All Replies on impressed by Woodbees

wow that is impressive….i’m not familiar with these creatures either.i spent a lot of years workig with bees but have never seen anything like that…..but bees often return to old sites….and house eaves are a great spot for them….plenty of warmth….but they are hard to discourage. make sure there is nothing left in there that looks like it is related to bees and then i would spray area down with a strong disinfectant which will remove any smell that they could be attracted too.

-- just get stuck in and have a go!!!

Carpenter bees are common in the south. You can sit out on the deck in the summer and hear them chomping away. I haven’t figured out a way to stop them but if you do find an unexplained hole just make sure it’s empty, fill with caulk and paint over.

Ive got them chewing up the eaves at my house as well. They bore tunnels into the wood where they reproduce. They best way is to inject pesticide into the hole and caulk it shut. I like to use a badmitton racket to let em know that they cannot reside in my dwelling unless they are earning a pay check and helping pay the mortgage.

-- "there aren’t many hand tools as awe-inspiring as the #8 jointer. I mean, it just reeks of cast iron heft and hubris" - Smitty

Here’s my story about those critters and how they attacked some saw horse that were outside.

I really freaked out after I brought the saw horses back into the shop during the winter, and several weeks later I started to find dead bees on the floor, or on a window sill. I looked everywhere trying to find where they were coming from. Finally I discovered that they were mostly on the floor underneath the saw horses. Turned a saw horse upside down and there I saw a whole bunch of perfectly drilled holes (that I never made) in the bottom of the 2×4’s. The bees were all gone by then, but what happened is the warm room brought them out of hibernation or whatever the larvae do and they came out and apparently starved to death.

Did some research on the web and talked to the County Agent. The conventional wisdom is that they won’t chew into painted wood, so if you keep the under side of your soffits, eves, siding, etc. well painted you shouldn’t have a problem – or don’t store your unpainted saw horses outside, LOL.

-- Joe

I find ‘em an kill ‘em.

Hang a few pieces piece of raw wood out that you have treated with Bifenthrin such as that in Talstar Pro or if you have any left use Chlordane.

The bees should gravitate to the un-painted wood and the poison will kill them.
Those horrors can knock a house down in short order. The holes they bore can go through and let in other insects like stink bugs and wasps.

When you find a woodbee hole in your house jam a stick in it to kill any eggs or the bee if it’s inside and then fill the hole with putty and paint it.
Leave no surface unpainted. They don’t like paint

The wood bee is one species which proves that extinction can be a good thing.

-- When the moderator chooses sides, his site sucks.

Good advice cr1. If you don’t kill the bees, they come back year after year after year and you get more and more and more of em. They chew up treated lumber after it’s 3 to 4 years old as well. They ignore most wasp sprays unless you get a full stream on them. And make sure you do the stick in the hole to kill the larve! I hadn’t thought about the bait trick, I’m just judicious with a racket.

Royal

Bumping this thread, hoping for some additional information.

I live in a log home, do the math. I need a method to eliminate these little jokers. I’m open to any and all suggestions.

-- My dad and I built a 65 chev pick up.I killed trannys in that thing for some reason-Hog

You need to kill the queen. Smoke works on these just as other bees….they are also dormant at night. I ran into a hive while working on a floor repair job…they were pretty well entrenched in the floor joists…..the owner hired a bee person…thinking that he/she could get them out and put them in a hive….as soon as the bee person saw them…said they were carpenters and had no interest in capturing them (don’t know if that was just to get more money?).....she paid the extra amount…and the bee person removed the queen….the rest of the bees will leave or die without a queen.

-- Woodworking.....My small slice of heaven!

Built my house in 1976 when we could still get real Redwood here in Tennessee. All the exposed wood on my eaves was either Redwood or Western Red Cedar and it was not painted, but stained and coated with Olympic Wood Preservative. That damn stuff must have been like fillet covered with steak sauce to the bees.
They drill into the edge of the boards, perfectly round, 7/16” diameter hole, and go about 2 to 3 inches in, then turn 90 degrees and go another 3 or 4 inches to lay eggs. Woodpeckers watch this and when the eggs hatch they hang on the side of the boards somehow and peck holes in from the face of the boards to get the larva or baby bees or whatever. Just about destroyed my eaves.

I just caulked all the holes up and covered everything with Bher best premium solid color stain with a insecticide/moldicide additive. So far they have stayed away.

-- Michael :-{| Diapers and politicians both need to be changed often; and for the same reason.

I paid a guy before I bought the house & it looks like he just ran around with a tub of wood filler. Some were very high up on the house, so I didn’t mind the largish price tag. I might have to get someone out again. Drag.

-- My dad and I built a 65 chev pick up.I killed trannys in that thing for some reason-Hog

Reggiek,

There are wood bees known as carpenter bees that bore solitariy holes, and there are hornets that some people refer to as wood bees/ wood wasps, that are about 2 inches long with a 1/2 inch stinger..when they are buzzing around your head they seem like they are about 3 feet long and a large hypo for a stinger that build nest in eves and holes and are just evil. Yes, I have to deal with both kinds. Compared to the hornets, I love carpenter bees.

Royal

I am not familiar with the carpenter bees either. But there was some info that I just read on another forum lately.

http://www.carpenterbeesolutions.com/

-- My job is to give my kids things to discuss with their therapist....medic20447@gmail.com

Hey Ken, thanks for that link!

