I have this issue at work all the time. My staff comes to me asking for bug spray because there are "bees" around the trash cans. Usually said bees are actually yellow jackets but honey bees do sometimes get attracted by sweet drinks. I just tell them to kick the can and they'll leave long enough to change the liner. If they're just tossing trash the "bees" won't care, they're just adding to the buffet that is our waste.

My uncle was a bee keeper. I spent a lot of time with the "good" bees, they are very docile. In fact, I kept some in my college dorm room on the window sill - I didn't have much company. When I went home on weekends, I put them in the refrigerator.

My uncle told us kids that he could tell his bees from everyone else's because his wore pink tennis shoes.

I haven't been stung by any kind of wasp since I was a pre schooler, but did develop an allergy to bees in later life...carried an epi-pen for a couple of years, as I worked in landscape. I got tired of replacing it , because I never used it, and never got stung. At one point I did get stung by Bumble bees, and did get hit by honeybees while driving with the windows down, and never got an allergic reaction. ..just the expected swelling at the site. I encourage honeybees in my garden and work among them, with no problems. If you don't bother them, they don't bother you. We don't have many wasps/hornets here, but I do spray nests when I find them, because they are more aggressive than bees. When I worked the freeway landscape, I would find bee hives in those concrete valve boxes frequently. When that happened I backed off, called my supervisor, and he called the bee keepers.

When they're swarming, just leave them alone. They're looking for a new home , and will be gone in a day or two.

FYI in Western Australia, wasps, which it looks like are in that trap, are notifiable.
i.e. if you see one call the authorities.
They will find the nest and destroy it. They are an insect that sting repeatedly,unlike bees that sting once and die. We are doing everything we can to prevent them getting a foothold here.
I lived in England and they are an annoying fact of life there in summer.
Bees...very good. Wasps...not nice guys.

I always ask everyone to please educate themselves about insects and verify what an insect is before attempting mass extermination. Everything yellow and black is not out to kill you. The article linked to above about wasps (https://www.sfchronicle.com/ou...) has a large photo labeled as a yellow jacket wasp. It's actually a harmless hover fly (https://www.inaturalist.org/ta...). There are thousand of insects with this coloration, but only a handful in any given area that would or even could harm you.

Yes, there are a some bee and wasp species that are foreign, invasive, and problematic. There are some native ones as well that are actually beneficial insects, but also potentially dangerous for humans and other animals that stumble across their nests at the wrong time. Most of the time just having an awareness of the nest location and avoiding it is sufficient, along with keeping things that attract them away from your location. If there are a few by you... remaining calm and not becoming a shrieking arm flapper helps immensely. Injuring or swatting at some wasps makes them release a pheromone that attracts others and signals them to attack. A couple of times I was stung as a little kid (once was on the eyelid, ouch). Both times the stings were caused by another kid next to me freaking out and swatting the now angry wasp right onto me as they ran way.

If you've got a large wasp nest right by a door where every time you open it they swam you then yes that's definitely a problem. I guess in an instance like that some type of species targeted pheromone trap would be much better and safer than going at it with a can of insecticide, gasoline, fire, etc. In climates with cold winters we're lucky because quite often all the wasps except the queen die in the cold anyways. Sometimes before that even happens a brave hungry skunk or other animal will go and destroy the nest full of chilly sluggish wasps. I've had a few times where yellowjackets setup a nest in my garden and by late fall they did start to get a bit frenzied when I got near. Luckily I knew a freeze was just a couple of weeks away so I just avoided working near the nest until then. If you've got an area near your home where wasps seem to repeatedly create nests, sometimes just blocking their access or putting up a decoy nest is enough to make them go elsewhere.

Key messages from the victorian health dept:

The European wasp is an introduced species and therefore doesn't have natural predators in Australia to keep its numbers in check.
European wasps are a pest because they are far more aggressive than native wasps.
The best method of wasp control is to locate the nest, or nests, in the surrounding area and eradicate them using an insecticide registered for the purpose.

Hillsepicacti said:
Key messages from the victorian health dept:

The European wasp is an introduced species and therefore doesn't have natural predators in Australia to keep its numbers in check.
European wasps are a pest because they are far more aggressive than native wasps.
The best method of wasp control is to locate the nest, or nests, in the surrounding area and eradicate them using an insecticide registered for the purpose.

Advice I have read is to not even try to deal with a nest of European wasps yourself, but get a professional to do so.

Agreed!

In the Pac.NW many of us experienced swarms of yellow jackets this past summer, so yes I KILL them!! Bumblebees, honey bees all enjoyed my yard as I planted a landscape to attract both birds and bees, however, yellow jackets were brutal this past summer. Nature stores couldn't keep these bee containers in stock. Every time any of us stepped outside we were instantly attacked. So for all of you naysayers out there..... please understand, there are exceptions to what you are saying. It really became survival of the fittest, and I fully intended to survive ! 8 bee stings, along with my guests throughout the summer was enough for me!!

I'm no fan of European yellow jackets but perhaps it's worth repeating, to avoid confusion, that yellow jackets (wasps) are not bees.

sooby said:I'm no fan of European yellow jackets but perhaps it's worth repeating, to avoid confusion, that yellow jackets (wasps) are not bees.

Exactly, and this is why I was saying that it's important to be somewhat knowledgeable about insects you intend to kill. If you ask on a gardening forum about how to kill bees, of course people are going to question your motives. Gardeners in general love bees, except perhaps the Africanized killer bees! Not all wasps are evil and deserve to be exterminated either. Problem species in problem areas should to be dealt with. If you have a garden with flowers, fruit, and other insects that they eat then you're going to have wasps. Quite often trying to eliminate nests yourself is how you get stung repeatedly. Stumbling across a hidden nest is dangerous too, but if you didn't even know it was there you couldn't have dealt with it anyways. So my thinking is, if the wasps are just a minor issue it is probably best to leave them alone. If they're a dangerous species in large numbers or in a bad location, then it's probably best to call in a professional to handle it.

Many people also have an irrational fear of bees, wasps, spiders, and anything that remotely resembles them. They really aren't out to get you. They've got other fish to fry. I regularly go stand in the middle of a flower bed surrounded by them to take up close photos of them as they go about their business. So far I'm up to 85+ different species of hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps, & sawflies). They really are quite cool once you get to know them. Yes, some species in certain situations can get aggressive, swarm, sting, and even kill. But, that is really quite rare. I think it is like 100 reported cases in the US a year. Deaths by car accidents is 30,000+, but very few people have a fear of getting in a car. Drug and alcohol related accidental deaths are huge too and growing, but most people still drink and would take a highly addictive prescribed painkiller.