How To Get Rid Of Bees In My Siding – Like all Bees, carpenter bees are valuable to our ecosystem and incredibly efficient pollinators. But like other bees, if they start digging into wood and causing damage they can cause loud noises, chaos and anxiety in your home and garden. Here’s what carpenter bees are, how they work, and what to do to get rid of them for good (without using toxic chemicals).

The humble bee is an important part of the many tiny ecosystems that make nature’s cogs and gears turn and the world running. Take bees out of the global equation and the impact on humanity and all other species on Earth will be dire

How To Get Rid Of Bees In My Siding

We need bees more than we do, but as much as we depend on them, some species of bees have unique nesting and mating behaviors that can be a nuisance in the yard.

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Carpet bees are wood-boring insects that burrow into wood to build their nests As solitary insects, they do not live in hives and are not part of a complex social group (like bees).

They are one of the largest species of bees in the United States (a distinction they share with bumblebees) and are often mistaken for bumblebees. But while both are larger in size (about 1/2 to 1/2 inch long), their appearance is quite different

Carpenter bees are less hairy than honey bees It has a shiny black belly, a dull yellow thorax with a bald spot in the middle of the back, and a black head. Males have white spots on their faces

Although they don’t conform to the same social structure that most bee species do, carpenter bees still follow the same hierarchical makeup, with the female always being the leader.

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Females of the species are neither defensive nor aggressive, but can sting if provoked Its job is to lay eggs and dig small tunnels in wood until the larvae mature

The male, on the other hand, is highly aggressive but does all the talking and doesn’t bite – meaning it can attack a potential threat (like other bees, insects, even humans) but it can’t budge. Its job is to guard the entrances to the tunnels (in hopes of snagging a mate).

Carpet bees aren’t particularly picky about the places they nest, meaning that when spring is in the air and mating season arrives, there’s a very good chance that a resident carpet bee may choose to nest in an inconvenient location. The woodwork of your house

But they chew through wood (and spit the particles back out) to build their nests, an activity that can be loud, messy and a nuisance on your property.

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The easiest way to tell if you’ve been visited by carpet bees is if you start to see small, irregular piles or empty hives on wooden surfaces outside your home – especially near small holes or directly under pine.

You may have heard some faint buzzing in the wood (as the bees carried their tunnels) and you may have even seen some large, light fuzzy bees flying over your wooden eaves, wooden fence, or wooden deck.

Those little pieces are the production of bees And where there are bananas, there must be holes

To determine whether these are just random holes or the skilled work of carpenter bees, look for dark, yellowish-brown or black spots around the holes; These are bee droppings

How To Get Rid Of Carpenter Bees

The holes are about 1/2 1/2 inch in diameter and perfectly round, to the point where you could mistake them for holes drilled with a power tool.

Carpet bees prefer to burrow in colored softwoods such as pine, cypress, fir, cedar, and redwood. (Although some species will also drill into hardwood, such as oak or eucalyptus.)

Their holes are commonly found in wood roof shingles, fascia boards, eaves, rafters, siding, decks and railings, fence posts, firewood and outdoor furniture. In the wild, they often make nests in dead trees, stumps and logs

From the outside, carpenter bee damage looks like a simple hole But this hole is only the entrance to a network of branch tunnels made by multiple bees

What’s The Best Way To Rid My Wood Siding Of Carpenter Bees?

The female carpenter bee begins by using her mandibles (potiparts) to vibrate the grain of the wood, carving small granules that look like sawdust. It goes about half an inch into the wood, then turns 90-degrees and “drills” a long tunnel along the grain of the wood. A tunnel is usually about 6 inches long but can extend up to 12 inches

Females can carry more than half an inch of wood a week, and sometimes you can even hear them furiously chewing through the wood.

A single hole may be used by multiple nesting females, with each bee having its own tunnel branching out from the main branch. Each tunnel contains 6 to 10 cells The female mixes pollen and nectar to create a type of “bee bread,” lays an egg on top of the bee bread, then seals each cell with a piece of chewed wood.

Since the female likes to keep a clean nest, she pushes all the extra wood granules and her own pup out of the tunnel, resulting in the nut and stick strikes you see outside the hole.

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By itself, a tunnel bored by a carpenter bee is unlikely to cause any significant damage to your home or other wooden structures. Initial excavation may not be aesthetically pleasing, but it will not compromise stability

However, female brood bees prefer to use the same nesting sites as their mothers, and may return to their nests the following spring before growing and expanding the tunnels.

If the same tunnel is used by multiple carpenter bees over several years, it can stretch up to 10 feet in length, severely weakening the wood.

Woodpeckers also like to eat carpenter bee larvae and cause more damage by tearing up wood to get to the nest.

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Therefore, it is always a good idea to stop carpenter bees as soon as you see them roaming your property.

Carpet bees are incredibly efficient pollinators and an important part of your garden’s ecosystem, and as long as they are left alone, they pose absolutely no threat to you.

Once they sink, it’s too late to do anything about the bees there You have to leave them and leave the nest after the next generation of bees have hatched and grown.

Therefore, the best way to get rid of carpenter bees is to prevent them from being there in the first place The following methods for controlling them are non-toxic and safe to use around children and pets

What Type Of Bees Are These? There Are About Eight, Barely Moving, Inside On My Windowsill That Appeared Out Of Nowhere Over The Course Of The Day. Connecticut, Us.

Attempting to control bee infestations using pesticides, insecticides or toxic chemicals should be a last resort and should be avoided if possible.

This is not only to help pollinator populations in your yard, but also for health and environmental reasons

It sounds crazy, but the simple truth is that if you paint your fences, decking, and any other wooden buildings and surfaces that carpenter bees might be tempted to nest in, they will go elsewhere.

Why? Because carpenter bees are put off by wood that has been chemically treated (which makes it more challenging to penetrate).

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Painting is such a simple solution and works so well that it’s always my #1 recommendation for preventing bees from building nests.

Another tip: If you’re building a new structure or replacing old or damaged lumber, use pressure-treated lumber instead of untreated lumber. Or, consider synthetic materials like vinyl, Trex, or Hardiplank if you don’t want the ongoing maintenance of paint.

Many insects are sensitive to the aroma of citrus essential oils, including carpenter bees. The strong scents of orange, lemon, lime, lemon, bergamot, and grapefruit are strong enough to repel them, yet safe enough to use around your home as natural bee repellants.

Using citrus as a preventative can be labor-intensive (especially if you’re making citrus sprays a few times a season), so I recommend this method along with other preventative measures.

How To Get Rid Of Carpenter Bees

Hang wind chimes (or anything that vibrates and makes noise) in areas where carpenter bees may nest.

Similarly, you can also install external speakers in potential problem areas (as long as you remember to turn them on frequently). The vibrations from the sounds coming out of the speakers are enough to distract the bees, causing them to scramble or move away from their nests altogether.

So put on that external sound system you’ve always wanted and load up your favorite playlist or podcast!

Disclosure: All products on this page are independently selected If you buy from one of my links, I may earn a commission Method #4: Seal the holes

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Each new generation of carpenter bees emerges at the end of summer Bees forage from their hives in August and September

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