Do Carpenter Bees Sting? The carpenter bee is a large, black, slow-flying Xylocopa that comes in just about 500 varieties and shows up in the springtime throughout most of the world, including the USA.
It looks like a bumblebee minus the yellow stripes.
(Although a Japanese version of the insect does wear a yellow "vest.
") The male can appear aggressive when guarding the family nest; flying in your face, trying to shoo you away.
But it's strictly bravado because, unlike other bees, he carries no stinger and can't do any damage to you.
The female has a stinger but will use it only when provoked.
Carpenter bees usually emerge from their nests in April or May to mate.
After mating, the male dies, and another female in the nest takes over his guard duty.
The female, not at all bereaved, builds a new nest or occupies an old one which she enlarges, digging new tunnels deeper into the wood, and then depositing her fertilized eggs.
(Bees in the East prefer soft woods; bees in the West prefer redwood, eucalyptus, and oak.
) She seals up the eggs and then flies away and dies.
When the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on stored pollen and nectar.
They grow into adult bees, who leave the nest around the end of summer to collect pollen for the winter.
They then re-enter the nest to hibernate until the next mating season when the whole process is started again.
Carpenter Bee Identification Wasps? So, the carpenter bee is not a killer bee.
Nor is it a honey bee.
And don't confuse them with wasps, which also invade your house for nesting.
Carpenter bee nests appear as perfectly round holes, about the diameter of a finger, chewed in your siding, window frames, fascia, furniture, deck, eaves, or just about any place there is bare wood.
Wasp nests are ugly gray papery tumors that visibly hang from eaves or anywhere that vertical surfaces butt up against horizontal surfaces to form an 'L'.
Wasps are highly aggressive and, because they swarm in their attacks, can even be dangerous.
Here's how to get rid of wasps.
Termites? Unlike termites, carpenter bees do not eat wood, they excavate it.
But even over decades, they can only do a fraction of the damage termites can.
The bees can undermine floor sills and joists and tunnel into supporting studs, as much as 10 feet into the wood.
To add to the damage, woodpeckers are attracted to areas where bees have tunneled, such as siding, poking holes in the wood to dine on bee larvae.
Carpenter nee holes are usually larger than those made by termites.
They also leave sawdust-like wood shavings underneath their tunnel entrances, termites don't because they actually eat the wood.
Here's how to get rid of termites.
Carpenter Bee Control The best defense against carpenter bees is to paint all of your exterior wood surfaces.
Stains or preservatives can help, but paint is better at keeping the bees away.
Just make sure you plug up all of their holes first.
Before sealing the holes, however, dust or spray insecticide into them and leave them open for a couple of days.
(Using borates is ineffective because the bees do not ingest the borate-soaked wood.
) Wear protective clothing to guard against female bee stings or do the spraying or dusting in the evening, when the bees are inactive.
Keep all outbuildings closed during the mating season.
If you just have bees in your wall space, they are not carpenter bees, they're nesting honey bees.
They are no big danger, but if you want to rid yourself of them, fill in all potential entry sites after they become inactive (if you don't, they will return).
If this doesn't work, call a beekeeper to help.
Repairing Carpenter Bee Damage A good method for repairing carpenter bee holes is to shove short lengths of doweling covered with carpenter's glue into each hole and then fill in any gaps with wood putty which can then be sanded to provide an even surface for paint.