Natural Way To Get Rid Of Bees Without Killing Them – That’s why Best Bee Brothers specializes in natural solutions for getting rid of carpenter bees and other pests. Try some of our favorite ways to repel carpenter bees naturally all year long.

To make setup easier, we recommend the Total Bee-Fense Kit. Includes a wooden cork to cover pre-existing holes and a Bee-Destroyer to remove any hibernating larvae in the nest tunnels. The kit can also be used in the spring and the citrus spray will help protect outdoor wood areas that are not ideal for nesting (such as wood patio furniture).

Natural Way To Get Rid Of Bees Without Killing Them

Even though the initial nesting season is over, you can still prevent future carpenter bee occupancy during the remaining summer months. The key to controlling carpenter bees is to treat any existing bee nests. Although the mating season has generally ended in the northern states1, carpenter bees continue to build nests and produce young throughout the summer. Any nest you see, old or new, should be treated immediately. To successfully treat a carpenter bee nest, you must force the bees out and kill the larvae.

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While we prefer not to use any type of pesticide to treat carpenter bee nests, you can use a natural mineral called diatomaceous earth. Carpenter bees, like any insect with an exoskeleton, will die when exposed to DE. Diatomaceous earth takes its name from the fossilized aquatic organisms it is composed of, called diatoms2. This silica-containing mineral, when used for pest control, comes in powder form. When the sharp edges of small particles come into contact with the insect’s exoskeleton, DE absorbs the oils and fats on their bodies, dehydrating and killing them. However, due to its silica content, dust must be applied carefully and using appropriate personal protective equipment, including gloves, goggles and a respirator to avoid inhalation. Although DE dust is not toxic to humans, it is very dangerous when inhaled, and should not be used anywhere it may encounter pets or people, or where it could be blown into the environment. Follow manufacturers’ instructions carefully when applying DE.

Once the nest no longer contains any active carpenter bees, follow the fall preparation steps above to plug the nest holes and prevent carpenter bees from repopulating the nests you treated. If you leave your nests untouched all summer, woodpeckers will peck at the nest looking for carpenter bee larvae, making the damage go from bad to worse.

By the end of summer and early fall, male carpenter bees that have not yet found a mate will become more active as they search for a home to hibernate in for the winter. This begins the final search for a home for the Carpenter Bees’ second season. During this time, it is very likely that many males will find their way to unattached nests for an easy and safe home. Although males do not cause the level of damage that females do, it is important to catch the males before they move into your home.

Removing carpenter bees naturally is not difficult when you have the right tools. Be proactive and hang your best bee traps in early spring. Remember to take immediate action if you see any nests or damage, and be sure to keep your traps up until fall to get through the second little season. Like all bee species, carpenter bees are valuable to our ecosystem and incredibly effective pollinators. But unlike other bees, they can be loud, messy and annoying in your home and garden if they start burrowing into the wood and causing damage. Here’s what you need to know about carpenter bees, how they work, and what to do to get rid of them for good (without resorting to toxic chemicals).

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The humble bee is an important part of the many miniature ecosystems that allow nature’s wheels and gear to keep turning and the world to keep running. If we took the bee out of the global equation, the impact on humanity and every other living thing on Earth would be catastrophic.

We need bees much more than they will ever need us, but as much as we depend on them, some bee species have unique nesting and mating behavior that can be a nuisance in the yard.

Carpenter 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 honey bees).

They are one of the largest native bee species in the United States (a distinction they share with bumblebees) and are often confused with bumblebees. But while they are both large (about 1/2 to 1 inch), their appearance is very different.

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The carpenter bee is less hairy than the bumblebee. It has a shiny black belly, a fuzzy yellow chest with a bald spot in the middle of its back, and a black head. The male has a white spot on his face.

Although they do not conform to the same social structure as the majority of bee species, carpenter bees still follow the same hierarchical structure, and the female always takes the lead.

The female of this species is neither defensive nor aggressive, but can bite if provoked. Their job is to dig small tunnels in the wood to lay their eggs and raise the larvae to adulthood.

The male, on the other hand, is very aggressive but talks and does not bite, that is, he may attack a potential threat (such as bees, other insects and even humans) but cannot sting. Her job is to guard the entrance to the tunnels (hoping to catch a mate).

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Carpenter bees aren’t particularly particular about where they nest, which means that when spring is in the air and mating season arrives, there’s a very good chance that a perennial carpenter bee will choose to make her nest in a rather inconvenient place — like the woodwork around your house.

But they chew wood (and spit the particles back) to build their nesting chambers, an activity that can be noisy, messy, and a nuisance on your property.

The easiest way to tell if you’ve been visited by carpenter bees is if you start seeing small, random piles of sawdust or loose mulch around the wood surfaces outside your home — especially sawdust near or just below small holes.

You may hear a muffled buzz inside the wood (as the bees dig their tunnels) and you may see some large, fuzzy bees flying around your wood eaves, wood fence or wood deck.

How To Get Rid Of Carpenter Bees Without Killing Them

Those little piles of sawdust are byproducts of bee digging. Where there is sawdust, there will almost certainly be holes.

To tell if these are just random holes or the skilled work of a carpenter, look for sticky, dark, yellowish-brown, or black spots around the holes; This is bee droppings (feces).

The holes are about 1/2 inch in diameter and so perfectly round, you might even mistake them for holes drilled with a power tool.

Carpenter bees prefer to burrow in unvarnished softwoods such as pine, cypress, fir, cedar and redwood. (Although some species will also burrow in hardwoods such as oak or eucalyptus.)

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

From the outside, carpenter bee damage looks like a simple puncture. But the hole is just the entrance to a network of branching tunnels built by several bees.

The female carpenter bee begins using her mandibles (mouth) to vibrate against wood grains, carving out small, sawdust-like pellets. It extends about a half-inch into the wood, then turns 90 degrees and “carves” a long tunnel that follows the grain of the wood. One tunnel is usually about 6 inches long but can extend up to 12 inches.

The female can take on just over half an inch of wood per week, and sometimes you can hear her furiously chewing through the wood.

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One hole can be used by several nesting females, with each bee having its own tunnel branching off from the main tunnel. Inside each tunnel there are from 6 to 10 cells. The female mixes pollen and nectar to form what looks like “bee bread,” lays an egg on top of the bee bread, and then seals each cell with chewed wood.

Since the female likes to keep a clean nest, she pushes all the excess wood pellets and feces out of the tunnel, resulting in the piles of sawdust and the brown sticky streaks you see outside the holes.

A single tunnel bored by a carpenter bee is unlikely to cause any significant damage to your home or other wooden structure. The initial drilling may not be aesthetically pleasing, but it will not affect stability.

However, female carpenter bees prefer to use the same nesting sites as their mothers, and may return to their nests to overwinter before enlarging and enlarging their tunnels the following spring.

Ways To Get Rid Of Carpenter Bees

If the same tunnel has been used before

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