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OT Bumblebees

J

John T

Well-known Member
Okay, so I return to Indiana to find a ton of Yellow Jackets or Bumblebees or what I also call Wood Borer Bees hanging around my wooden porch. They are the big black with yellow wings type that bore holes in my wood but they dont seem to ever sting or attack, just a nuisance. Ive tried to spray them with Bee Bopper but they never land or hold still long enough to really ever kill many of them grrrrrrrrrrrrrr..

Sooooo is there some sort of anti bee posion or dope or spray or anyhting I can place near the porch to rid it of allllllll those yellow jacket borer bees or whatever they are grrrrrrrrrr

Ol John T and all in Indiana
 
(quoted from post at 06:47:26 04/02/12) Okay, so I return to Indiana to find a ton of Yellow Jackets or Bumblebees or what I also call Wood Borer Bees hanging around my wooden porch. They are the big black with yellow wings type that bore holes in my wood but they dont seem to ever sting or attack, just a nuisance. Ive tried to spray them with Bee Bopper but they never land or hold still long enough to really ever kill many of them grrrrrrrrrrrrrr..

Sooooo is there some sort of anti bee posion or dope or spray or anyhting I can place near the porch to rid it of allllllll those yellow jacket borer bees or whatever they are grrrrrrrrrr

Ol John T and all in Indiana
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They show up at my place here in Pa and they are not agreesive at all.
They hang around for a bit in the spring and then they simply disappear until next spring. I have watched them go into wood and I have simply sealed the holes. I really have never tried to kill them though so I can't help there. Years ago while picking up bales, I stumbled into a nest in the field and I have never forgotten that episode. I got stung in the cheek and within 30 minutes my head was swollen so bad I could not see..
 
They are wood borers that will destroy your porch over a period of years. They are boring nest holes for their young. If you live in the country they make pretty good targets for a 22 rifle using shot shells. Its expensive, but you can imagine you are shooting down Jap zeros over Pearl Harbor. Great fun. Joe
 
Might sound crazy but make your choice of brands and get a can of brake cleaner to spray them with. I've used it over the years on everything from fire ants to wasps to bees to yellow jackets, to spiders, and even a few of the huge Japaneese hornets. In every instance whatever I sprayed with it on hit the ground wiggling, to get stomped for a coup-de-grace, or simply went belly up.
 
I fight them all spring here in SC. Google carpenter bee traps for one way to catch them. I mix up a one gallon sprayer of Bayer Advanced bee killer and walk around twice a day and shoot them. They don't die instantly, but I see dead ones the next day.
I am going to build a couple of traps this week to try.
Richard
 
Forgot to say, for years I have considered building a small black powder pistol and use a small charge of Pyrodex and sand for the "bullet". Always thought it would be fun to watch them vaporize. Try at your own risk.
Richard
 
Those are carpenter bees. They drill a bit, then make right turn and drill some more. Spraying doesnt usually work.

http://www.carpenterbees.com
 
As said, not aggressive. Totally unlike shredding a field and running over a genuine Bumble Bee nest. Once was enough for me.

I use the Bayer multipurpose insect killer. Get a nice bottle for $12+. Mix 2 oz per gallon and is the same thing I use to control (sorta) fire ants.

I sit out by the barn and spray half a dozen of them or so with probably 2 dozen zipping around and for the next few days I don't see hardly any. In short, i think they go back to the nest and the spray gets on the nest/hive/whatever and the others pick it up and it either makes them sick or kills both of them.

Mark
 
As said, not aggressive. Totally unlike shredding a field and running over a genuine Bumble Bee nest. Once was enough for me.

I use the Bayer multipurpose insect killer. Get a nice bottle for $12+. Mix 2 oz per gallon and is the same thing I use to control (sorta) fire ants.

I sit out by the barn and spray half a dozen of them or so with probably 2 dozen zipping around and for the next few days I don't see hardly any. In short, i think they go back to the nest and the spray gets on the nest/hive/whatever and the others pick it up and it either makes them sick or kills both of them.

