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Carpenter Bees

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Species such as paper wasps, bald-faced hornets, honeybees and carpenter bees become pests typically only when nesting in structures or otherwise near human activity. Control is accomplished through nest elimination.

Honeybees are beneficial insects and their nest should only be removed if deep within the walls of a structure. Carpenter bees damage structures by boring into wood to form nesting galleries. They are not social insects and can only be controlled by treating each individual gallery. Simply painting wood surfaces will help to discourage carpenter bees from boring into them.

Hornets and wasps both build paper nests that are best treated directly with insecticides (and/or foam) at night while wearing protective clothing, including a bee veil. When treating paper wasps, it is imperative to treat all individuals, otherwise survivors may rebuild nests in the same area. With all such nest treatments, the nests should be removed soon after treatment to prevent infestation by other insects or rodents. As with other bees and wasps, proofing structures is the best way to achieve effective pest control.

How to Kill Carpenter Bees

During spring when the temperatures start to warm up most homeowners start to notice large, black bees hovering around the outside of their homes. These are probably carpenter bees searching for mates and favorable sites to construct their nests. Male carpenter bees are quite aggressive, often hovering in front of people who are around the nests. The males although aggressive are quite harmless since they lack stingers. Female carpenter bees can inflict a painful sting but seldom will, unless they are handled.

The Carpenter Bee is more of a destructive insect versus honey bees who are more likely to sting in large numbers.

Carpenter bees resemble bumble bees, but the upper surface of their abdomen is bare and shiny black; bumble bees have a hairy abdomen with at least some yellow markings and much more of a waistline.

Carpenter and bumble bees might resemble each other but their nesting habits of the two types of bees are quite different. Bumble bees will usually nest in the ground; carpenter bees will tunnel into wood to lay their eggs. Bare, unpainted or weathered softwoods are preferred especially redwood, cedar, cypress and pine. Painted or pressure-treated wood is much less susceptible to attack of carpenter bees. Common nesting sites include eaves, window trim, facia boards, siding, wooden shakes, decks and outdoor furniture.

The entrance hole and tunnels are perfectly round and about the diameter of your finger. Sawdust the color of fresh cut wood will often be present beneath the entry hole, and burrowing sounds may be heard from within the wood. Female carpenter bees may excavate new tunnels for egg laying, or enlarge and reuse old ones.

Carpenter Bee Control

Carpenter bees prefer to attack wood which is bare, weathered and unpainted. Therefore, the best way to control carpenter bees is to paint all exposed wood surfaces, especially those which have a history of being attacked. Wood stains and preservatives are less reliable than painting, but will provide some degree of repellency versus bare wood. To further discourage nesting, garages and outbuildings should be kept closed when carpenter bees are actively searching for nesting sites.

Using liquid insecticides to apply to areas that have become attractive to the carpenter bee can be used and retreatment applied every few weeks. Products like Tempo SC and Demand SC are both great choices as they are very effective.

Tunnels from Carpenter Bees which have already been excavated are best treated by puffing an insecticidal dust Tempo SC, and Delta Dust are great dust for use in the nest opening. Aerosol sprays labeled for wasp or bee control also are effective. Leave the hole open for a few days after treatment to allow the bees to contact and distribute the insecticide throughout the nest galleries. Plug the opening later with caulks, wood putty, wooden dole rounds, etc.

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Carpenter bees look an awful lot like bumblebees, and you'll often need a second glance to make sure which one you're looking at.

Since both bees have bodies larger than their wings neither one looks like flying is a viable option for them. Every time one takes to the air it defies physical laws. But the visible difference is in the arrangement of the colors on these bee's bodies.

Both have bands of black and yellow, the yellow on the carpenter bee is dull compared to the brighter yellow of the bumblebee. You'll find yellow on the bumblebees abdomen, but the carpenter bee abdomen is black.

Also, the black abdomen of the carpenter bee is smooth and shiny. A bumblebee is hairy, giving its abdomen a fuzzy, dull look.

These bees have different nesting habits too. The bumblebee builds its nest in the ground, or often in brush piles.

One late summer day as I mowed the grass I pushed the mower past a brush pile, and suddenly felt slight pain just above my ankle. I thought at first a mosquito bit me, but the pain was a bit more intense than mosquito bites. I didn't pay it much attention at first, but after a couple more passes (and a couple more pain hits) I looked down and noticed some welts on my legs.

Looking around I noticed a number of small bees flying in and out of that pile of brush. Checking closer I realized they were baby bumblebees.

Studying the brush in the area of their entry and exit point I discovered a nest in the brush pile, which didn't take long to eliminate once I knew what I dealt with.

Carpenter bees nest inside the wood of your structures, or in fence rails of wooden fences, even inside logs of woodpiles.

Carpenter bees chew their way into the wood from the bottom. They don't eat the wood, they discard it as they drill a tunnel a few inches upward, then make a 90-degree turn and continue digging their tunnel horizontally inside the rail, or beam, or log.

After they tunnel a while they lay their eggs at the inner end, then use the discarded sawdust from their drilling to build a wall, creating a compartment to protect the eggs until they hatch.

If carpenter bees use your buildings to establish their "nurseries," and you let this go on too long, you'll have enough tunnels inside your support beams to weaken your structure. Eventually the building will collapse.

Bumblebee stings, from adult bees, hurt. This is one bee to stay away from.

Here again there's a difference between the bumblebee and the carpenter bee. Male carpenter bees don't sting. The female carpenter bee has stinging abilities, but you really gotta make her mad, and that's tough to do.

But like I said, these bees look a lot alike, and if you get close enough to identify which bee you're looking at, you're most likely close enough for the bumblebee to nail you.

Joe Jackson is an experienced pest control technician and author of BEE BE GONE, a how to guide for performing do-it-yourself pest control for controlling bees, wasps, and hornets. Find other pest control ebooks by Joe at http://www.bugsmiceratsnomore.com

Carpenter Bees

A Crash Course on How to Get Rid of Carpenter Bees

Carpenter bees (the genus Xylocopa in the subfamily Xylocopinae) are large, hairy bees distributed worldwide. There are some 500 species of carpenter bees in 31 subgenera. Their name comes from the fact that nearly all species build their nests in burrows in dead wood, bamboo, or structural timbers (except those in the subgenus Proxylocopa, which nest in the ground). Members of the related tribe Ceratinini are sometimes referred to as "small carpenter bees".

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Carpenter Bees