# carpenter bee "explosion"



## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

GetOut said:


> I have a carpenter bee infestation in my privacy fence. I've ordered Brian's bee traps and bee butter for a longer term solution. But a few weeks ago dusted the holes which killed off a round of bees. I did not plug up the holes. Now, at a few of these nesting sites, I have what looks like an explosion. There are splinters up to 4" long! All going outward. I've never heard woodpeckers close to the house, but they are here in northern Alabama. Any ideas on what could have caused this, and how to prevent this from happening at the other nesting sites?


My extended family is in the bee business. They raise honey. I haven't visited in awhile but they know what I want when I come. And I reach my hand into a hive and grab a piece of honey comb dripping with amber stuff. I've been stung by bees but never at the honey farm. 

I know something about bees. Carpenter bees are beyond nasty and overly protective. I honestly do not know if they can sting. From experience not one has ever stung me even will buzzing and acting nasty.

Carpenter bees are great drill bits. They can dig out perfect holes in no times. Other than that they are just annoying and stupid. From my limited perspective as to what they are up to. 

Other creatures know to look at the holes they make. That wood splintering was not done by a carpenter bee. 

Got any squirrels near you. They are notorious for finding any open hole and expanding it. 










Buy a caulking gun and some silcone caulk and fill the holes. And call an exterminator that knows killing bees of any kind is not good. Just have him or her move them.

Bees are part of our food chain in a major way. Unexplained their numbers diminish. They buzz around from flower to flower and provide us with things like at least most fruits we eat.


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

The junk your using is going to do almost nothing.
Order some Timbor on line or just buy bottles or Roach Away, it's 95% boric acid.
Mix it up in the hotest water you can get in a pump sprayer, and shake it up real gooo and spray in on the whole fence.
Any exterminator can also do it for you.
Once it drys the fence will look the same but if the bees eat the wood it kills them by dehydrating them.

The added damage to your fence is from Wood Peckers going after the larvi still in the hole when you killed just the bee.


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## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

This Winter was not kind in helping to control the creepy critter & flying critter population. Your best bet is to find some local bug & critter control company, that can help to not only show you how to control them, but can put down the right stuff. We got lucky when we first bought our house, and the company that came in to take care of some Silverfish and to help control "Flying Cockroaches" that were getting into our basement, left us with the good stuff that was no longer on the market back in 2003.


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef611.asp


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## James444 (Oct 5, 2019)

I also not believe that carpenter bees made those hole. The culprit is most likely a squirrel . And oh, Do Carpenter bees sting? Of course, yes. The female sting but the males which are overly protective do not possess stingers.

Call in an exterminator. What part of the country in ? I might be able to connect you with someone that does this for a living.

Cheers,


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

I've had good results dusting carpenter bee holes with sevin dust. While I often plug their holes on the house I never do on the barn.


Carpenter bees do more than just drill a perfect hole. Once they enter the wood they turn and hollow out however big a chamber they think they need to lay eggs. I've replaced boards that were severely hollowed out. While they don't like pressure treated wood they will attack it on occasion. 



Woodpeckers can destroy wood if they sense bugs inside it.


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## MMCK5 (Oct 2, 2018)

Timbor is ineffective on carpenter bees since they do not consume the wood.

It sounds like a woodpecker found the larvae and pecked away to get to them .

You need to get drione dust and a bellows duster and treat the holes. Wait a few days to seal the holes that way other bees outside the hole can come back and enter the hole and get dusted. 

You can prevent them from coming back by spraying nbs 30 on the fence. This is a non toxic citronella based chemical that the bees hate. It can be mixed with the stain or paint when the fence is re coated.


I own a log home and the drive/nbs-30 has eliminated about 99% of the bees


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## Scottg (Nov 5, 2012)

Some Permithin goo in the holes should rid you of the current problem. Worked on our deck railings. Sorry, don't remember where we got the stuff, but it came in this syringe like thing so we got in there good.

Then we stained the rails. No problem as long as we freshen the stain every few years. The deck itself is Azec so no problem there. Next time, won't be so cheap and will go Azec on the rails as well. As for fence ours is plastic; not quite as beautiful as wood, but zero bug issues. For wood fence, it may be too much to stain it. But maybe there's some light coating of something stain like you could use a paint sprayer to deploy. As long as not too much overspray it shouldn't damage much grass/bushes/flowers or whatever. But... it's only going to work for a few years before it weathers off in places.


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

I've always heard that paint will stop carpenter bees but I've seen lots of holes in painted/stained wood. I was painting a new house where when I went back the next day to apply the 2nd coat there was a holed bored in the wood from a bee. I've even seen holes in PT lumber.


If you actively fight them you might not completely get rid of them but you'll drastically reduce their numbers.


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## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

mark sr said:


> I've always heard that paint will stop carpenter bees but I've seen lots of holes in painted/stained wood.


I have read that stain won't do much to slow down carpenter bees, but paint will. I think oil based paint is preferred. I used brush-on roofing tar on the bottom of my deck joists (they seem to prefer coming up from the bottom). So far, so good.


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## ktkelly (Apr 7, 2007)

user1007 said:


> I know something about bees. Carpenter bees are beyond nasty.



Actually they are not nasty, and are important to our existence.





> Bees are part of our food chain in a major way. Unexplained their numbers diminish. They buzz around from flower to flower and provide us with things like at least most fruits we eat.



Pesticides are commonly believed to be a big reason for the decline in bee population. We put some godawful chemicals on damn near everything in our hunt for the perfect world, not being satisfied with the world we've been given.



With this link below you and others will know more about bees, as most people have no understanding of these particular bees that ARE very important:


https://thehoneybeeconservancy.org/why-bees/carpenter-bees/


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## Scottg (Nov 5, 2012)

SPS-1 said:


> I have read that stain won't do much to slow down carpenter bees, but paint will. I think oil based paint is preferred. I used brush-on roofing tar on the bottom of my deck joists (they seem to prefer coming up from the bottom). So far, so good.


I didn't know anything about paint. But had been told stain would stop them. And it did. We had several holes drilled in some new deck railings prior to staining; which we'd intended to do anyway. (Luckily the floorboards themselves are Azec.) Anyway, we found the permethrin stuff, injected that, which killed the current problem. After staining... zero recurrence.


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

I think you just got lucky as I've had them bore holes in both stained and painted wood.


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