Mark
 
Around here we call them carpenter bees. You can whack them with a tennis racket or spray starting fluid in their holes. It will put them to sleep and they will fall out on the ground.

SF
 
best way i've found is after dark take 1/2 a cotton ball soak in gasoline and stick in hole,..push it in with a pencil...i've killed everyone here with that solution
 
(quoted from post at 15:24:56 04/02/12) Might sound crazy but make your choice of brands and get a can of brake cleaner to spray them with. I've used it over the years on everything from fire ants to wasps to bees to yellow jackets, to spiders, and even a few of the huge Japaneese hornets. In every instance whatever I sprayed with it on hit the ground wiggling, to get stomped for a coup-de-grace, or simply went belly up.
Click to expand...

Be careful of any chance of exposing yourself to phosgene gas.


I've always referred to bumble bees as the big yellow and black bees that are looking at the flowers in the Spring. Those are pretty darn aggressive and they like to hang one while they bury their stingers!

The ones in the ground we always called hornets.
 
Well, too bad you can't swat them. I spent hours as a kid with an old wood lathe. With practice you could smack the heck out of them. We would make piles of our "kills" and keep score between my brother, or cousin, whoever happened to be in on the game. We kept the population in check. That was 45 years ago and the garage is still standing.

Gene
 
Here they are called carpender bees. Almost anything kills them. I usually watch to see where they go into the hole then just spray WD-40 in the hole. They don't come out.
 
So 3 years ago Memorial Day weekend coming, I'm on the ladder and one of those carpenter bee's comes across the shed and hits me in the face (guess he wasn't watching where he was going),starles me, I lose my balance and fall from the second step of the ladder onto the concrete floor.....

Short story, nearly killed me. $140,000, brain surgery and therapy later I have a perm numb side of my body. Nice headaces from time to time.

I got rid of all those bee's 4 months later when I could get at them! Sprayed bee killer int eh holes at night while they were parked.

L.
 
If provoked they will sting and it is powerful. Our current dog has done a pretty good job keeping them under control. Why he doesn't get stung in the mouth, I have no idea!!
 

This works in attics, etc. on them..:
Termite & Carpenter Ant Dust...
Made by "BONIDE"...

My Son has a Great time with a Badminton Racket on them..!!
They are dead everywhere around here..!
The Long-Distance Wasp and Hornet sprays help, but it is best to plug the old holes..
They seem to find every Soft pine board and drill right in...
If you could just spray some Diesel up there, I think it would be just as good...problem is, it's gonna get on the stored equipment (if it is in a tool shed, like mine)..

Ron..
 
Carpenter bees. Males don't have a stinger, but aggressively fly at anything they see moving. Females will sting, but are busy drilling a nest hole, laying eggs, etc. We usedta catch as many as we could, on cold mornins like now, take them on the school bus, and let them loose, we were the only country kids on the bus, and knew they rarely stung! To control them, get some moth balls, and take a skinny piece of bamboo, lay the moth ball on the top of the bamboo pole, and poke it into the b-hole in the wood. Never knew how many double entendres sentences I could get into a seemingly innocent post, till now!
 
My house has cedar siding and was a borer magnet. The guy that sprays the siding every few years tells me he mixes some borax with the spray. It does keep them a bay for 3-4 years. In addition to the aforementioned bad minton/tennis racket i've also employed a racket ball racket and a pump air pistol. One you knock them down a couple of hammer blows thins the herd.
 
I've seen more than ever this weekend. Yesterday I mixed up some Sevin in some water and sprayed it on the pine boards that they were boring into, and soaked the wood as much as I could. I figured the water would dry and leave some Sevin residue. The wood dried, and I didn't see any carpenters going near that wood. I'll do another treatment in 2 weeks.

As far as the holes, I just plug them with silicone. I think the fumes kill them.

The badmittem racket got a lot of use, and my right arm's tired. Never been stung by one of them, but a coworker from PA said they were in his barn when he lived in PA and they would sting real bad.
 
I swat them with bare hand then step on them. They are heavy enought that if you hit them with the grill spatula that is enough to kill them. I have to admit its enjoyable. Got 4 this week. My kids believe I am superman. I intend to try some aerial shots with bb gun as they hover.
 
