Best Bee Brothers Bee Blog

Are They Carpenter Bees or Mud Daubers? Not sure what’s buzzing around your property? We get this question a lot, so let’s take a look at how to identify each. To control wood-boring bees, our carpenter bee traps are highly effective, but ONLY for catching carpenter bees! While both male and female carpenter bees have black heads, the mail has a light marking on his face. What Does a Carpenter Bee Look Like? First of all, they are BIG! Carpenter bees are typically one inch long. They are often confused with bumblebees. Male and female carpenter bees look similar, but...

Mosquito Predators: What Eats Mosquitoes? You know the routine by now: buzz, buzz, itch, buzz, itch, itch…Every year, mosquitoes annoy us, buzzing in our ears when the weather warms up and biting us when we least expect it. But they’re an important part of the food chain...one we’re sometimes at the bottom of!  Luckily for us, plenty of creatures feast on those pesky bloodsuckers before mosquitoes can get to us. Just who are these mosquito slayers? Some of them are unexpected heroes. And we’ll reveal them all, but first, let’s take a closer look at their pesky prey.  One subspecies...

How Do Wasps Reproduce? When Is It Too Cold for Them? Ahh, the birds and the bees talk…this time about WASPS! What’s a Wasp’s Life Cycle? Since there are many different types of wasps, 30,000 identified species, in fact, let’s focus on one, the Eastern yellow jacket – Vespula maculifrons. This easy-to-identify black-and-yellow-striped social wasp has pestered many picnics and backyard BBQs, since it loves sweet, sugary foods. The yellow jacket life cycle begins with a fertile queen, who builds a nest and uses stored sperm to create worker wasps. These workers continue building the colony, and die off at...

If you are a hands-on kind of person, building a carpenter bee trap might be the perfect project for you! In a few steps, you can create your own DIY version of a carpenter bee trap. We have provided step-by-step carpenter bee trap plans that you can follow along with. But first, here is a helpful video:  Make Your Own Wood Bee Trap  First, you’ll want to gather all your materials. For this homemade carpenter bee catcher you will need: 4x4 cedar or pine post anywhere from 5” to 8” in height. Untreated wood works best! Standard mason jar 6” wide...