Summertime Pests - How do you rid your property of bees/wasps?

[GodFearinGunTotin]

An easy way to kill the carpenter bees is to wait until dusk. Get a cotton ball, soak it in Sevin, and plug the hole. The bee will be inside, and will die from the Sevin.

Tennis rackets are fun, but the "thud" of a big, red whiffleball bat is great too.

If you live out where it's safe...snake shot out of a 22 can be fun.

 

[churchmouse]

An easy way to kill the carpenter bees is to wait until dusk. Get a cotton ball, soak it in Sevin, and plug the hole. The bee will be inside, and will die from the Sevin.

Tennis rackets are fun, but the "thud" of a big, red whiffleball bat is great too.

They will play to your back hand once they see what your game is.....

 

[orangeITguy]

They will play to your back hand once they see what your game is.....

Yes they do! I have been using the tennis racket method for about 2 years. This year they have gotten smart. If i miss they will hover right out of my reach and just laugh at me, then fly away if i jump and swing. I are trough buggers. I still to this day do not understand how they can take a big shot of carb cleaner in the face fall down then fly away.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

When I put up a new privacy fence, I had carpenter bees going after it. Seems the new "safe" pressure treated wood no longer discourages carpenter bees.

I took a squeeze bottle and filled it half full of sevin dust, widened the hole at the top and put a length of aquarium tubing in the tip. With that, I can slide the tube into a carpenter bee hole and puff it full of sevin dust. Soon, I see the adult bee dead on the ground below the hole.

 

[churchmouse]

Yes they do! I have been using the tennis racket method for about 2 years. This year they have gotten smart. If i miss they will hover right out of my reach and just laugh at me, then fly away if i jump and swing. I are trough buggers. I still to this day do not understand how they can take a big shot of carb cleaner in the face fall down then fly away.

The EPA took all the "Goody" out of Carb and Brake cleaners. We used to drop them in flight with both but now they have pulled the teeth out of them.

 

[tmschuller]

Cotton ball with 7 dust is what the exterminator says to use. Safe and effective. I use 2 badminton rackets.. One in each hand ,so you can work on the backhand and forehand at the same time. I just declared war on the carpenter bees.. Every night been getting several. My wife took a video of me using my ninja skills wife the badminton racket method and took it to work... Yes a proud redneck moment. I used a 12 gauge with #8 on the one's on the barn... Yeahhh bee patrol with a shotgun..

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

Honey bees are beneficial, and they're supposedly having colony failures all over the place, but they pollinate a lot of fruits, vegetables and flowers, then there's the honey. They'll sting, but they get one shot and die, so they have to be pretty heavily provoked. Unless there's an allergy issue, I'd leave those alone. Carpenter bees are mildly destructive and I know of no redeeming qualities, but bees generally can be pretty hard to kill. Wasps and hornets are mostly nondestructive, but they'll loiter around, [STRIKE]leer at your woman, try to sell drugs to your kids,[/STRIKE] build their nests in inconvenient places and defend them viciously. Fortunately, they're easy to kill with long distance spray cans. Hornets, at least, release a pheromone when you kill them that puts their friends into berserker mode. We'd get one on the bus once in a while, and I'd have to yell at the kids not to kill it for that reason.

 

[Tyler-The-Piker]

there's a tennis racket on my back patio. got some fat grip tape on it. on the grip, in black sharpie, is written "Bee Slayer" lol

I've sat on my back patio and watched Cicada Killers take Cicadas right out of the air 5ft from my face. it's a sight to behold...

 

[ccomstock001]

Just use the kill it with fire method.

 

[spencer rifle]

Honey bees are beneficial, and they're supposedly having colony failures all over the place, but they pollinate a lot of fruits, vegetables and flowers, then there's the honey. They'll sting, but they get one shot and die, so they have to be pretty heavily provoked. Unless there's an allergy issue, I'd leave those alone. Carpenter bees are mildly destructive and I know of no redeeming qualities, but bees generally can be pretty hard to kill. Wasps and hornets are mostly nondestructive, but they'll loiter around, [STRIKE]leer at your woman, try to sell drugs to your kids,[/STRIKE] build their nests in inconvenient places and defend them viciously. Fortunately, they're easy to kill with long distance spray cans. Hornets, at least, release a pheromone when you kill them that puts their friends into berserker mode. We'd get one on the bus once in a while, and I'd have to yell at the kids not to kill it for that reason.

This^^
We have carpenter bees all around at work. The damage they do to wood is nothing compared to what happens when the woodpeckers find the nests. About the only way to get them to sting is to grab them and squeeze.
Honey bees get one shot, and they will apply something like banana oil to the target when they sting, which says to other honey bees "sting this right here."
Hornet queens never overwinter in the old nest. They always build a new one.

Though this has an error - the "wasp" is actually a yellow jacket. They have no redeeming social value, besides a little caterpillar hunting to feed the babies. But they'd just as soon take a piece of your chicken sandwich.

 

[GLOCKMAN23C]

Napalm, it's the only way to bee sure.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Went out to do yardwork. Watched one of these big bees chase after a damn BIRD.

I didn't see any holes in the house, haven't checked the deck thoroughly... but there's one or two of them constantly hovering over the dog pen at the side of the house. Been there for at least a week... watching, waiting.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Went out to do yardwork. Watched one of these big bees chase after a damn BIRD.

I didn't see any holes in the house, haven't checked the deck thoroughly... but there's one or two of them constantly hovering over the dog pen at the side of the house. Been there for at least a week... watching, waiting.

Look "up under" and/or "from behind" your joists, beams, deck boards. Like was mentioned, it'll be a perfect hole about 1/2" in diameter. If you didn't know better, you'd think it was intentiionally drilled there when your deck/porch/fence was built.

 

[Leadeye]

Go to TSC and pick up some Carpenter Ant and Termite killer from Bonide, it's Permethrin concentrate. Mix it up and spray your house, then clean your windows. Problem solved, takes care of wasps in the spring and asian ladybugs in the fall.

 

[z96Cobra]

Another way to verify that it's a Carpenter Bee (male) look for a white spot on its face. I was out killing them earlier today with a badminton racquet too. Smacked one with a racquet a couple of years ago & got a face full of carpenter bee "juice"...

 

[z96Cobra]

No affiliation with this site, but it has lots of info/ideas for traps.

Home | www.carpenterbeesolutions.com

 

[Cameramonkey]

No affiliation with this site, but it has lots of info/ideas for traps.

Home | www.carpenterbeesolutions.com

+1

I built one myself out of scrap wood in 10 minutes with a chop saw and nail gun. And it works wonders. The females wander in and die in the bottle.

And no females, no offspring. So they disappear pretty quickly.

 

[bwframe]

These are pretty cool toys to have around for the occasional wasp stuck inside or bothersome june bugs hanging around the porch light. I'm sure it would fix your problem too, if you can get within swinging/trapping distance.

Amazon.com : The Executioner Fly Swat Wasp Bug Mosquito Swatter Zapper : Home Insect Zappers : Patio, Lawn & Garden

 

[TB1999]

When I look right at it with the sun out, it's a big black ball, and there's a "shine" to the area that looks like it's head. I feel like I've seen a protrusion from it's arse... what I thought was a stinger, but maybe it was it's legs?

Nope. Looks like you had a run in with "Ron Jerembee"..or maybe "Beeter North"?

 

[findingZzero]

Carpenter bees ARE pollinators. In addition to abdomen difference betweem BB's they may be identified by the small tool kit hanging from their thorax.
As a kid I caught BB's with my hand. The second one stung me. Stinger and sac. Nobody told me. Who knew.