-- My dad and I built a 65 chev pick up.I killed trannys in that thing for some reason-Hog

From what I’ve read, these things aren’t actually bees (though they look a lot like bumblebees) but are instead giant wood boring flies. Don’t know what this might mean in terms of getting rid of them, but at least they don’t sting!

Yes they do!!! You can catch the white faced ones and use them like toys, tie strings to them and let them buzz around…. the black face ones will POP you!!! Black…get back!!!

Royal

I got attacked by hornets once. I mean attacked! We fled in a pickup truck (rushing my friend out who was swelling up like Oprah) and they pursued us! I kid you not. And they HURT, much worse than a bee. I do not like hornets.

-- My dad and I built a 65 chev pick up.I killed trannys in that thing for some reason-Hog

Bertha…..It funny how much of a difference there is in the insect world from the west to east coast. I am glad that those are something that we dont have to deal with here in Cali. I am sure those are not the only bees that are different. The info that I read looks like it might be something worth looking into if there is a problem with those bees and a really simple solution.

PS you might take a look at my addition to the vintage monsters thread

-- My job is to give my kids things to discuss with their therapist....medic20447@gmail.com

Hey, Doug. I’m sorry to be coming to this topic late but unfortunatley, I know all about these!! bees. My wife and I have a log home in about 15 acres of woods and Mother Nature is always trying to take back her property! Those boring bees come around every 2-3 years and start up their natural destruction…at which time I have to call an exterminator, comes over and spreads his “magic dust”.. a white powder that the bees get on their feet and track back to their nest….all dead within 24 hours…until the next time. I believe the last time he used a liquid spray that left the log just slightly tacky. It seems around us they like to bore higher up towards the peeks. Good luck with it.

-- Skip from Batavia, purveyor of fine and exotic sawdust & chips.

Just an oddity here- they will bore into pressure treated lumber like it was half rotten Balsa, the chemicals seem to have little to no effective at all on them, these are some tough little ‘bug’-ers (ok so that was a cheap one). Another indicator to their robust nature- bee killers will not bring them down like they will with wasps etc, in fact I have seen a lot of them take a full blast from just inches away and still live on 12 hours later. Regular fly spray will only kill them in about 24 hours IF you spray them to foam.
What’s worse is that these things are VERY aggresive, they like to hover around near the nest and will react to any movement. The good part is that’s what makes them easy targets for your racket. Sometimes you can miss 2-3 times before they fly off but don’t fret- they will ‘bee’ back in a few minutes.
Alone they pose little threat but run into a hive full and you’ll ‘bee’ in deep s*. Had a neighboor once said she had a bee hive in her exterior water heater room and would I come to look at it, maybe have a way to deal with it? Uh huh, so I open the door and sure enough their they were, looked like maybe 50 of them. Before I could shut the door a half dozen or so came after me so I hauled ass. Usually as soon as a bee thinks
that you are no longer a threat they will terminate the chase and go home, usually. After I’d run a hundred and fifty feet or so in a long hook I slowed and looked behind me, Damn if they wern’t still in chase and closing fast.They finally gave up after they’d run me off a hundred yards.

-- A TOOL JUNKIE- There, I just admited it to myself...

I’ve experienced them as well, though they’re not a huge deal around here (instead we get deer ticks and lyme’s disease… oh joy).

Has anyone considered abandoning their drill press and training the carpenter bees? XD

I live just north of Bertha in a cedar home and those buggers just love the posts on my front porch. I have several coats of CWF on the siding but it seems every few years they come around in droves. They don’t bother the cedar much but love pine, even treated pine.

I keep a can of hornet spray on the front porch. During the evening I often sit with a cup of coffee and the newspaper and can hear them coming (big fellas) soon as they land I nail them with the spray or watch where they go. Shoot the spray in the hole and keep some wood filler handy, plug it up and repeat.

If you walk around the house keep an eye out for sawdust (yes nice big bits of your house) look up for the hole and zap em. That’s entertainment when you live in the country!

-- Mike.... West Virginia. "Man is a tool using animal. Without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all.". T Carlyle

“Straining” them through a badminton racquet is what we do for entertainment.Its very rewarding to see all the half carcasses lying around. By the way, someone said they wont sting, but I have been bitten or stung when I accidentally laid my hand on one. Hurt like HELL!

-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm

‘Has anyone considered abandoning their drill press and training the carpenter bees? XD’

Now yer talkin, since they are yellow and black already I move to name them “Bee-walt”

-- A TOOL JUNKIE- There, I just admited it to myself...

The male don’t sting, but the female do. I have a 3/4” thick plywood paddle (like the ones the shop teachers used to pop your butt in high school) and do “batting practice” when I see these critters. Keeping surfaces painted is a big deterrent but not totally. I’ve had one or two eat there way through the paint.

-- When asked what I did to make life worthwhile in my lifetime....I can respond with a great deal of pride and satisfaction, "I served a career in the United States Navy."

Just watched the video MedicKen linked to. I had to go down to the shop and put one together. It’s hanging outside now. I’m curious to see how it works!

-- Mike.... West Virginia. "Man is a tool using animal. Without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all.". T Carlyle