How do i get rid of carpenter bees?

  4 answers
  • Peggy L Burnette Peggy L Burnette on Jul 18, 2019

    Hi Connie, sorry you are having a problem with carpenter bees. I took a large paper grocery bag, filled it with plastic grocery bags and hung it next to the barn. The carpenter bees think it is a hornets nest and take off. Hope this works for you. You may need to use more than one.

  • Robyn Garner Robyn Garner on Jul 18, 2019

    I had a nest of carpenter bees right next to my front door. We waited until they had gone out for the day to forage and sprayed Great Stuff expanding foam into the entrances. They never returned.

  • David Sorrells David Sorrells on Jul 20, 2019

    Make a Bee Box and hang it under the eave. A Bee Box is just a Cedar Box using cedar that is 1 inch thick, make it about 4X7 and drill a hole in each side going up at 45 degrees. Be sure you drill up. Then make a 1/2 - 3/4 quarter inch hole in bottom, screw a mason jar lid over the hole and make a hole from the box into the jar. The bees love cedar and when they see the pre drilled hole they think they have a ready made nest. They will go in and then the only way out is through the hole in the bottom. They go down the hole, get stuck in the mason jar and die. It is an old country remedy but you can usually find them at small town flea markets in the south for about $5.00. I swear they work and I throw away 30-40 bees every spring. Hang them early - probably late Febuary and leave through June. Not gorgeous but they work.The only time they will no work is if you have a cedar eave or have Cedar decorative posts near by. For some reason they will drill in that cedar rather than go in the box. In that case use method above - a bee box prevents them from even drilling where as with the method above, you have to keep filling holes and depending on the stain or paint you have to paint the hole.


    Another option is to paint the eaves etc with good thick latex paint. They will not drill through it but it is a lot to paint and my wife wants a stained eave.