Carpenter Bees

Those **** bees are drilling perfect little holes in our new bar roof. I would go out in the afternoon and find what looked like sawdust on the floor in spots. I was getting peeved at DH because I thought he was working on stuff and leaving the mess. I had NO IDEA those little buggers could make holes like that! :shock: We are getting ready to shove sevin dust into the holes and plug them up. Hope that works. My husband has waged war on them. One evening he saw one of them go into a new hole while we were outside eating dinner. He stuck a small flag from the kids toy golf set up in the hole. The flag was hanging upside down sticking out of the hole in the roof. Don't you know that bee got p***ed and started trying to get the flag out! That little plastic flag was wiggling all around in the hole and he was making an angry noise. He couldn't get it out though. We just sat and laughed as the flag kept moving. :twisted:
 
The dust can be helpful, but Carpenter bees are very difficult to get rid of. They usually just laugh at you when you spray traditional wasp/hornet spray. The problem is that the tunnels can be very long. The bees tunnel 90 degrees off the main tunnel, lay eggs and then seal that area. That is why it is so hard to kill the larvae. Even when you seal the holes, they will drill new ones to the main tunnel. The holes they drill are almost perfectly symmetrical about 3/8 inch. I've had them in my deck for years and have never been able to get rid of them.

By the way, the males, which guard the nest have no stingers (funny). The females do have a stinger but mostly stay in the nest and are usually not aggressive.
 
I've found that a piece of plastic tubing hooked to the nozzle of a can of wasp spray works wonders. slide the tube up in the run past the 90 turn and fill it up full o' wasp spray, wait about ten seconds, and watch the bee come climbing out , fall to the ground, and die. :twisted: :twisted: Then take a piece of 14 gauge copper wire, run it up in the hole, and work it around to kill the larvae, if it's there. muwhahhahhahhhaaa!!
 
MikeInTN said:
I've found that a piece of plastic tubing hooked to the nozzle of a can of wasp spray works wonders. slide the tube up in the run past the 90 turn and fill it up full o' wasp spray, wait about ten seconds, and watch the bee come climbing out , fall to the ground, and die. :twisted: :twisted: Then take a piece of 14 gauge copper wire, run it up in the hole, and work it around to kill the larvae, if it's there. muwhahhahhahhhaaa!!

Heinous...just absolutely heinous, you awful creature!! :whip: You're enjoying their execution entirely too much :p
 
Cherie said:
MikeInTN said:
I've found that a piece of plastic tubing hooked to the nozzle of a can of wasp spray works wonders. slide the tube up in the run past the 90 turn and fill it up full o' wasp spray, wait about ten seconds, and watch the bee come climbing out , fall to the ground, and die. :twisted: :twisted: Then take a piece of 14 gauge copper wire, run it up in the hole, and work it around to kill the larvae, if it's there. muwhahhahhahhhaaa!!

Heinous...just absolutely heinous, you awful creature!! :whip: You're enjoying their execution entirely too much :p

after watching them bore hole after hole in the floor joists of my new storage buildings, you betcha I enjoy their executions! Plus, I like saying "muwahhhahhahhahhhaa!" :twisted:
 
I have quite a few of these also.... I take a badminton racket and whack them out of mid-air and crush them (to avoid any suffering for the bee).... They are not totally gone yet, but their numbers are down this year... I am winning the battle :)

They are amazing flyers... they hover perfectly and then fly relatively straight for a bee... unfortunately for them, they hover a little too long and can easily be swatted out of the air.
 
To keep the wood bees out of your buildings, paint or spray the wood with copper napthalate. Same stuff in your pressure treated lumber, works like a charm.

It is green, so make sure to cover anything you dont want green...and of course take the proper personal precautions.
 
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