Stinging Insect ControlWasp, Hornet & Carpenter Bee Control in Alabama
Paper wasps under the eaves, yellowjackets in the ground, hornets in a shrub, carpenter bees drilling your fascia. Different insects, different treatments, different levels of risk. The first job is knowing which one you have.
- Wasps, hornets, yellowjackets, and carpenter bees — nest location and removal
- Carpenter bee galleries treated and sealed, not just sprayed
- We don't kill honeybees. We'll help you find someone who removes them live.
- Family-owned Alabama company since 1963
Nest location is most of the work
Spraying what you can see rarely reaches a colony. Yellowjackets in particular nest out of sight — in the ground or inside a wall — and treating the entrance without finding the nest just moves them.
Who provides stinging insect control in Alabama?
Alabama Termite & Pest Services provides wasp, hornet, yellowjacket, and carpenter bee control across Alabama from two offices: Bessemer, serving Birmingham Metro, Jefferson County, and Shelby County; and Lillian, serving Baldwin County and the Gulf Coast. Service covers identification, nest location and removal, carpenter bee gallery treatment and sealing, and seasonal prevention around eaves, decks, and outbuildings. We do not treat honeybee colonies — those go to a beekeeper for live removal. The company has been family-owned since 1963.
Which One Do You Actually Have?
Most people call everything with a stinger a bee. The differences matter, because the treatment, the risk, and whether you should call us at all change with the species.
Paper Wasps
Nest: open, umbrella-shaped comb with visible cells, hanging under eaves, gutters, ledges, porch lights, grills, and mailboxes. You can see straight into the cells.
Insect: mostly brown or rust-colored, with a very thin waist and long legs that dangle in flight.
Risk: moderate. They defend the nest but aren't especially aggressive away from it. Problems come from nest placement — a doorframe, a porch you use daily, a grill you're about to open.
Yellowjackets
Nest: completely enclosed and usually hidden — underground in an old rodent burrow, or inside a wall void. The giveaway is a steady stream of insects in and out of a hole about the size of a nickel.
Insect: bright yellow and black, barely any hair, and a barely visible waist. Rapid side-to-side flight before landing.
Risk: highest of any stinging insect in Alabama. They sting repeatedly, defend in numbers, and mower or trimmer vibration can trigger an attack from a distance. Most multiple-sting incidents here are yellowjackets.
Bald-Faced & European Hornets
Nest: bald-faced hornets build the large gray, enclosed football or teardrop nest in trees, shrubs, and on structures. European hornets nest in hollow trees, wall voids, barns, and attics, and fly at night.
Insect: bald-faced hornets are black with white face markings — despite the name, they're in the yellowjacket family. European hornets are large and brown-and-yellow.
Risk: high. Both sting repeatedly and defend aggressively. A large enclosed nest is not a DIY job.
Carpenter Bees
Sign: a nearly perfect half-inch round hole in bare or weathered wood — fascia, eaves, deck rails, pergolas, fence tops, unpainted trim. Often with coarse sawdust below and a yellow stain running down from the hole.
Insect: looks like a bumble bee but with a shiny, hairless black abdomen rather than a fuzzy one.
Risk: low to people, real to your structure. Males hover at your face and can't sting at all — no stinger. Females can, but almost never do. The damage is the problem, not the bee.
Honeybees — Not Our Job
Insect: fuzzy, amber and brown, less brightly striped than a yellowjacket, and noticeably hairy. Not interested in your food.
Nest: wax comb inside a cavity — a hollow tree or a wall void. Colonies can number in the tens of thousands.
What we do: identify it and tell you. We don't treat honeybee colonies. See the section below for why that's the right answer for your house, not just for the bees.
Ones You Can Usually Leave Alone
Mud daubers build small hard mud tubes under eaves and in carports. Thread-waisted, dark, and they rarely sting. They also eat spiders.
Cicada killers are close to two inches long and alarming to look at, but they're solitary. Males can't sting; females rarely do unless handled.
