Carpenter Bees Standing Guard

Have you ever been minding your business outdoors, doing yard work or just sipping iced tea when suddenly out of nowhere you are attacked by a large angry buzzing black bee. if so you have encountered a female carpenter bee standing guard of her nest. without realizing it, you've come to close to the nests entry hole and the mama bee feels as though you are a threat to the larvae inside. She will defend the nest aggressively. Many people make the mistake of thinking that if they kill this fiercely protective creature then they have solved the problem, but complete eradication of a carpenter bee infestation is much more involved than that. A carpenter bee population if left ignored year after year may grow to include hundreds of holes. Each of the holes penetrates the wood an inch or two and then makes a 90 degree turn. At the end of the turn will be numerous larvae. It's the larvae that complicates the process. Larva may end up hatching way after the adult bees have been treated. By this time the chemical used to kill the adults has worn off and the larva have a good chance of survival. Carpenter bees will instinctively inhabit the same nest for generations so even if you kill of the initial population, without tending to the larva within the nest then you will have bees in the same location year after year. each hole has to be treated individually with a product that will remain long enough to kill larva as they hatch. Click for more on the habits of the carpenter bee .