to maintain a safe distance.

As the weather changes and it starts becoming warmer, we start spending more time outdoors. But as much as we love staying out, the bees buzzing can ruin our mood in no time.

Bees can also destroy your property. As the honeybee colonies grow, their sheer weight can damage the walls, roofs, or fences in which they reside. As the pressure builds, honey, wax, and waste can seep through the walls into the interior of homes. So, the question arises as to how you can keep them away from your porch.

If you have a bee problem, it is best to get rid of them without killing them. Also, we cannot forget their importance in nature. Farmers even rent beehives to pollinate their crops. And who does not like honey? So without honeybees, we have no honey.

So, if you are curious to know how you can deter the bees from hanging around your porch, keep reading this article. We have compiled 5+ ways that you can use to get rid of bees and keep them happily buzzing elsewhere.

Note: Please wear proper equipment while doing this- leather gloves and a beekeeper suit. Bees can be very harmful if they are in large quantities. If you have a bee allergy, it is safe to call in a professional.

Protecting Your Home from Unwanted Beehives

Bees can enter any structure or object that contains a hole that is a quarter of an inch or larger. The simplest way is to seal all potential entry sites with durable materials like metal steel or caulk. However, once a swarm is on your property, it isn’t easy and becomes time-consuming to identify and close all potential entry points for the bees.

An effective substitute way is to apply treatment to the scout bees lingering around your home. This way, the scout bees will not inform the swarm of the potential nesting spot. As a result, the swarms relocate to a new place. The trick here is to be as quick as possible before they move in.

Another measure that can help prevent the bees from nesting in your yard is to reduce the outdoor clutter. For example, unused appliances or abandoned shelters in your yards can attract honeybees as they provide sufficient shelter for a hive to thrive.

Considering the array of possible advantages that honeybees must provide us, it is better to find ways to keep them away by means that do not involve killing them.

So, instead of diving into drastic measures, let us look at some simple ways by which we can humanely and safely keep bees away.

Using Smoke

Smoke is probably the best and efficient of keeping honeybees away from your home. Honeybees are very sensitive to smell. So when they smell smoke, they think it is a forest fire and become alert. This is also the most common way used as in a state of alertness, and they are less likely to cause the sting.

You can build a smoky fire using cardboard and dead firewood and keep it right under the beehive. But do not simply stick around to watch the bees get smoked out. They also can become aggressive when agitated, so it is best if you stay inside.

Avoid Planting Flowers and Plants with Attractive Scents

Bees are attracted to various bright colors, but blue, yellow, and purple flowers are the most attractive to bees. So, if you want to keep them away, avoid flowers with those bloom colors and opt for flowers with red bloom. The reason is that bees do not see red- it appears to them- which does not attract bees.

Similarly, bees cannot resist the rich perfume of certain flowers, so avoid strong-smelling flowers or strong-scented plants.

Use Garlic Sprays or Place Crushed Garlic Around Your Porch

Now, as we already know that bees have strong smelling power or a strong sense of smell. We also know that garlic has a very strong scent and Bees are not fond of the smell of garlic. So, to discourage them from being near your porch or your house, sprinkle some garlic powder near where you have seen them.

You can also crush a couple of garlic cloves and mix it with water to create a garlic spray. Then, spray it around your home and their hives to get them to leave.

Consider Growing Cinnamon Around Your Porch

Cinnamon’s strong smell repels honeybees. So, you can spread it over the areas that you want to repel the bees. Keep doing this daily for about a week for it to last longer. This is also the best method you can use if you want to drive the bees away from your home but not completely out of your yard.

This method should work for you if you do not mind having bees around and want them away from your home or porch.

Grow Peppermint, A Bee Repellent Around Your Porch

Again, peppermint has a powerful smell that is disliked by the bees. So, another way to keep bees away from your home or out of your house is to plant peppermint around the perimeter of it.

This way, you will drive the bees away, plus you will get to use the peppermint when needed, especially to make tea.

Using Citronella

Citronella is best known to work for mosquitoes and to deter them away, but its pervasive smell can be offensive to wasps and bees, as well. Citronella can be grown inside or outside, but it prefers at least 6 hours of sunlight, whether from a window or outside in the sun.

If you have a beehive inside, then you can use citronella candles to get them to leave. Leave the candles burning for a few days for them to be effective. Make sure it is a good weather day when you are doing this, as if it is windy or raining outside, the bees will not go out into it.

