I do not mean to criticize here, but merely observe. I have only observed them chewing up firm and healthy wood. There are many instances of bees tunneling through the edge of the board and turning back.Īlso, I would dispute your claim that these bees prefer dead/rotted wood. The 10+ board had ~15 access holes and ~13 nests, 4 with nesting compartments and 2 of those plugged.Ī couple of the access holes were in-and-out, meaning that the bee drilled in and then abandoned the hole due to proximal tunnels in the board. The 4' board had 1 access hole and 1 nest.
I ripped the 10' and 4' boards lengthwise and killed all the bees. We rehabbed in winter, so the bees were too dormant to flee from my table saw. Some years later I sadly needed to rehab my house to sell it, and since I was moving to an all-wood house, I could not take my bees with me. No bees ever bothered my garage door after that. I then sprayed insect repellent on the bee-hole. I stroked its little bee-butt with my finger, causing it to withdraw and fly hastily away. Not long after, I came home to find a bee had drilled thorax-deep into my wooden garage door. I removed all but the main board (+10' long) and cut a 4-foot section of the under board containing the gouge to save as a foundation. I figured most of them would be riddled with bee-holes but was surprised to find that the bees had only nested in a single board, gouging out a small bit of the board below to gain access. Some years in, I decided to get rid of the board stack (at least 60 boards high). Usually when I would come out there would be an out-rider, or 'lookout bee' that would observe and interact with me. Over a period of more than 15 years, I observed the bees. Since my house was mostly made of bricks, I was not alarmed. Shortly, I noticed sawdust at the base of the stack and one bee-hole about halfway up.
I once lived in a mostly brick ranch house (Ohio Huber) and had a stack of 1x2" pine boards on my back patio for some reason. Carpenter Bee Nest & Pictures By Myran Michaelis
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