Carpenter Bee Holes

These holes were perfectly round and large (~13 mm diameter). Carpenter bees are not social insects. Instead of making a common nest, they drill holes in wood and chew tunnels that contain 6-8 brood chambers for their young. The females place bee bread (pollen mixed with regurgitated nectar) in each chamber, they lay an egg on the food, and then they seal off the chamber. The larvae eat the bee bread, pupate, and eventually emerge as adult bees.

comments (5)

Flown Kimmerling

Lion

They are highly destructive here in the South. We are already worried about our pole barn structure after just a year! Posted 5 years ago
1. Christine Young
  
  Lion
  
  Maybe you're already doing this, but there are some ways to scare them off...You can plug the holes with steel wool. Of course, they can just make new holes though. Carpenter bees hate smells (I can relate), and so you can smear the wood with almond oil ($$$ though). They also hate citrus, so you could spray the wood and inside the holes with lemon essential oil or a homemade citrus spray. Peppermint oil rubbed into the wood is also said to work. I have no idea if any of these things will attract bears though? Another option is to vacuum them out of the holes. Posted 5 years ago
2. 1. Flown Kimmerling
    
    Lion
    
    Way easier said than done here! Haha! Our pole barn is ridiculously tall and requires scaffolding to reach it! We are still discussing how to make this situation better.
    
    Also, no way bears will reach the pole barn roof! Posted 5 years ago, modified 5 years ago
  2. 1. Christine Young
      
      Lion
      
      Ah, I see. I have no idea what a pole barn is...I was imagining a fence post ;P...But, now I'm thinking it's an actual barn-like structure? Are you going to paint/varnish the wood? That may help. But, I've seen them drill regardless of finish. They are said to hate loud noise. You could blast music at them, lol. Posted 5 years ago
    2. 1. Flown Kimmerling
        
        Lion
        
        It is the large structure that shields our camper and houses our solar panels. I don't think the varnish would help much. We tested out a trap that was effective, but I feel awful about using them T_T
        
        It is like this but probably twice as tall
        https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/L56kh52uo9_Dohy0d--aZ01SXajneiZ6oiu9m_pi1m9YiB8tBKSuVLLwIGcYHJYxy8VteR24LQ=w1080-h608-p-no-v0 Posted 5 years ago