# Carpenter Bees



## JR Custom Calls (May 10, 2014)

Anybody else have a crazy amount of carpenter bees this year? All of my neighbors have been talking about them. At any given time, you can count 20+ buzzing around my back yard. 

I finally got tired of it and went to google for help. Found a video of a guy showing some bee traps he made. They resemble a birdhouse except there is one 1/2" hole angled slightly up on each of the 4 sides almost at the top, and a water bottle with the bottom cut off stapled on the bottom upside down. 

I'll try and post pics of one I made. So far, caught 5... Making another to put under the swing set where they like to stay.


----------



## manbuckwal (May 10, 2014)

I take they are drawn to the wood and then can't get out ?


----------



## JR Custom Calls (May 10, 2014)

Yeah, it has something to do with wood, the holes, the way the holes are under an overhang... But yeah, they die pretty quick. Not sure of they doe trying to get out or if they fight or what... But they all went in and were dead while I was at work. Just unscrew the cap off the bottle and they fall out. 

My neighbor made one out of plywood and didn't catch any... I made mine of pine. Not sure if wood type has any effect or not, I suppose it could be all about location.

Never ever seen them as bad as they are this year.


----------



## Blueglass (May 10, 2014)

My dad shoots them out of the air with a pellet gun. He also likes to complain his eyes aren't what they used to be and he can't shoot anymore?

Reactions: Funny 1


----------



## JR Custom Calls (May 10, 2014)

Ha. Can't do that here. Pretty sure the developer of this neighborhood missed his calling and should be doing something in optimizing shipping containers for maximum cargo layout... Houses are stupid close to each other.


----------



## ripjack13 (May 10, 2014)

I call em air busses. they are out in full force this year already. i had one hovering next to me for a few minutes doing circles every so often like a territory sweep.


----------



## SENC (May 10, 2014)

An old tennis racket is 10x better than a trap. More fun, too.

Reactions: Like 3 | Funny 4


----------



## manbuckwal (May 10, 2014)

SENC said:


> An old tennis racket is 10x better than a trap. More fun, too.



Posting a video of you actually doing it would be even better

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1 | Funny 1


----------



## shadetree_1 (May 10, 2014)

I can't wait to see the video!

Reactions: Agree 3


----------



## SENC (May 10, 2014)

I'll try to dig out my Jimmy Connors wrist sweat bands.

Reactions: Funny 2


----------



## Wildthings (May 10, 2014)

SENC said:


> An old tennis racket is 10x better than a trap. More fun, too.


I use almost the same thing but a badminton racquet - lighter weight and easier to swing - takes them down fast!!

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## manbuckwal (May 10, 2014)

SENC said:


> I'll try to dig out my Jimmy Connors wrist sweat bands.



Don't forget the shorts too ........

Reactions: Funny 1


----------



## HomeBody (May 11, 2014)

I hate bees. I'd much rather deal with a 6' timber rattler than 1 aggressive bee. Gary


----------



## Blueglass (May 11, 2014)

Doing construction I have seen bees non-stop chase my co-workers while I would climb up a ladder right past the hive. Other than I'm not afraid. I'm not sure what the deal was. It happened several times over the years that I can recall. Even if I were to get stung it's not that bad.


----------



## Sprung (May 11, 2014)

Not gonna lie - bees make me run and hide!  

Of course, I'm also allergic to bee stings...


----------



## JR Custom Calls (May 11, 2014)

These guys supposedly don't sting? But I'm not wanting to find out. An encounter with a hornet nest during my childhood causes me to be very afraid of stings.


----------



## manbuckwal (May 11, 2014)

JR Custom Calls said:


> These guys supposedly don't sting? But I'm not wanting to find out. An encounter with a hornet nest during my childhood causes me to be very afraid of stings.


Hornets are just plain mean ! When I was a kid, I was watching one on the side of our house and the bugger flew off, stung me on the hand n took off in lightning speed ! I hate em and keep a cpl cans of hornet spray (good for black widow too) on hand .


----------



## Mike1950 (May 11, 2014)

Hornets are the worst-at about 13-14 I stepped over a log and on to a ground hornets nest-the suckers started up my leg and before they got you know where I had stripped my pants off and jumped into the beaver pond- rainy day gas and a match was the price they paid- me I got 20 welts.
21 and fighting fire- we all got off the bus and the displaced bees were everywhere. One guy had used his wife's tangerine shampoo that morning - the bee's zeroed in on him he retreated back into bus -end of his fire fighting career. Nobody there avoided multiple stings everyday.


----------



## JR Custom Calls (May 11, 2014)

Here's one I just hung up next to a pile of sawdust where they are boring in to the swing set. Used a Gatorade bottle for easier removal of dead ones.

Reactions: Like 2


----------



## Kevin (May 11, 2014)

Yes - we have them every year but this year has been notably worse. But I haven't seen as many bats as usual and I find that kind of odd because we normally have some bats swarming by now - very few so far. Not many skeeters as usual either but tons of wood bees. 

My wife is paranoid and when one swarms us she gets all scaredy cat and asks "Is that a bumble bee or a wood bee!?" I always tell her a wood bee would be a bee if it had a stinger.

Reactions: Funny 2


----------



## shadetree_1 (May 11, 2014)

They don't seem to bother me but then I'm strange and maybe they can sense the strangeness.

Reactions: Funny 1


----------



## JR Custom Calls (May 11, 2014)

Well, I screwed that one up this morning right before I posted the pic of it. Managed to snag one today, along with another in the other one. Slowly, but surely, I'm going to rid my back yard of them... I hope. I guess they got real busy last year, because they're everywhere. My dad was over the other day and whacked 6 or 7 with a scrap piece of flooring my son had taken to the back yard. 

It looks pretty redneck, but I wanted to use scrap lumber since it's not a decorative piece. Neighbor had given me a big wood wire spool (about 4' diameter) a while back, and I'd taken it apart to use the two ends as table tops. The center pieces were what I used for these. 

I'm guessing regular old bees will be coming around more in the next few years. My dogwood that I set out last year has finally started to take off, and my son and I set out a pear tree this morning for my wife... he wanted to get her a tree for mothers day. Between the trees blooming, all the irises we have, and the 3 big lilac bushes, there'll be a lot of blooms.

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## ironman123 (May 12, 2014)

Jonathan, with the trees blooming and shrubs blooming, your yard should be the prettiest in your neighborhood.

Ray


----------



## ghost1066 (May 12, 2014)

Sprung said:


> Not gonna lie - bees make me run and hide!
> 
> Of course, I'm also allergic to bee stings...



Carpenter bees rarely sting I push them out of the way with my hand. They are terrible here this year, too. A good swing with a 1x3 makes a very satisfying sound when you connect.

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## ripjack13 (May 12, 2014)

The females sting when threatened.....or so says the web.
I usually use my hat.


----------

