Why Do Carpenter Bees Drill Holes In Wood

The best way to tell if you have carpenter bees is if you notice 1 2 inch holes in unfinished wood with telltale piles of sawdust under the wood.

Why do carpenter bees drill holes in wood. Carpenter bees are beneficial because they help pollination but they can become a problem when they damage building materials such as decks siding and eaves. They can also create stains with their feces. This nest building can damage wood trim doors and so forth. In the spring the bees emerge from their winter nests mate and set about building this year s nest.

The male bees then guard the nest often harassing people in the process. The sudden appearance of carpenter bees crawling out of wood often frightens people. And once they find wood they want to nest in they ll use their mandibles to tear away in circular patterns that ultimately will fit their bodies perfectly. But what they do have are mandibles and they use their mandibles like teeth.

The male bees guard the holes while the females nest inside the wood. If an infestation has occurred you will need to use an insecticide to eliminate the carpenter bees. Carpenter bees also known as wood bees because of their diet and choice of habitat are large black bees that look very similar to bumble bees. You might also notice the bees fecal matter.

Basically they use them to cut and tear through wood they target for nest making. Unlike honey bees that reproduce in hives carpenter bees drill into wood in order to lay their eggs. Their holes are perfectly round and about 1 4 inch in diameter. While wood boring carpenter bee damage is usually minor it should still be repaired as soon as possible to prevent water infiltration and rot.

Carpenter bees get their names by the perfectly round half inch or so diameter holes that they drill in wood for their nests. These bees have a habit of drilling holes into the wood and building galleries to breed and rear their young ones. Wood boring carpenter bees resemble bumble bees but these large bees excavate tunnels in wood to make a nest whereas bumble bees nest in soil. Carpenter bees are large fuzzy bees that bore holes in unfinished wood to nest and lay eggs.

Carpenter bees don t have teeth. You can prevent carpenter bees from nesting in the first place by painting or varnishing your home s exterior. Females can sting but will only do so if bothered. However carpenter bees rarely sting because the males have no stingers and the females are docile.

Carpenter bees prefer to excavate untreated unfinished wood.