Have you noticed that the little monsters learn? Early on you can get them with a short-handled swatter or even you ballcap. But as the season wears on they learn to stay out of reach. So you need to implement your arsenal to use more and more 'stand off' weapons.
 
John, I live in Indiana too, but up north on the Michigan border. I have never seen a bumble bee bore into wood and don't know that they do or can. Yellow jackets can and do. Yellow jackets are as destructive to wood as they sting, and are extremely aggressive. There is no mistaking a yellow jacket in they resemble a wasp, with yellow bands around them, or yellow with black bands around them. If they are around, you will get stung because that is what they do, chase people and animals, often in swarms, and sting. If you encounter one, more on the way to join in. That is their main mission in life, sting. They nest everywhere. Underground, in wood, you name it, they are destructive, and agressive stingers that will put one on you. Smearing meat tenderizor takes out most of one of their stings, but not all, and its annoying with...painful without.

I think that the bees that you are talking about are wood borers, same ones I get, but have never stung me. Are big and resemble a flying cigar stub. And, they eat wood. Easy to spot, look around for saw dust piled up, and once you find it, start lookig for holes above the piles. You almost have to kill them because they will move to somewhere else and start all over again. Find the holes, poison them. And those bees are agressive in that they will buzz you, and are slow moving enough that you can easily swat one down, but I have never been stung by one of the many. They eat wood, leave a hole about the size of a 1/4" to 3/8" drill bit in diameter.

Good luck.

Mark
 
Ah...the Carpenter bee. I've built bee traps from hemlock boards and have a 2 liter bottle on the bottom to catch them. Works pretty good! Saw this on YouTube. Another thing is to use a weed whacker - they are curious of the sound it makes and you just hold it in the air and move it just a little closer and... zing they go kaput when the line hits 'em.
 
We used to sit around using them for target practice with a BB gun. Lotta fun for a kid--
 
I have a large oak tree on my place that is partially hollow There is a 4 inch hole about ten feet off the ground. I pulled up to check a pond that was near by and bees swarmed down and got in the pickup with me. I was stung 15 or 20 times before I could get away from them. I ditched the pickup and ran away from them. I called the ag dept and they sent a guy out to destroy the nest. He took several samples and checked them to see if they were killer bees. He said they were honey bees.
 
John,
Here in central Michigan I have found where bumblebees have been chewing/boring into my wood fenceposts.

These are not carpenter bees or wood wasps. They are the standard yellow/black bumblebee that flys so slow you can knock it out of the air with your hand. Generally harmless. I stand right next to them watching them chew into the posts. Not aggressive at all.

Rick
 
John,
Here's the ones I see around my area. The bottom one is a wood wasp. Have seen them upwards of 2 inches. Big suckers.
carpenter-bee-bumble-bee.jpg

BEE14.gif
 
Old bat mitten racket with old broom handle works good gives that extra reach,now im going to add that sixpack wow what a sport. HA HA HA!!!
 
After building a pergola over the back deck, the bees starting boring holes in the board. I"d just stand back and wait for them to go into their hole. Then I would take a long narrow punch and ram it up in the hole. No more bees.
 
The bumble bees I remember as a kid lived in the dirt ground in small colonies....never saw them bore into wood. Wasps or yellow jackets chew older rotten wood and mix it with their saliva to built the paperlike hives/colonies.....IIRC. Ralph in OK.
 
Sorry about your accident.

I had some round bales sitting on pallets in a barn and genuine bumble bees decided to make a nest in the pallets.

Thought I'd go out one night and spray the nest. Snuck into the barn and I didn't get within 10' of the nest and two of those suckers smacked me. I left, and left them alone.

Mark
 
Ours resemble the picture on the left. They are docile, dart around very fast, mate in the air...he flies backwards upside down....what a trick, HA!. On a windy day they will be on the leeward side of a building. I cannot believe these guys can change direction as fast as they can. Probably the fact that their little wings have to flap at 90 mph to propel that big body. The real bumble bees I have encountered are not like that. Very aggressive.

Mark
 
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