Best Bee Brothers Bee Blog — About Carpenter Bees

A customer recently asked why her home was chosen by carpenter bees. It’s a great question, but the answer has many different variables. So many of us wonder why carpenter bees are such a problem in our area, but maybe not so much at a friend’s home that is only a few miles away – or even a neighbor right next door. Carpenter bees are unique creatures governed by a set of distinct behavioral patterns. Studying these patterns and exploiting them in our design enabled us to create such effective carpenter bee traps. These behaviors have shown us their preferences...

Carpenter bees are known for their wood-drilling skills. Unlike honey bees, carpenter bees are solitary bees. This means that they do not make a hive or live in a large colony. Carpenter bee units primarily comprise one female and one male carpenter bee. Each spring when the new carpenter bees emerge from hibernation, they look for a mate. A female and male pair will choose to mate together. Immediately the female begins the hard task of building a nest and laying eggs. The female and male carpenter bees have different and important jobs. The female does all of the nest...

What is a Black Bee? Carpenter bees and bumble bees are often confused for one another. Both are approximately the same size and can be found in some of the same places, including your garden. If you see large black bumble bees in your yard, there are some easy tell-tale signs for distinguishing between the two.  Do Carpenter Bees Pollinate? Bumble bees are important pollinators and are one of the few bee species who can pollinate. Specifically, they are excellent buzz pollinators, which is the process of dislodging pollen from the flower by the vibrations of their flight muscles. Currently,...

Not All Polinators are Created Equal: The Honey Bee vs The Carpenter Bee “Isn’t it bad to kill bees?” This is a question our customers sometimes ask. The truthful short answer is yes. The world’s pollinators are in crisis. And without pollinators, our diets would be extremely limited. Traditionally, honey bees have been the largest pollinators. Within the past decade, their populations have suffered, in some areas by as much as 70%. Colony collapse disorder and certain chemical pesticides are known to be the culprits. The loss of bee pollinators would be catastrophic to the human population. Saving the honey...

Carpenter bees can come in a variety of colors depending upon where you live. Even though there are a variety of carpenter bees there are a handful of characteristics to identify a carpenter bee. The diagram above shows the following defining physical characteristics of a carpenter bee: Length: Typically 1 inch long Legs: 4 fuzzy black legs Mandibles: Used for digging through wood Abdomen: Hard, black and shiny Thorax: Mid-section of the body with a fuzzy texture Antenna: How the bee senses or smells things The shiny hard abdomen is the most distinguishing physical trait of the carpenter bee regardless...