ComBATTING Carpenter Bees

Because of another thread about bee allergies and how to combat bees I decided I better go ahead and make a confession...

Some of you are aware that I’m one of those who prefer non-toxic pest control methods. Also, as you may have witnessed, this is the time of year when the Carpenter Bees appear!

Flying around like miniature B52 bombers on a caffeine trip, these pesky creatures of the sky attack our eaves, exposed rafters, and a multitude of other potential nesting areas.

Those of us who’ve read up on the “ways of combat” concerning these winged varmints know that there is very little that can be done short of filling in the nest holes and/or applying several coats of paint in an effort to deter them. As for me, I say it’s time to break out the nails, a small hammer and several badminton rackets!

It’s great fun! Why, just a few minutes a day is all you need to easily swoosh your daily quota out of the air! There is something satisfying about that “swoooosh/BONK/thud” sound as the racket whistles through the air, contact is made, and the target hits the ground! I declare, I dee-clare! Soon, your whole family will get into the swing of things! (I love these Family outings!)

As for me, I’m one of those who (in this instance) like to “keep score”. Ah yes, at the end of the day it gives me a feeling of satisfaction as I exit my shoffice, glance at the wall and know I contributed to a fun and non-toxic way to chip in and help save our house, porch, and out-buildings from these voracious eaters of wood. And Folks, I admit, ‘twas me that hung those trophies on the wall!

Limber up, it’s your serve!

Shoe, great way to keep down the population and also it gave me a great laugh. Thanks!!

But Shoe!!!! That one was my great uncle George once or twice removed from my third cousin's step great grandfather's MaMa's side! ah, that's okay. No one liked him/her anyway. **giggle**

edited to add.....

INCOMING!!!!!!

DUCK!!!!!!!!!!

This message was edited Apr 21, 2004 8:26 PM

You go Shoe. Mighty hunter of bees. Don't get any ideas about the inlaws now.

Dang shoe I thought you was going to give me the answer to get rid of them. But I have to admit that's my sons favorite sport. The badminton racket is hung on the edge of the porch he grabs it as soon as he walks out the door. We don't have a trophy wall though. It is not uncommon to see somebody with a tube of tub caulk or anything else trying to fill in the holes either. They sure are annoying.

Hmmm, (or should I say buzz)? that trophy wall is impressive! Not too flattened but good and dead, you must have just the right touch with the racket. You could also hunt them with a vaccuum cleaner, the kind with the long hose, slurp them right up in mid air. I've caught a lot of wasps that way. I've also tried spraying them with laundry starch, emagined them sort of freezing up in mid air but it didn't work that way. However, I had a good laugh emagining it. Entertainment is where you find it.

LOL! That what I need that! We have full of bumble bees around here.. COme over and we can do the game and see who's kill the most! lol

no, no, no, Mini!!!! One of the really important rules of bee badminton is that you can ONLY swat at carpenter bees. Do NOT mistakenly swat at bumblers. They're pretty laid back critters until you start swinging, then all bets are off. (I was pulling weeds from around my blueberry bushes, and I swear I was eyeball-to-eyeball with the bumble bees, and as long as I didn't make any sudden moves, we co-existed quite nicely ;o)

How true, Terry. We don't mess w/the bumbles...they have free reign around here.

Brugie, Sledder...think we should start a Badminton Racket Co-op!? That'll take care of them boogers!

Howie, my in-laws don't get close enuff to me to swat them! (They're smarter than I thought!)

Mystic...we must be related...great minds on the same channel, eh?

Mary, a vac cleaner won't suck these things up...they are too fast and too strong. No doubt in my mind they could carry a vac cleaner thru the air if I was able to get a few in there!

Ya'll have fun!

Horseshoe,

I would gladly go into battle with you. In AL, we used a wiffle ball bat. It was actually kind of fun. I just had to sweep the corpses out of te way so the girls didn't step on them. You have to understand, though, our house was made of wood. We had plenty of those little boogers to swat at.

Yes just kidding.. Those are friendly bees around here.. But they likes to chase our hummingbirds around.. So Funny to watch!