If that's what you have, we'll tell you so rather than sell you a treatment.
Not established in Alabama: the Asian giant hornet, widely called the "murder hornet," has never been confirmed here — sightings have been limited to the Pacific Northwest. The yellow-legged hornet has been detected in the Southeast and the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries is monitoring for it. If you think you've seen one, report it rather than treating it. Alabama Cooperative Extension publishes good seasonal guidance on yellow jackets in Alabama yards.
We Don't Kill Honeybees
If you have a honeybee colony, we'll identify it and point you toward a beekeeper who does live removal. Many will do it for the colony itself. We won't spray it.
That's partly about pollinators. It's also about your house.
What happens when a colony inside a wall gets killed
- The comb stays where it is — sometimes many pounds of wax and honey
- With no bees to maintain temperature, the honey ferments and runs
- It stains through drywall and can damage insulation and framing
- Roaches, ants, rodents, and small hive beetles move in to feed on what's left
- You now have a second pest problem plus a repair, on top of the first one
Live removal takes the bees and the comb out together. It costs more up front than a can of spray and considerably less than the alternative.
Not sure which you have? Yellowjackets get mistaken for honeybees constantly — same size, but bright stripes and almost no hair, and they're the ones interested in your soda. If it's a yellowjacket, that's our work and it should be handled promptly. Send us a photo and we'll tell you which it is before anyone schedules anything.
Carpenter Bees Are a Structural Problem, Not a Sting Problem
The bee hovering at your head is a male and has no stinger. He is entirely bluff. Meanwhile the female is boring a half-inch tunnel into your fascia, turning ninety degrees, and running a gallery along the grain to lay eggs.
One hole isn't much. The issue is that galleries get reused and extended year after year, and a heavily worked board can end up with a foot or more of tunneling inside it.
Why the damage compounds
- Woodpeckers hear the larvae and open the galleries up, turning a clean hole into a long gash
- Open galleries take on water, and moisture in structural wood invites decay
- Decayed, damp wood is exactly what subterranean termites are looking for
- Fascia, rake boards, and deck rails are expensive to replace and awkward to reach
How treatment actually works
Spraying the surface does close to nothing, because the bee is inside the wood. Treatment means getting material into each active gallery, leaving the entrances open long enough for the bees to move through it, then sealing the holes so the tunnels can't be reused next season. Sealing too early traps the problem inside. Sealing too late leaves the invitation open.
Bare, weathered, and unpainted softwood takes the most damage. Painted and stained surfaces are far less attractive to them, which is why the same three boards on a house get hit every spring.
For a company called Alabama Termite, this is close to home. Carpenter bee galleries, moisture intrusion, and wood decay are the same chain of conditions we look at during a termite inspection — which is why we check for both on the same visit.
Normal Reaction, Big Reaction, and Emergency
We're a pest control company, not a medical provider. This is standard published guidance, and the distinction between the three is worth knowing before you need it.
Normal Local Reaction
Sharp pain, redness, and swelling at the sting site, settling over a few hours to a couple of days. Wash the area, apply a cold compress, and take an over-the-counter pain reliever if you want one. If a honeybee stung you, the stinger is usually left behind — scrape or flick it out quickly. Speed matters more than technique.
Large Local Reaction
Swelling that keeps spreading over 24 to 48 hours, sometimes several inches across — a sting on the hand swelling to the wrist. Uncomfortable and alarming, but not the same as a systemic reaction. Worth calling your doctor about, particularly if it's near the eye, mouth, or throat.
Call 911 Immediately
Hives or swelling away from the sting site, swelling of the face, lips, tongue, or throat, tightness in the chest, difficulty breathing or wheezing, dizziness, fainting, rapid pulse, nausea or vomiting. If an epinephrine auto-injector is available, use it and still call 911. Anaphylaxis moves in minutes, not hours.
