If they  are migrating, they will leave on their own in a few days. However, if they feel this is a good place to start a hive, hire a pest control company for the fastest and most complete disposal. In my opinion, since you are allergic to them I would get the pest control ASAP.

I keep bees if you want I can come over tomorrow morning early and try to capture them.

Thanks guys. Reffup, I don't think they're honey bees, they look a bit more wasp-like.

Jer, I wanted to thank you for the email. I'm sorry I didn't respond, I only recently checked that inbox. I'm still terrified for my loved ones but I'm glad there are heros like you praying for their safe return. Thanks a million.   

Your welcome and don't worry about not responding to the email.  Also thanks for calling me a hero, but I have done nothing that qualifies for me to be one. True I served, but never went outside of the US. My brothers and sisters in arms currently in the service  and those that have gone to war are the heros.

Service is heroism, Jer. Whether it's in the armed services, or community service. Those who give freely to help improve the lives of others are heroes. Like you.   

More than likely they are yellow-jackets. They probably have a nest nearby, and are using the pool for water (obviously). At this point, if they have established a nest, they are next to impossible to get rid of without removing the nest. They build underground nests, so are difficult to get to.

Definitely take the pool away. Now that they have discovered it, it is theirs!

The best thing for Yellow-jackets is prevention. You must set out traps in early summer to try to capture the queens. Once the nest is establish, you can catch / kill all the workers you want, but the queen will just produce more to keep the colony alive.

Good luck.

EeeeYyyyuck! It looks like they're hiving/thriving all around the base of the pool, even when I drench them with the pool water.  Thanks for the tip off. Sorry little buggers, but it's either me or you...and I'm bigger!  I've been meaning to ask...what's the diagram on your avatar...it's very intriguing.    

Throw a box of moth balls all over your yard, while you are still in the house, they hate the smell of em.   They will leave on their own.  But, do it soon before they decide to make your home, their home.   Once they do that, best call pest control in to smoke em out.

Sushisoo, hopefully you had luck over the weekend with the yellow-jackets.

Avatar is a diagram of the Tree of Life.

Does the cooking oil work on ants?  Say, if you were to see where they are coming out, would that keep them away, or just make them swarm into the house because they can't pass the barrier?  I read or heard that somewhere, that if you make a barrier on the foundation part of the house to kill them, they can't go anywhere, then start swarming inside.  There is a lot of good advice here on getting those pesky bugs under control.  I know that God put them here for a reason, but that doesn't mean I like them!

Thanks Perdurabo, we did manage to get them under control, but not completely wiped out. Thanks for asking, and thanks for explaining your avatar. I Googled "tree of life"...very interesting.  

Generally, whether it's bees, yellow jackets or hornets, they are looking for water.  Locate their nest in the ground and wipe that out if possible or lure them away from the pool and kill them by trapping.  A safe, cheap way of trapping is to:

• Take a 2 liter soda bottle (with screw type lid).
• Poke 3 holes evenly spaced around the upper part of the bottle (where the shape is beginning to swell).  Be sure to make the holes large enough for the hornets/yellow jackets to be able to enter the bottle.
• Pour about 2-3 inches of water into the bottle, then squirt some liquid dish soap on top of the water.  (Do not shake, you want the dish soap to "float" on the water.)
• Take a piece of bacon (lure), wrap a piece of string around the bacon, poke the bacon into the bottle.  Make sure the string you use is long enough to allow the bacon to dangle in the bottle freely below the holes, and to where you keep enough string coming out of the top of the bottle to screw the lid back on securing the string as you do.
• Hang the bottle somewhere in the vacinity of the pool/water.

I find this works well.  If you have a lot of hornets/yellow jackets, you may want to put out 2-3 bottle for your front yard and 2-3 bottles for the back yard.  Also when you see the bottles filling up with dead bugs, replace them.  They are not harmful so can be discarded in the trash and you shouldn't have to worry about kids or animals getting into a pesticide.

If you find the nest in the yard, best time to mess with it is during the cooler time of the day (early morning or just before dark) as they don't tend to fly much until it gets warm.  Mix up liquid dish soap and water and pour into the nest.  It's my understanding that the dish soap clogs their airways plus clings to their bodies so they can't fly. 

Hope this helps.

Thanks Sharonc! The TN should publish this helpful and clever remedy. You're even better than Heloise!  

You're welcome.  I don't believe it works on honey bees, just the meat eaters of the bug world.