How Long Can A Carpenter Bee Live

Therefore you should avoid eliminating these insects unless absolutely necessary.

How long can a carpenter bee live. The Carpenter bee is known as an excellent pollinator but can be a pest. I was like TooPatato these wonderful bee s became pets once I educated myself about their behavior it has been 5 years now and they live on my back porch ranging from 4 to 8 a year the male bee is fascinating and is fascinated to constantly inspect what you are doing. Young bees leave their cells and nests in June.

Instead of eradicating the shiny black wood-burrowing bees on our own back porch we watch them listen to them and otherwise enjoy them. They settle in to brood tunnels individually to overwinter and emerge in the spring to mate. They would need to not just work a lot of years but create a lot of tunnels before it would get seriously damaged.

How long do they live. Most importantly carpenter bees dont live in colonies. While the damage to your property may appear cosmetic over the years these tunnels will expand and branch out causing considerable structural damage and staining the wood.

Adult bees come out from their nests in March after a few warm days have occurred. Female eastern carpenter bees live for up to two years. Each new generation is hatched in the late summer emerging from nests in August and September to grow and feed pollinating flowers as they go before settling in for the winter and hibernating.

The short answer is dont. If you want to avoid chemicals around your home staining your wood may also work as a deterrent. It can be very difficult to reach many of the holes the bees are using.

Newly hatched males will spend the winter with the females in the nest but die in the following spring. If you listen closely on a quiet day you can sometimes hear the bees determined construction work although that is not a welcome sound. However since carpenter bees are not social insects and tend to be more solitary bees getting rid of carpenter bees usually does not involve dealing with a large hive.