Carpenter Bees In House Siding
Where the siding meets the concrete foundation of the house bees are going up there and i assume they re building a hive of some sort.
Carpenter bees in house siding. Many times these nests can go undetected by the home owner and if left untreated the bees can easily drill far enough into the wood so they ll end up in the living space. Bees will usually sequester themselves away in overhangs cracks window and door frames and under siding basically anywhere they can build a cozy nest. If you covered any nests with the vinyl and failed to treat these nests it s quite likely there are bees emerging that are now able to move in and out of the vinyl and continue to use the siding underneath the vinyl as a nest location. The female carpenter bee is the one who makes the hole by chewing through the wood.
But carpenter bees are unique in that they hibernate in nests which they typically drill through the exterior siding of homes. You can get to know if your house has been infested by carpenter bees if the wood appears powdered or if you spot brownish droppings on the walls. You should know whether you are dealing with honeybees bumblebees or carpenter bees. This could have happened whether you put the siding up after they were hibernating or even if you put it up in the middle of the summer.
The carpenter bee is not there to help you build your house. They d rather suffocate and die. Instead they burrow into soft woods such as the siding of a house to live in and lay larvae. A female eastern carpenter bee excavates a half inch wide hole in wood.
While there is always the humane alternative follow these steps if you want to eradicate the. What you have to do is seal the opening of the nest using caulk and putty. She prefers to use extend the nest she hatched out in so over the generations the bees may leave wood decidedly honey combed. Now you might think that a hive hidden away inside of the siding on your home whether it s wood vinyl or aluminum is hard to get rid of but actually they re pretty safe and easy to eliminate because you won t have to touch them directly.
They aren t aggressive but this is happening right by the most used door of the house so it s probably just a matter of time before i piss them off. The carpenter bee is so called because of where it chooses to make it s home. You may not know for sure how many. Since the nest is in your siding you have never seen it only the bees entering and exiting.
They are solitary bees and are not part of a larger hive community. The carpenter bees will not even attempt to burrow their way out of the sealing. They also bore into decks outdoor furniture fence posts and swing sets. One source says that she vibrates her body while rasping with her mandibles.
These bees look a lot like the bumblebee but they are not as fuzzy.