If you're seeing stink bugs everywhere in your home, you're not alone.

But they're not coming in from outside stink bugs have probably been hibernating in your attic or basement all winter long.

Rather than working their way into homes in the spring, stink bugs are emerging from hidden places in homes, said Greg Krawczyk, entomologist at the Penn State Fruit Research and Extension Center in Biglerville.

"When people see them right now the stink bugs are trying to get out of the house," Krawczyk said. "Then they will start coming into the house in September and October."

Last year, they did not come out of shelter until mid-May or June, but the early warm temperatures are drawing them out sooner this year, Krawczyk said.

The mild winter will cause the population to increase simply because the warm weather led them to come out of hibernation earlier, he said.

"The weather outside right now will help them survive better in the spring," said Krawczyk.

Brown marmorated stink bugs have five stages of growth, he said.

"The size of the young stink bugs after they hatch from eggs look almost like ticks," Krawczyk said. "The adults are the ones that have wings."

Particularly bad outbreaks of stink bugs are often localized within York County, said Eydie Shafer, a master gardener at the Penn State Cooperate Extension in York County.

For instance, Shafer said there could hypothetically be a concentrated population in Dover, but Spring Grove might not have as many that season.

Shafer advises people not to kill stink bugs inside their homes, but to get rid of them outside.

Using pesticide inside can kill the stink bugs, but if they die in places a homeowner does not see them, Shafer said the protein of that stink bug carcass draws other insects such as carpet beetles into the home.

-- Reach Chelsea Shank at 505-5432 or cshank@yorkdispatch.com.