Dealing With Carpenter Bees
May 31, 2009 by Katelyn Thomas
Filed under Home & Living
Every year, the carpenter bees bypass an entire woodland next to my house and the untreated piece of wood I set up for them to drill holes in and head straight to my fascia board. Every year, I discover their return when I get rained on by sawdust from their holes as they drill into the fascia board directly over the French doors.
Photo: SXC
I tried caulking the holes shut or spraying foam insulation in them when the bees are gone, but, despite what I’ve heard about plugging the holes to get rid of them, they just come back and make a hole beside the plugged one. I guess it is easier to just drill in until they reach their tunnels than it is to start the whole job from scratch elsewhere.
I have also tried completely replacing the wood or painting it with fresh paint. Nothing worked. So, I’m thinking about slapping on some aluminum siding over the fascia instead of leaving the exposed wood. I really don’t want to kill the carpenter bees because they are gentle giants and have taken up a lot of slack from the honey bee crowd. But I really don’t want to have my house damaged year after year, either. So, fingers crossed. Maybe the siding will discourage them and they’ll head to the nice big piece of wood I set out for them.
Have you ever had to discourage these comical, fascinating bees? Did anything but pesticide work for you?
Good grief….I never even knew that there was anything other than honey-bees (unless you count killer-bees)!
I happened to foam the hole while the bee was inside. 1 bee waited for the foam to dry/harden, and then drilled his way out of it. The other bee just couldn’t wait for it to harden. I came back later to find the bee laying on the ground stuck to the wet foam trying to get loose. I put him out of his misery since I KNOW he wasn’t about to get loose.
I have had some luck with caulking the holes also.
Nina,
Yes, there are quite a few different bees. They’re really interesting little critters, but I prefer not to have them as residents!
Betsy,
I guess that is why the foam isn’t working. If they can drill right through it, it won’t stop them.
As a child I actually had the rare privelidge of being stung by the A.K.A Bumble Bee Now the Infamous Carpenter…I have a fence that was built in the late sixties made entirely of wood forunately no one in our house has ever been stung while living here. It’s been forty something years and they still
thrive at my parents house. The big problem is that they now have made holes
in the trim of my house and I’ve tried pluggin up the holes and to no sucess.
I actually sprayed weed and bug killer through the underside of their nesting areas and was very sucessful in killing may of them. I did’nt mind them using our fence since they were dwelling in them before we bought the house. It just seemed natural. I’m actually going to remodel my parents old home so all foundations trim will be removed even the carpenter bees that been around for over thirty eight years. What’s interesting here is that these bees have protected my home since moving here as a child I’m not sure I’d want them to completely disappear. Once upon a time a childhood friend showed me a trick by actually catching one it was a male the males are the black ones the queen is the yellow or gold looking. But any way he held the bee in two hands cupped and guess what he never got stung. I have never nor will I understand how that it possible since I was stung as child by one of these wood drilling dwellers. Of couse if your wondering I tried to kill one while coming home from school one afternoon I took off my t-shirt and trapped one and didn’t see which way it was coming out and put my hand directly on him and he got me
good on my thumb, that day and for many days my thumb was swollen, it was huge and ouch!!! never again. There’s a part of the Bumble bee in me and seems they’re every where I go. Since then I’ve stung by honey bees and yellow
jacket wasps and I’ve had many stories about them. Oh wells I hope you liked the story it’s all true. There are many bee exterminators out there just check your yellow pages. Normally they charge a set fee of $80.00 to $160.00.
It’s worth it.
I did not know about carpenter bees, but we do have carpenter ants. Which I have discovered how to get rid of.