Doesn't this look like a bumble bee? I was sitting out on my patio the other day enjoying the freshly mowed lawn (sneezing my head off) and admiring my freshly sodden flower bed...when I saw some bees. I'm not afraid of bees. They are our friends...they pollinate our flowers...yada, yada, yada. I thought to myself that wow, the bees are here already..too bad the flowers aren't up yet for them to taste...
Fast forward to the next day. My neighbor saw me sawing my "weed" tree the other day and offered to take the rest of it down for me. (Saw me sawing...ahahaha...I crack myself up). He was sawing away when he noticed lots of bees abuzzing. Told me I probably have a nest of them up in the eave of my house....I thought that would be a good thing...to have a hive of honey bees!!! How exciting! Right?
Wrong. He informed me that they're probably carpenter bees. Carpenter bees???????? Never heard of em. What, pray tell, (wtf) are those? Those are bees that nest themselves into wood and bore holes to make their nests!!! Ergo, they're in the eave of my house boring holes??????? Damn. Why haven't I heard of these before???? I quickly ran upstairs to make sure they weren't swarming into my house, boring holes into my bedroom, getting ready to attack when I wasn't looking. I panicked....I wanted them gone! Now! Damn.
I called the exterminator....one that advertises using "safe" pesticides....(an oxymoron?) and told him of my plight. He calmed me down informing me that they are very common and he'd be here on Thursday to take a look. He'll have to plug up the holes they've bored to insure they don't come back next year.
So the moral of the story is.......
If it looks like a bumble bee and sounds like a bumble bee and buzzes like a bumble bee....it may not be a bumble bee!!! Dooby dooby doo. Beware!
I watched them all day as if my mean stares would make them go away. They didn't. ;-(
Peace
22 comments:
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Brat...you're a real wiseguy! ;-)
Peace
We have alot of paper wasps around here. Yellow and black, they make small nests wherever they can fit. I think you might be talking about the same critter...
Odat let's boooogieeeeee!! :-)
Good luck with the bee murdering. Cheers!!
Any way to charge the bees rent? Maybe farm them out to offshore bee companies?
ha ha ha
Peace
mark
I try the glare thing with bugs too, I mean it works with dogs sometimes. Yeah, this is why I get bit.
we have cedar shingles that not only attract bees, wasps and other great nesting things but wood peckers and ladybugs. never fails to have ladybugs hanging out in winter in our house. I know that vinyl siding is bad, blah blah blah, but I can not take the naturalness of my current siding. Eventually, something will get done.
What I'm trying to say: I feel your pain.
hey odat! watch it! i am a bee!!!
smiles, bee
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Funny you should post this, I think you have ESP.. I was out walking the hound this morning and noticed when I stepped outside that near the front of my apartment smells like a beehive. What does a beehive smell like, you may ask......... You'd just have to know what it smells like to recognize it. Anyway, the beware thing, I will listen, although you do know I am not afraid. As you said, bees are our friends. :-)
I did not know there was carpenter bees, carpenter ants yes, holy cow.
Yep, we've got carpenter bees here in Mayberry and they aren't welcome here either!
Buff, these guys are big...like bumble bees!!!! BBB....big bumble bees!!
Paul...Boogie like a bumble bee!
Matt..I prefer to call it euthanasia....I'm just putting me out of their misery.
Walking Man....I know a few people I dont like that live in wooden houses...maybe I could throw them a few bees???
Christy...lol...you too huh? It works on humans too....
Say It...yeah they say to coat the wood with something...I'll soon find out what it is...
Bee,,,,But you're the good Bee...who wears the tiara...I would never try to hurt ya!!! ;-)
Deb...lol.. the smell of a hive, huh??? Well..leave it to you to know that....
Sarge..I know!! I never heard of them...but apparently e'one else around here has....
Sandy&Dick..Apparently they're indigenous to the east coast....(i read that on the internet so it must be true...lol)
Hi! Bee geek here! Carpenter bees are native pollinators. They are having a harder time than even the honey bees. They are usually fairly docile, non-honey making, bees. There is a growing movement to keep carpenter bees and mason bees as, again, they are native pollinators and dying off in droves. Carpenter bees/mason bees are bees. As are bumbles.
If you have honey bees - that is not a good thing. Your exterminator will know and will not be able to get rid of them. (It's against the law to exterminate honey bees in most states now.) They'll call a bee geek to remove them. It can be a major problem - worse than bumbles (who live in the ground), wasps and carpenter or mason bees.
Your exterminator will kill wasps - which is also a native pollinator. Wasps are taking over in the space left by the decimation of carpenter and mason bees. They are vicious creature that eat meat, live animals, etc. bleck! They live in the ground or in paper containers. They eat our honey bees alive. uck!
So - don't worry. You did exactly the right thing. This is an excellent time of year to get on top of this kind of thing. No wasp, honey bee, carpenter, mason or bumble colony will be very big. They are just getting started for the year. He'll plug the holes - easy. We see this all the time when we're called for swarms.
Good luck - don't worry - you did exactly the right thing....
Oh and there's lots of food for bees now - dandelions, tulips, tree flowers - perfect food for bees! :)
One more thing: blah, blah, bee, blah, blah, bee, blah, blah.
Carpenter bees. Well, I guess they rearrange your house. Bwahahahahaha. Like Matt-Man said, good luck with the bee murdering. Just teasing here. Have a great day Odat. Big hug and lotsa lovies. :)
Ugh, I have them too! Every year they come back and I try to kill them. Nothing I have found works.
After reading the above, I think I'll embrace my carpenter bees. I feel like I should put a little house number sign under their hole on the deck.
I guess we're lucky to have them!
Yeah I would have been on the phone with the landlord if we found them.
Good luck tomorrow.
There are so many different types of little insects that sting and hurt you. So many different names.
Claudia, That is sure interesting stuff.....I'll let you know how it all works out. Thanks!!!
Sandee...and I was looking for a good carpenter too....ahahahaha.
Real....I just have this unwarranted fear of them coming down thru the roof into my house!! Let's hope their not that good at chewing wood!!
Mama Bear, I'm just glad my neighbor pointed out to me what they really were......
Julia, there sure are!!!
Peace
Never heard of 'em either, just carpenter ants.
So the glaring isn't working, huh?
Good luck out there with nature, Odat
Our lives are on some weird parallel trip.
We had carpenter bees last year. That's when I learned about them. They were boring into a neighbours' rundown wooden shed.
Here's what I was told. Carpenter bees like untreated wood. So if you stain or paint any exposed wood, that's a great deterrent. Also, they travel/live in pairs. A female and a male. The female makes the nest and lays the eggs. The male trolls for food and guards the nest area. So, if you kill the male, the female will die soon because she counts on the male for food. They never sting either, so they say. But you're right, they are big fat bees and scary!
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