I positively love this thread. My family has been playing woodbee badminton for years. Some of us are getting darned good at it too. New rackets for everyone is a must item on my garage sale list this year! Albert spends lots of time sawing off little dowel rod pegs to plug up their little holes too. Families need constructive hobbies to keep everyone out of trouble. The family that plays (prays) together stays together. I think we need to have a score board too. Never thought of that! We can always count on Shoe for all of those wonderful "strokes of genius" (or otherwise) to think of new and fun ways to get things done around the homeplace.

Would someone please post a picture of the creature? (dead or alive). I never heard of them before and need to know if I should stock up on badminton rackets.

I guess you could stock up whether you have them or not! You may get them eventually and you will be prepared!

You could always play badminton!!!!!!!!!!

Same here, Carla...they chew up the place. Not unusual at all to hear the buzzing and see sawdust dropping and/or flying on the wind. Hmm...a wiffleball bat, eh? We should come up with a whole arsenal of various items!

Ellen, I've thought of spraying the foam stuff up their holes. I guess I should stock up on dowels tho for afterwards.

Pati, I'll post a pic of a close-up sometime today.

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=carpenter+bee&ei=UTF-8&fr=fp-tab-img-t&cop=mss&tab=3

LOL Elana, unless I can teach the Doxies to hit it back! They are my only in-house family at the moment.

Groovytee, thanks for the pictures, especially the one comparing them to the bumble bee. You all describe them flying so fast, my little bumble bees just bumble around from flower to flower very slowly.

Shoe, do you know their range? Should I be manning the ramparts in anticipation of invasion?

We just used wood putty to plug up the holes. I've sprayed their little homes with everything immaginable, but nothing worked. I think it's a whole lot more fun to hit them out of the sky anyway. I'm ready for the minor leagues now. Last year, I was batting over 300!!

I thought batting at them was a good way to get stung!

Carpenter bees don't sting ;o)

oh! lol! but other bees do, and I sure wouldn't recommend going around batting at them! Especially if you are allergic! :)

Shoe,
I have had 2 of these fat black jellybeans buzzin around my house for years. They always build their nests in our woodpile. Which explains why there are never any more than 2. We use our pile every winter. LOL
They scare the bee(hehe)jeezers out of me. They do sound like a B52 buzzin by. It took me a long time, but I can finally stay put when they arrive at the pots. One actually came within about 2 inches of my nose and just hovered for a good 30 seconds & checked me out. When she left I calmly got up, went inside & changed my shorts. :~P
I know the males don't have stingers but I never see those. The females DO have stingers but rarely sting unless provoked. I am gonna guess that if I tried your method, I would either get stung or stuck inside doin laundry for a whole day. So I guess I will just live with them.
May you cover your wall with trophies!
Donna

Hey Shoe, what a great idea!! I'll have to get the kids out there and gear them up. They'll really like it I'm sure!!

Seeing the Mail Pouch Tobacco sign in your pic also reminds me of a way to get rid of them hated "Fire Ants"
All ya have to do is sprinkle tobacco around the mound and just cover the whole thing, then the worker ants will take the tobacco down to the Queen Ant. It might take a while but once they have taken her enough of the tobacco and she come out the top of the mound to "Spit" then ya stomp her flat! No more mound and no more Queen Ant!!!
LOL hee hee

Today I was blowing off my front porch and walkway which so happens to be at my front flower bed where all the bees are buzzing.......... guess what happens when leafblower meets bumble bees. I think the bees are still in flight, but they ain't using their wings-LOL!!!!!!!!!

Aahh...... revenge is sooo sweet!!!
Am I bad?????

http://www.shockhaber.com/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.htm

Ok NoH20 that was just too much fun. I know I spent so much time in there I coulda killed half the skeeter population. LOL

LOL...reminds me of the day I had a blast with the bees. :-))http://davesgarden.com/t/380139/

Too Funny, we were out side just a few days ago, watching as my DH tried to hit some with the pellet gun. I think he got one,and took out several of my poplar trees, limbs!!

Love the trophy wall 'Shoe!
I found one working away on our front porch. I probably should have done him in but I took pictures instead (DH did him in later)
Carpenter Bees are easily identifiable by the spot on their back and shouldn't be confused with the solitary bumbles that are nearly the same or the all black ones