TWO TYPES OF CARPENTER BEES HERE IN NC

There are several different species of carpenter bee species around the continental US, however, in North Carolina, we only have 2 species: Xylocopa virginica (larger species) and Xylocopa micans (smaller species of the two) also called the eastern and southern carpenter bees.  I believe the carpenter bees on our property is the larger species!

NEW APPROACH TO REDUCE THEIR POPULATION

Since carpenter bees generally will hover for a second or two, that is the time to swap them if they are in range.  This year I decided to try my luck at shooting them with a .22 caliber rifle using a shot capsule manufactured by CCI.  There are a plenty of very small lead pellets in the shot capsule aka bullet and will spread about 2 to 3 inches at about six (6) feet distance giving you a fairly good margin of aiming error.  However, getting one to stay still while hovering is a challenge within itself and your timing on pulling the trigger has to be precise.

Last week I killed around 12 out of 20 shots and one carpenter bee let me shoot at it three times while in flight before I connected.

EQUIPMENT USED

Above is a single shot Winchester model 67 .22 caliber chambered for short, long and long rifle.  I have information about this rifle in this short story.

Above is pix of the ammunition used and it is costly, but very effective if I do my part.  You still have to be aware of your back stop and have SAFETY paramount even though the pellets will not do any serious damage, but up close it could cause serious bodily injury and/or death!

WHAT A CARPENTER BEE LOOKS LIKE

The above carpenter bee was "harvested" aka killed on 04-03-2023.  It certainly does resemble a regular bumble bee, but it has a black shiny abdomen which lets you know it is a carpenter bee.

CLOSE-UP OF CARPENTER BEE HEAD

Pix of decapitated carpenter bee head with sawdust on its head.

HARVESTED SEVEN WITHOUT FIRING A SHOT

While locating the downed carpenter bee above, I noticed some fresh sawdust from bore holes the carpenter bees had made in a couple wood stakes that I use to stake our tomato plants.  While viewing the wood stakes, I observed a couple carpenter bees enter one of the bore holes and immediately plugged the hole with a wooden dowel that was close by.

Below is a fairly close-up pix of a couple bore holes:

I sprayed some Remington Rem Oil in the holes and they definitely got a buzz going themselves.................grin if you must!

I took the two wooden tomato stakes to my basement shop and band sawed them in half, nothing exact with pixs as follows:

In the pix above you can plainly see what is taking place.  They bored out a serious cavity with their mandible which moves in a circular motion, of which the left portion has a chamber where one egg is laid, food supply pollen (gelatin material) added for the hatching larvae and each chamber is sealed off from the next which looks like it was made from the wood itself.  As stated later, the chamber is 3/4 inch in length and the entire cavity is filled and then sealed off.  The eggs will hatch in about 38 days and then emerge as an adult.

I think my Wadesboro High School biology teacher would be very proud..................grin if you must!

LARVA CHAMBER CLOSE-UP

From what I have read, the carpenter bee egg (one egg to the chamber) is laid in the chambers and each chamber sealed off will develop and the larvae will feed off the food supply stored; e.g., gelatin looking stuff and then bore their way out of the chamber and will repeat the cycle of life doing some serious damage to protected and unprotected wood as well.

The life cycle is: egg, larva, pupa and adult.  

MORE CHAMBER PIXS

The center section of wood has four (4) carpenter bees, but they have not laid any eggs yet in the chamber.  The entire bore lengths are as follows:  10 3/4 inches, 9 3/8 inches, and 8 1/8 inches with a bore hole from the outside of 7/16 inch + and much larger inside diameter of the entire chamber length.  The egg laying chamber is 3/4 inch in length!

As evidenced by the pixs, carpenter bees will do serious damage to wood structures, especially decks even though stained and/or painted.  In the past I have tried home made carpenter bee traps, but without success.

In closing, I will keep watch on the additional wood tomato stakes in the barrel and might add some regular untreated wood as a carpenter bee lure which would cheaper than the ammunition used.  However, the .22 caliber rimfire rifle will be close by for those that think they are an Apache helicopter.

I talked with our youngest daughter Lisa this afternoon and told her what a retired person will do for entertainment and she definitely broke into a very loud grin, however this might be a little more than entertainment since I don't want the carpenter bees to do damage to our deck, etc.

NOTE:  My friend Donald Campbell of Halifax, NC sent the following information concerning how he controls the carpenter bees, "Hi Bill, I fight them things every year.  Like you I've shot em, swatted em.  You can make a simple wooden trap with a hole drilled on each side at a upward angle with a cut off drink bottle or pint jar in the bottom and catch a lot of em. What I like best is a pesticide named (Bifenthrin) spray around holes and in them if you can and the ground is covered with dead ones the next morning,  I haven't seen nothing yet that stuff won't take care of.  I mix it strong for bees about 3oz. Per. Gal.  1 gal. Concentrate goes a long way.  Any farmer friend can get the good stuff.  Google Bifenthrin It gets mice too.
Later Bill, God Bless !

I will definitely locate the stuff!

UPDATE

On 04-06-2023, I located another carpenter bee bore hole in the wood tomato stakes which showed activity by the sawdust that was expelled from the bore hole.  I gave the bore hole a couple shots of engine starter fluid aka ether and took the tomato stake to my woodworking shop and dissected in in half after reducing the length of the stake.

As evidenced by the above pix, the carpenter bee had four complete egg nesting chambers and the 5th one was under construction.  The carpenter bee was sawed in half, but I think the engine started fluid had already taken him out!

I plan to look through my scrap aka unallocated wood and find some non-treated wood for carpenter bee "bait."
 

Web page created and published on 04-01-2023 by Bill aka Mickey Porter and updated on 04-06-2023.

LEAVING ON A SPIRITUAL NOTE

If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please take this moment to accept him by Faith into your Life, whereby Salvation will be attained.   

Ephesians 2:8 - 2:9 8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

Open this link about faith in the King James Bible.