Bees in Surprise, Sun City and Sun City West tend to settle in the same kinds of places: hollow block walls, roof and eave details that repeat from house to house, and anything near water that never dries up. Many homes here also sit closed from May to October, which gives a colony the whole summer to build before anyone notices. The same West Valley crews cover all three communities, and the patterns below come from that work.
Surprise: block walls on former farmland
Surprise went from about 31,000 residents in 2000 to 143,000 at the 2020 census, and nearly all of the new housing is stucco and block, built on former farmland between the White Tank Mountains and the Agua Fria. Block fencing surrounds every lot in Marley Park, Surprise Farms, Sierra Montana and Rancho Gabriela, which is why the hollow block wall is the city’s most common hive site. It takes only one cell with a missing cap or a cracked mortar joint.
On the homes themselves, bees usually get in at one of three places: the weep screed gap at the base of the stucco, the ends of patio-cover beams, or a soffit vent. Age does not help, since a house built five years ago has the same gaps as one built twenty years ago. West and north of Loop 303, subdivisions still border working farms, dairies and the desert toward the White Tanks. The newest neighborhoods there, such as Asante, Greer Ranch and the streets along Deer Valley and Waddell roads, get the first swarms each spring, and those swarms move into HOA irrigation valve boxes, water meter boxes and the caps of perimeter walls.
Sun City: one building era, one set of entry points
Sun City went up almost all at once. Del Webb opened it on January 1, 1960, with five home models, a shopping center, a recreation center and a golf course, and nearly the whole community was built in one go. For bees, that sameness matters. Eaves, roof-to-wall junctions, utility penetrations and low-pitch roofs over block walls are built the same way on street after street, so a colony found behind one detail tells you where to look on thousands of other homes. That makes a neighbor’s hive worth hearing about, and after we treat one house on a street we usually point out what the neighbors should check.
Water is the other factor. With eight golf courses and seven recreation centers, Sun City has irrigated turf, lakes and water features that stay wet in a place that would otherwise be dry by June. Colonies here do not break up in summer; they settle in and carry on through the year.
Sun City West: where the hives are
Sun City West offers bees the same mix on nearly every street: golf courses, block-wall yards, tile roofs, citrus trees and water features. Check block walls where the pilaster caps are open, the space under the tile at the eave line, irrigation and water-meter boxes, spa and pool equipment enclosures, sheds, golf-cart garages, and mature palms or citrus trees with a hollow. A steady stream of bees through one gap, or a hum inside a wall, means a hive rather than a passing swarm.
If you close the house for the summer
Seasonal residents leave Sun City Grand and the other age-restricted communities along Grand Avenue in May, and many Sun City homes also sit empty for the summer. Those empty months are exactly when swarms go looking for cavities. A colony that moves into a block wall or attic vent in April can build comb undisturbed until October, when the owners come home to bees at the front door.
- Before you go, do a lap of the exterior and watch for bees flying in and out of a single gap, such as a weep hole, soffit vent, wall cap or valve box.
- Close up any gaps you can, put screens over open vents, and give our number to the person who looks after the house.
- Ask that person to check the outside monthly. Caught in June, a new colony is a quick removal; left until October, it has had four months to build comb.
- When you get back, look over the eaves, vents and roofline before anything else.
- If bees are using an opening, leave it open and call. A colony sealed in will push toward the living space, and its comb will melt into the structure.
Why this is not a do-it-yourself job
Most wild colonies in Arizona carry Africanized genetics, which means they defend the hive faster, in greater numbers and over a longer distance than European honeybees, and vibration from lawn mowers, leaf blowers and golf carts can set them off. Nobody gets down a ladder faster than a defensive colony can sting, and for anyone with a heart or respiratory condition the stakes are much higher. Store-bought sprays rarely kill the colony and often make it aggressive, so skip them. Keep people and pets indoors, note where the bees are going in and out, and call. Our Africanized bee removal page explains how defensive colonies are handled.
Your yard or the association’s?
A hive in your house or your yard is usually the homeowner’s. Bees in a common-area wall, a park or an HOA irrigation box are the association’s to handle, and we coordinate with the management company on those jobs. If you are not sure which side of the line a hive is on, call and we will sort it out.
Removal that does not have to be repeated
A complete job removes the bees, the queen and every piece of comb, treats the cavity and closes the entry. Comb that stays in a block wall melts in the July heat, and its scent draws the next swarm straight back. Colonies that can be moved safely are taken alive to our own bee farm instead of being sprayed; our article on when live bee removal is possible in Arizona explains what decides it.
For more on each community, see Surprise bee removal, Sun City bee removal and Sun City West bee removal. If you are weighing whether to wait, read our guide to bees in a block wall; for prevention, our bee-proofing guide lists the gaps to close before swarm season. All three communities are served from our office at 14819 N Cave Creek Rd Ste 2, Phoenix, AZ 85032, and we answer the phone 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 623-289-3375.
