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Brownsville health inspectors told Action 4 News they get calls about bees swarming homes year round.

They said with spring in full-bloom, bees are looking to pollinate and could end-up in  people’s back yard. 

One Brownsville couple found just that – a swarm of honey bees on one of their small trees.       

Ordinance Enforcement Officer Willie Gonzales said it's a common site during spring time.

"We have a sub-tropical climate here, which makes it nice and warm for the bees to be able to swarm,” Gonzales said. “Bees are going around right now looking for food."

Gonzales said finding a swarm of bees can be intimidating, but adds that bees usually just want to be left alone.

"There's really no need to get nervous around bees when they are just looking for food,” Gonzales said. “They don’t have a home to protect (and) they don’t have young to protect when they are swarming from place to place."

But if tampered with, Gonzales said, bees could leave a painful sting and even be deadly.

"Two border patrol officers went to the hospital because they were out there in the brush land (and got stung),” Gonzales said. “(In another case), a rancher tied two horses to a tree, and on the other side of the tree were a trashcan and tire infested with bees. The rancher had no idea that the bees were there, so when the horses got close to it, there was no way they could get away."

Gonzales said people can "bee proof" their homes by sealing cracks and placing mesh screens over venilators.

"Anything over an eight-of-an-inch, bees can go in and out, and they'll get in your walls and they'll take over your walls," Gonzales said.

The Brownsville Health Department won't remove a swarm unless it's an immediate threat and it's out in the open, since Gonzales said bees can be very beneficial to the Rio Grande Valley's agriculture.

"(Farmers) will rent out hives - it's a truck load of bees that comes-in, they're covered so they won’t escape, and they'll release them out to the field. They'll pollinate the crops and they'll come back in and the farmer will move on to the next field."

Gonzales said when been swarm near a home,  it usually lasts about a day and they usually won’t be a threat.

However, the swarm last longer than that, or is a threat to people, he recommends people call the Brownsville Health Department at (956) 542-3437.