Two things people get wrong. First, a mild reaction last time does not predict a mild reaction next time — sensitivity can change between stings. Second, wasps, hornets, and yellowjackets are more unpredictable than honeybees, because they can sting repeatedly and release alarm signals that bring the rest of the colony. A single sting is a first-aid matter. A disturbed ground nest can mean dozens.
If someone in your household has a known sting allergy, say so when you call. It changes how and when we schedule, and it moves a nest near a door, deck, or play area to the front of the line.
What You Can Handle, and What You Shouldn't
Plenty of stinging insect situations don't need a professional. Some genuinely do, and the difference isn't about how brave you are.
Reasonable to do yourself
Call us for these
A note on aerosol cans. Wasp and hornet sprays knock down the insects you hit. They have limited effect on a full colony inside a wall or underground, and a partial treatment can turn a defensive colony into an aggressive one while you're standing under it. Folk remedies — gasoline, a garden hose, a flaming rag — fail reliably and put people in the emergency room. If the nest is enclosed or hidden, that's the line.
How We Handle a Stinging Insect Call
Identify, locate, treat at the right time of day, remove the nest, then close the conditions that made the spot attractive.
Identify
Species first. Send a photo if you can get one safely — it saves a trip and tells us what equipment to bring.
Locate
We find the actual nest, not just the entrance. For yellowjackets and wall voids, that's most of the job.
Time It
Treatment goes in early morning or after dark, when the colony is inside and least active. Midday treatment reaches fewer of them.
Treat & Remove
Nest treated and physically removed where access allows. Carpenter bee galleries treated, then sealed once the material has moved through.
Prevent
Entry points, sheltered spots, and exposed wood identified in writing, so the same eave doesn't rebuild next season.
The Alabama Stinging Insect Calendar
March through May — queens and carpenter bees. Overwintered queens start new nests, and colonies are at their smallest and most manageable all year. Carpenter bees emerge and begin boring. This is by a wide margin the cheapest and safest time to deal with both.
June through August — colonies build. Nests grow quickly and start showing up in places you notice. Paper wasps under eaves and decks are the common call.
Late August through October — peak risk. Yellowjacket colonies hit maximum size just as natural food runs short, so they turn to scavenging and get considerably more aggressive. Nearly every multiple-sting incident we get called about happens in this window, and a lot of them start with a lawnmower.
Winter — colonies die off. Social wasp nests are annual. The colony doesn't survive the cold and that specific nest won't be reused. An old nest hanging under an eave in January is empty. What does repeat is the location, because what made it appealing hasn't changed.
Best time to act: spring, on both counts. A paper wasp nest the size of a golf ball in April is a two-minute job. The same nest in September has hundreds of workers in it. Carpenter bees are the same story — treat the galleries early and you prevent a season of tunneling instead of repairing one.
Before you mow, in late summer: walk the yard and watch for insects going in and out of a single hole in the ground. Yellowjacket entrances are about the width of a nickel and easy to miss until the mower is on top of them.
What Does Stinging Insect Removal Cost?
Accessible nests are usually a one-time visit. Price moves with access and difficulty — a wall void, a ground colony, or a second-story eave takes more time and equipment than a nest under a carport. Carpenter bee work is priced by the number of active galleries and the reach required.
Ongoing exterior service reduces new nest-building around eaves and soffits, which is why many customers fold this into a general plan. We inspect at no charge and quote from what we find.
Compare Residential PlansStinging Insect Control Across Alabama
Two offices covering Birmingham Metro and the Gulf Coast. Some cities have their own pages with local detail.
Birmingham Metro
Jefferson and Shelby counties from our Bessemer office at 2998 Phillips Rd. Wooded lots, mature decks, and older wood trim keep both yellowjacket and carpenter bee volume high.
Stinging insect control in Birmingham →Bessemer & West Jefferson
Bessemer, McCalla, Hueytown, and Lake View. Outbuildings, barns, and detached garages are where the enclosed nests usually turn up out here.
Stinging insect control in Bessemer →We also serve Baldwin County and the Gulf Coast from Lillian — Foley, Elberta, Fairhope, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, and Daphne. Coastal humidity and unpainted exterior wood make carpenter bees a heavier problem down there than inland.
