How To Tell If You Have Carpenter Bees

The first sign that many homeowners notice of carpenter bee infestations is bore-holes in their wood.

How to tell if you have carpenter bees. While bumblebees nest underground carpenter bees build their nests in trees and wood structures such as your house and deck. Their flying patterns also vary because while bumblebees fly straighter than the darting-and-diving flight pattern of the carpenter bee. How to Identify Carpenter Bees Carpenter bees resemble bumble bees but you can tell them apart by their abdomens.

Carpenter bees like to bore their way into wood especially sheds pergolas posts porches window trim and even the eaves of the house. In addition to the holes you might also notice. In other words if it has a furry butt its not a carpenter bee.

1 Telltale signs of carpenter bee activity include sawdust piles on the ground and excrement stains on the wood below their holes. Other signs that you have carpenter bees include whether or not you see coarse sawdust at the opening. Bumblebees and carpenter bees are very different creatures.

After the boring process has started the bee will then turn at a right angle and continue to tunnel parallel to the wood. To spot carpenter bee damage take a closer look at wooden structures around the yard. If it is furry its a bumblebee but if its bare and shiny then its a carpenter bee.

Instead carpenter bees have an all-black body that is smooth and shiny. Dont forget bees can only sting once they dont do it without very good reason. This means in many cases you can simply leave the bees.

You can tell the two kinds apart by a quick look at the abdomen the end zone of the bee home to stinger. Unlike termites carpenter bees do not eat wood. Carpenter bees tend to have an even sex ratio meaning that there is an almost equal amount of male and female offspring produced quite different from the heavily skewed female sex ratio in bumblebees.