Carpenter Bees: What’s All the Buzz About? From Tri-County Pest Control

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You’re outside on your property and you see bees – several of them – swarming about a certain area. You’ve checked for hives but none were found. What could be going on you wonder.

If you have untreated wood anywhere on your property, there’s a good chance you may have carpenter bees.

The Carpenter Bee name is derived from this pest’s ability to literally nest in wood after ‘drilling’ a hole in it. This type of bee’s drilling skill will produce a near-perfect hole approximately one-half inch in diameter. Another symptom of having carpenter bee issues is that you will locate small holes in woodwork and an almost sawdust-like substance underneath the holes.

To the carpenter bee, most wood is fair game – including decks, fencing, window frames, siding, soffits and overhangs.

But why wood?

The female carpenter bees do not form hives that a honey bee would. Rather, they construct nests inside the wood in order to lay their eggs. While their male counterparts can act aggressively in defense of said nests, they can’t sting you because only the females have stingers. Males can poke and prod and annoy you. They are unable to sting you.

Carpenter bees can be destructive to your property. While they prefer untreated and unstained wood, in a pinch they were burrow into any wood they need in order to lay their eggs.

If you’re seeing a saw-dust like material on your property or near any woodwork, call us immediately. One of our service techs will come out and remedy the situation for you.

The last thing we want at Tri-County Pest Control is for you to sustain any damage due to a pest issue that may be preventable.

Summer’s coming and bees are bound to buzz. However, just like many other species of pests, all bees are not created equal.

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