All Service Areas Gulf Coast: 251-752-0506Often Found on the Same Inspection
Termite Control
Carpenter bee galleries, moisture, and decay set up the conditions subterranean termites use. Same wood, same inspection.
Spider Control
The same eaves, soffits, and porch corners host both. Web removal and nest checks happen on the same pass.
Ant Control
Carpenter ants use the same damp, damaged exterior wood. Worth ruling out when you find galleries.
General Pest Control
Routine exterior service reduces nest-building around eaves and soffits before colonies establish.
Stinging Insect Questions
Do you remove honeybees?
No. If you have a honeybee colony we'll identify it and point you toward a beekeeper who removes them live. Beyond the pollinator question, killing a colony inside a wall leaves the comb and honey behind — it ferments, stains through drywall, and draws roaches, ants, and rodents to feed on what's left. Live removal takes the bees and the comb out together. We do treat wasps, hornets, yellowjackets, and carpenter bees.
How do I tell a honeybee from a yellowjacket?
Hair and stripes. Honeybees are fuzzy, amber and brown, and not sharply striped. Yellowjackets are about the same size but nearly hairless, with bright, hard-edged yellow and black bands and a barely visible waist. Behavior helps too: if it's after your soda or your hamburger, it's a yellowjacket. Honeybees are working flowers, not your picnic table.
Do carpenter bees sting?
Barely. The one hovering in your face aggressively is a male, and males have no stinger at all — the behavior is entirely bluff. Females can sting but almost never do unless handled or trapped. The real problem with carpenter bees is structural: half-inch galleries bored into fascia, eaves, deck rails, and unpainted trim, reused and extended year after year, with woodpecker damage and moisture intrusion following behind.
Why can't I just spray a carpenter bee hole?
Because the bee is inside the wood and the gallery runs along the grain, often several inches or more past the entrance. Surface spray doesn't reach it. Effective treatment means getting material into each active gallery, leaving the entrances open long enough for the bees to carry it through, then sealing the holes so the tunnel can't be reused next spring. Sealing too early traps the problem in the wood; not sealing at all leaves the invitation open.
Why are yellowjackets so much worse in the fall?
Colony size peaks in late summer just as natural food sources run short, so they shift to scavenging and defend far more readily. Most nests are also underground or in wall voids, so people find them by accident — mower and trimmer vibration can trigger an attack from several feet away. In Alabama the highest-risk window runs from late August into October.
Will the wasps come back to the same spot next year?
Not the same colony. Social wasp nests are annual — the colony dies off over winter and that specific nest isn't reused, so an old nest hanging under an eave in January is empty. What does repeat is the location, because whatever made it sheltered and appealing hasn't changed. That's why treatment includes identifying the spots that keep attracting nests rather than only removing what's there now.
What should I do if someone gets stung?
For a normal reaction: wash the area, apply a cold compress, and remove the stinger quickly if one was left behind. Call 911 immediately if there are hives or swelling away from the sting site, swelling of the face, lips, tongue, or throat, chest tightness, difficulty breathing, dizziness, or fainting — and use an epinephrine auto-injector if one is available. A mild reaction to a previous sting doesn't predict the next one. We're a pest control company, not a medical provider; anything beyond a normal local reaction should be evaluated by one.
When is the best time to deal with wasps and carpenter bees?
Spring, for both. From March into May, wasp colonies are small and newly started, and carpenter bees are just beginning to bore. A nest the size of a golf ball in April is a quick job; the same nest in September holds hundreds of workers. Treating carpenter bee galleries early prevents a season of tunneling rather than repairing one.
Send Us a Photo. We'll Tell You What It Is.
Identification first, from a safe distance. Then we'll tell you whether it needs treatment, whether it's ours to handle, and what it costs — before anyone schedules anything.
Prefer to call?Birmingham Metro: 205-425-7378 · Gulf Coast: 251-752-0506
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