Introduction To Wood Bees

Wood bees are often called carpenter bees. When people see bees flying around their houses they assume they’re bumble bees. In all likelihood these insects are carpenter bees. Carpenter bees look a lot like bumble bees. They are about ½ to 1 inch long and are usually black and yellow – sometimes black and orange. Unlike bumble bees, they are not social insects. Wood bees have a shiny, black abdomen that’s hairless. Bumble bees have hairy abdomens and much of the hair is yellow. Bumble bees live underground and wood, or carpenter bees, live in nests in trees or in buildings. They’re often found hanging around the eaves of a house or drilling into the wood.

Male wood bees can’t sting. Most of the wood bees one encounters are males. They will approach people who swat at them, or hover around people, but can’t sting. Even the females, who are quite capable of stinging, normally will not unless extremely provoked.

As gentle as they may be, wood bees can cause plenty of damage to a house. They don’t eat wood. It’s not the initial drilling into one’s home that causes the damage. It’s the tunnels built by brood each year that expand tunnels and branch out into one’s home. This can cause structural damage. They also defecate inside the home, causing stains.

Wood bees prefer unpainted areas such as telephone poles, doors, windows, eaves of roofs, railings, and even unpainted lawn furniture.

When a queen wood bee begins her home, she drills a circular hole, about half an inch around, into her wooden item of choice. This hole will usually be against the grain of the wood. When it’s about an inch deep, the bee will turn at a right angle and start tunnelling with the grain.

During the winter, these holes are used as nests for hibernation for male and female bees. After spring mating, the bees either enlarge old tunnels or make new tunnels to use as brood chambers. Each chamber contains a little bee bread (a combination of pollen and regurgitated nectar) which feeds the larvae. Then an egg will be laid on the bee bread and the chamber is sealed. Most females use six to eight chambers. When the eggs hatch, the larvae develop and leave the nest in August, feed, and return to the tunnels for the winter hibernation.

Because wood bees are destructive to homes, most homeowners want to get rid of them. If the entrance to the tunnels is found, an insecticidal dust can be sprayed into the tunnel. Dusters are available that puff dust into the tunnel and coat the sides with the dust. After treatment, the homeowner should launder everything that he wore. The poisonous insecticide may have settled on his clothing.

The best time to dust wood bee tunnels is at night. Bees are not active then. Tape some red cellophane over a flashlight. Bees can’t see the colour red but the homeowner will be able to see the tunnel. Many homeowners hire pest control companies to rid their homes of wood bees. The insecticide is poisonous and the homeowner is often working on high eaves.

Tunnels should not be plugged immediately after being dusted. The bees need to come and go through the entrance. They’ll become covered with dust and spread it throughout the nest. The best times of the year to treat are spring, mid-summer, and fall. In the fall, wood putty or dowels can be used to plug holes. Then the area should be painted, stained or varnish. As wood bees prefer unpainted surfaces, they’ll go elsewhere next time they’re looking for somewhere to nest.

By: Nancy Ketner

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Nancy Ketner has been fascinated by bees for as long as she can remember. She started BeekeeperCentral.com as a free resource for others who wish to explore Beekeeping as a hobby. For more information on Bee Types, including Wood Bees, come to Beekeepercentral.com and sign up to a FREE mini Beekeeping Course in Bees and Bee Craft.