BUMBLE BEE HOLES slightly off topic

[cb]

searching for wisdom here. i have open lean too off my shop. the bumbles bees are having a boring good time, drilling holes eveywhere on the rafters. anybody know of a solution/cure for these hole borers. thanks for the advice

 

[jd b puller]

Go to The Home Depot. In the Chemical isle in Garden get a small bottle of "Termite and Carpenter Ant Killer". It"s in a green bottle. Very Toxic, only use it outside away from windows. You dilute it with water and put it in a sprayer. Spray the holes.

 

[LeJo]

You really don't want to kill bumblebees ,first see if you can dicourage them from coming in the building. Call your local Agricultural Agent or
Consultant first. One of them would know who to contact if they themselves wouldn't know.

 

[Anonymous-0]

This post comes up often now. Into each hole, insert a mothball (paradichlorobenzine). End of problem!

 

[Anonymous-0]

Those are not bumble bees but carpenter bees. Read about them here:
Carpenter Bees

 

[Chris Jones]

just squirt WD40 in the hole. If the bee is in there he'll come out and die. If it isn't he will not go back in that hole.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I can't help but wonder how much those holes weaken a structure. . . We have the same problem and WD-40 seems to work. Wife buys those super cheap badminton rackets for me. I have one hanging in each lean-to. I'm easily entertained, I guess. I can swat 25 in about 15 minutes. Makes little cubes out of them. I know bees are benificial, but how did they survive before barns were built, especially pine purlins and rafters??

 

[IH2444]

I spray the carpenter bee areas of my sheds with a good strong insecticide soloution. They eat the poison wood and die, end of bees.

btw paint works as well, they do not bore holes in painted wood.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I had a cedar siding home and was having a severe problem with carpenter bees. I had a similar problem with my barn. I did a lot of researching and experimenting and decided it was best to discourage them rather then kill the ones you have. After you spray or poison them there will be others. What I did was fill the holes with "Bondo" auto body filler. This is easy to use is less expensive and has hundreds of other uses. These pests seem to bore where other have---remove the evidence hole, and most will go away.

 

[Anonymous-0]

You may find Carbaryl in Vegetable dust.Great for killing the European wasp[agressive]. best done at night with red light.Not White or you're in trouble.

 

[IH2444]

You can make a carpenter bee killer.

I once time in another and location painted a small black spot on the soffit. Drove a nail to either side of it and hooked a neon sign transformer to the nails, ground to one side and hot to the other. The bees cannot resist the black spot and with the nails close to the hole and the bee in the middle, well I think you can figure it out. In a weeks time I created quite a pile of dead bees.

 

[cb]

well, i'm somewhat overwhelmed at the responce. i have heard of carpenter bees but never connected them to the problem that i have of holes in my rafters.i am certain they are the cause. thanks for the several solutions offered. i will get started come monday. i might even try to borrow a tennis racket, but, i certainly will not tell for what i intend to use it for. thanks to all. have a good day.

 

[Anonymous-0]

As stated, it's generally not necessary to kill Carpenter bees... they are usually non-aggressive and only the females can sting. Even with females it typically takes some provoking. The females are the ones that bore the holes, for their nest.

Usually, the bees that hover somewhat threateningly at about head level are typically the males, and they actually won't (can't) sting. They're hanging around looking for girl friends as I understand it. This can be intimidating though, if one is not aware of what's going on.

We have a lot of Carpenter bees and I paint the exposed surfaces that attract them with a good heavy coat of paint, usually latex. This works fine as a prevention. Any holes I come across I simply fill with a good latex caulk.

 

[bc]

"Usually, the bees that hover somewhat threateningly at about head level are typically the males, and they actually won't (can't) sting. They're hanging around looking for girl friends as I understand it. This can be intimidating though, if one is not aware of what's going on."

Sounds like the kids that hang around up on main street at midnight. Shows I'm getting old when its hard to relate to those kids and dragging main anymore. Which is exactly what I used to do many a moon ago at that age.

 

[Anonymous-0]

It's easy to spot the males. They have a white spot on their heads. The females don't

Carpenter bees look like bumblebees, but carpenter bees have a smooth body. Bumblebees have a hairy body.

 

[cb]

thanks for all the info. i dont know if i can plug all the holes, since the bees have been at it since i built the shed about 4 yrs. ago. it beginning to look like a sieve[is that spelled right]..i will try some of the suggestions. have a good day.

 

[Anonymous-0]

"Usually, the bees that hover somewhat threateningly at about head level are typically the males, and they actually won't (can't) sting. They're hanging around looking for girl friends as I understand it. This can be intimidating though, if one is not aware of what's going on."

Sounds like the kids that hang around up on main street at midnight. Shows I'm getting old when its hard to relate to those kids and dragging main anymore. Which is exactly what I used to do many a moon ago at that age.


Now THAT'S funny...

 

[BigMarv1085inGa.]

I mix seven dust and vaseline in a empty caulking tube. Press some in the hole and they stick their heads into it, it sticks to them and they go off and die. I believe that they live a 3 year cycle.