Bees are “bad” right now in two very different ways, and which one you mean depends on whether you’re worried about them or annoyed by them. Managed honey bee colonies faced potential losses of up to 70% in 2025, driven largely by a parasite that’s becoming resistant to treatment. At the same time, late summer and early fall bring a surge in aggressive stinging insects around your yard, most of which aren’t actually bees at all. Both problems are real, and they’re worth understanding separately.
Honey Bee Colonies Are Collapsing at Alarming Rates
In January 2025, commercial beekeepers across the U.S. discovered sudden mass colony losses ranging from 60% to 100% of their hives. During just the second quarter of 2025 (April through June), beekeepers lost 292,630 colonies, about 10% of the total. These numbers represent a sharp escalation from already troubling trends that have persisted for nearly two decades.
The original term for this crisis, Colony Collapse Disorder, was first identified in 2007. But reported CCD cases have actually declined substantially in recent years. The problem hasn’t gone away. It’s just that researchers now understand it as a web of overlapping stressors rather than a single mysterious disease. The EPA lists the main culprits as parasitic mites, new viruses, pesticide exposure, the physical stress of transporting hives across the country for pollination contracts, shrinking habitat, and poor nutrition from limited foraging options.
A Pesticide-Resistant Parasite Is the Biggest Driver
The Varroa mite, a tiny parasite that feeds on honey bees and spreads deadly viruses, has been a problem for decades. What’s changed is that the mites are now winning the arms race against treatment. Researchers at UC Agriculture and Natural Resources examined mites from both collapsed and surviving commercial colonies before the 2025 almond pollination season and found something alarming: every single mite they tested showed genetic markers for resistance to the primary chemical used to control them.
This resistance makes the mites nearly impossible to manage with current tools. Once a colony is infested, the mites transmit viruses like Deformed Wing Virus, which can devastate a hive. The situation compounds itself in a vicious cycle. When disease spreads through the colony, the queen often stops laying eggs. With no new worker bees hatching to replace those dying from infection, the population crashes rapidly. Researchers now believe this breakdown in mite control is the primary driver behind the massive colony losses seen in 2025.
Pesticides and Habitat Loss Add to the Pressure
Neonicotinoids, a class of insecticides widely used in agriculture, have long been linked to problems with bee navigation, reproduction, and immune function. Regulatory action has been slow and uneven. The European Union, Canada, and several U.S. states have banned or restricted neonicotinoids for non-agricultural outdoor use. California joined them in January 2025, limiting these pesticides to licensed applicators only. But agricultural use, which represents the vast majority of bee exposure, continues largely unchecked in the U.S.
Habitat loss compounds the chemical problem. As farmland expands and suburban development replaces wildflower meadows, bees have fewer and less diverse food sources. Poor nutrition weakens their immune systems, making them more vulnerable to the mites and viruses already circulating in their colonies. It’s a system where every stressor amplifies every other one.
Those Aggressive “Bees” Are Probably Yellow Jackets
If your actual complaint is that bees seem angrier and more in-your-face than usual, especially around food at outdoor gatherings, you’re almost certainly dealing with yellow jackets, not bees. This is one of the most common mix-ups in the insect world, and the distinction matters.
Yellow jackets are wasps. They have smooth bodies with bright yellow and black stripes and a narrow, pinched waist. Honey bees are fuzzy, more honey-brown than yellow, and have a thicker body without that obvious waist. The behavioral differences are even more telling: yellow jackets will chase you, sting you repeatedly, and swarm around your soda can. Honey bees do none of those things. A honey bee stings once, loses its stinger, and dies.
Late summer and early fall is peak aggression season for yellow jackets. Their colonies have reached maximum size, food sources are dwindling as flowers fade, and the entire colony is approaching the end of its annual life cycle. Survival instincts kick in hard. They become territorial around their ground-level nests and actively seek out human food, sugary drinks, and garbage. Walking near a ground nest you didn’t know was there can trigger an intense defensive response, even if you weren’t doing anything provocative.
What You Can Do in Your Own Yard
Backyard pollinator gardens make a measurable difference for struggling bee populations. A study that assessed nectar production across 59 urban gardens found enormous variation: the most productive garden generated almost 700 times more nectar than the least productive one. The key finding was that garden size didn’t matter nearly as much as plant selection. A small, well-chosen garden can outperform a large, poorly planted one.
Woody plants like flowering shrubs and trees accounted for nearly two-thirds of total nectar production in the study, making them a high-impact addition. Interestingly, non-native ornamental plants made up over 90% of nectar production across the gardens studied, so you don’t need to plant exclusively native species to help. The priority is having something in bloom across as much of the growing season as possible, giving bees consistent access to food when wild forage is scarce.
For dealing with yellow jackets, keep food and drinks covered during outdoor meals, avoid wearing sweet-smelling fragrances, and watch for ground nests in your lawn or garden beds. If you find one, give it wide clearance. Yellow jacket colonies die off naturally with the first hard frost, so in most cases the problem solves itself within weeks.