[Bee Clause]

Carpenter bees are making swiss cheese out of my hive. Unfortunately I didn't take into consideration that the honeybees would actually allow these huge carpenter bees to dig into the wood of their hive. I have much to learn I guess. :scratch: The carpenter bees seem to have no interest in messing with the hive's contents, they seem to have this innate ability to drill through the body of the wood without going through. I'll stuff sappy pine sticks into the hole and they just burrow around it. Sure they are minding their own business but if left unchecked I fear it's eventually going to become a structural issue. I don't want to use poisons but I don't want to come home and find the hive laying on the ground either. I wouldn't imagine my bees would take too well to bouncing off the ground. :no:

I have 2 questions:

A: What would make a good material (cedar, poplar etc) and/or coating (linseed oil + beeswax) for a hive that would keep these carpenter bee at bay?

B: What would be the best way to go about transferring the hive into the new box without causing much grief to me or the bees?

Or is there another option?

Thanks in advance.

 

[txbeek]

Transferring a hive is simple. Put the new body next to the old. Move bars from old hive into new one. Shake, sweep, or bee vac remaining bees into new hive. Or just leave the old empty body next to the new hive. Put new hive in old hive's spot. Just make sure the queen isn't left in the old body.

What kind of wood is the old hive body made of? Maybe you should sell that material to folks that want carpenter bees You could staple window screen wire over the areas the carpenter bees are invading, and fill their holes with wood filler before adding the wire. If the holes are not too deep, take a piece of stiff wire and poke in each hole to impale any carpenter bee larva and maybe even drag the larva out with the wire.

 

[txbeek]

Post a picture or two. You have piqued my curiosity.

 

[Rader Sidetrack]

I have had a problem with carpenter bees cutting holes in unpainted treated lumber supporting an awning. I found that painting the wood has made it unattractive to those pesky carpenter bees.

 

[Bee Clause]

I'll post some pics when I get home.

 

[Phoebee]

We had severe carpenter bee damage to our pine fascia board trim on our cabin in WV. Some pieces were more tunnel than wood. Our contractor had some cypress left over from another job, and used it to replace the trim. We did treat it with Boracare (borate wood treatment) before putting it up, but that treatment rarely deters them.

Bottom line: the carpenter bees have been avoiding the cypress boards.

 

[Bee Clause]

Oh, sorry. I thought that post posted days ago.

This is one of 3 holes.

 

[Tennessee's Bees LLC]

Using a coating of diesel on the exterior works bees don't care any more than paint. One time app.

 

[mrobinson]

A carpenter-bee trap is easy to build.

 

[BeeKeepersRUS]

Hi,

Appreciate this posting maybe too late but have you or anyone tried using natural non-toxic solutions like tea tree oil or orange oil spraying methods? I had a similar issue last year with an infestation of Carpenter bees in one of our outdoor shacks. I didn't want to use harsh chemicals to kill off such a beautiful bee, despite being a pest for us
My wife did a bit of digging and found me this little website that describes different methods (chemical & non-chemical) to get rid of the carpenter bee. Hope it helps Bee Clause How to get rid of carpenter bees.

 

[AdamBeal]

+1 on Rader's post painting will usually keep them at bay which is why I painted my tbh. Any wood I don't paint they go for it quick.

 

[BeeKeepersRUS]

+1 on Rader's post painting will usually keep them at bay which is why I painted my tbh. Any wood I don't paint they go for it quick.

Many thanks Adam