How Do You Find A Carpenter Bee Nest

Carpenter bees are solitary bees so theres no such thing as a carpenter bee hive.

How do you find a carpenter bee nest. Below these holes you may find piles of yellow sawdust material. Carpenter bees use their mandibles which is part of their mouth part to chew through wood for their nests and change pollen into nectar. Instead these bees bore tunnels in wood into which to deposit their eggs.

Carpenter bees get their name from their ability to drill through wood and nest in it. Specifically soft weathered and unpainted wood are perfect environments for carpenter bee. It is much smaller for smaller species.

You may also see the bees themselves or yellow staining around the holes from feces. Although workers burrow through wood with their mouthparts they excavate galleries for nests. If it is furry its a bumblebee but if its bare and shiny then its a carpenter bee.

A carpenter bee nest opens into a tunnel that follows a straight path for a few inches then turns sharply 90-degrees and can extend for several feet to their chambers. Like all bees carpenter bees subsist off nectar and pollen. Sand the wood surfaces smooth and treat the exposed wood with primer and two coats of paint.

How to Be Sure You Have Carpenter Bees. Even doors and window sills can fall victim to carpenter bees under the right circumstances. She will also pass sticky yellow waste which may gather outside the tunnels entrance.

You can tell the two kinds apart by a quick look at the abdomen the end zone of the bee home to stinger. If you see large black and yellow bees which hover around and dart in and out of the eaves around your home then you stand a good chance of having carpenter bees in your roof. Wood fences may also be a location for carpenter bees nests.