Avoid Wearing Scents That Attract Bees When You Are Outside

Hairsprays or scented perfumes should be avoided when going outside as they can attract a variety of insects in addition to bees. Scents are the easiest way to attract unwanted guests. But, unlike other insects which get attracted towards any scent, bees are only attracted to floral scents and are not attracted to the scent of humans; they are just curious by nature.

Prevent Yard Nesting

Of course, it is not in your home; some of your favorite outdoor activities may be creating a spot for bees to invade. For example, a shed or outdoor grill can be an ideal size for beehives. So, make sure to cover your grills and adequately seal your tree houses and sheds. Keeping a minimal number of outdoor items can help keep the bees away from your porch.

Avoiding Wasps

Wasps are different from bees, but they can be confused for them quite frequently. Wasps enjoy human food and are found more often than bees. If you see something yellow and black buzzing around your trashcan, it could be wasps as well. To keep them away, seal foods and throw away trash into a sealed container as soon as you can.

Regularly Inspect Your Property for Beehives and Remove the Nests If Any

Bees like tall grass for ground nests and quiet places such as new play structures and sheds for hives. If you find any such hives, call a professional instead of trying to tackle it on your own. A professional person can help determine the species and create an action plan from there.

Also, a pet professional or local beekeeper will not only help you remove your bee problem but also do it without destroying colonies that potentially could be of natural use somewhere else.

Vanilla Mixture

If you want to keep the bees away from your body, vanilla mixtures can be a good solution for you. Vanilla extracts are perfect bee repellents, and you can apply them directly over your skin. But before putting it on your body, dilute it with water (a tablespoon of extract and water) to avoid skin irritation. You can also soak cotton balls in vanilla and leave them strategically around the house to keep bees outside where they belong.

Baby Powder

And lastly, you can also use baby powder to keep the bees away from your body and house. Just sprinkle some baby powder around your windowsills, doors, or anywhere else around your home to act as a repellent. Bees tend to stay away from baby powder, and the best part is that it is safe for kids and pets.

Can Dryer Sheets Help Keep Bees Away?

Believe me, as lame as it sounds, it is correct. Dryer sheets can be used to do the laundry and help keep the bees away. However, to use them against the bees, you will need to use dryer sheets that include ingredients like citronella or are scented with citronella.

You can hand these sheets around your porch to deter the bees or rub them over areas of exposed skin and keep them in your pocket to keep the bees away from you.

Bees and wasps hate the smell of dryer sheets and will stay far away from it. They make bees uncomfortable and do not want to hang around the porch. You can check out and Bounce and Downy’s dryer sheets which are the most common ones to be used and believed to work wonders at making bees leave faster and quicker.

How and What Scents Keep Bees Away?

There are a lot of scents that repel bees and do not allow them to stand around for long. You can choose to grow plants like cinnamon, basil, or peppermint to deter the bees away, or you can also try using other herb plants. For strong scents, crushed garlic, vanilla mixture, and baby powder are also some great options to try.

If these fancy options do not work for you, do not forget that you can use any other heavy oils like clove, citronella, cedarwood, or eucalyptus. Also, do not forget that bees cannot stand smoke, bitter almond oil, or mothballs as well. So, use it wherever you need it.

You can place these scented items that these bees hate around your house, under their hives, or in any strategic areas to buzz them off for good.

Can Vinegar Help to Keep Bees Away?

Apart from adding flavor to food or acting as a preservative, Vinegar can also be used to deter bees away. Vinegar makes a good bait for water traps designed to capture and get rid of bees, wasps, and hornets. Once trapped, they are unable to get out and will drown. You can use this technique to deter bees from buzzing around your porch.

Place small, open containers of white distilled Vinegar around your garden to prevent bees from hovering around. To get rid of bees in a flash, take a combination of Vinegar and water, place it in a spray bottle, and spritz the bee’s nest or anywhere bees like to congregate. You can use any Vinegar for this purpose; both apple cider vinegar and white Vinegar works effectively.

Finishing Lines

If your home has previously had problems with honeybees, make sure the honeycomb is removed. Honeybees leave pheromone scents on honeycomb that can attract newcomers. Usually, honeycombs are situated in inaccessible areas (like walls, voids, etc.). So, removing portions of your roof or siding may be necessary.