Carpenter Bees !!

[elaineandmichaelsmommy]

Tonight while we were playing outside I noticed a carpenter bee flying around our deck. :32: Great,just freaking great! I tried to let it go but then ds spotted it and ran after it trying to catch it :47: so I'm telling ds of course "no no mike, leave it ALONE!" At which point dd sees the bee-that was just the end of the evening outside.

Unfortunatly I've instilled in my daughter my fear of bees and wasps,so yeah . Even though they don't officially sting the evenings over and I'm thinking of calling the exterminator tommorow to see if the darn thing has burrowed in.

GGRRRRRRR!

UPDATE!!!

The exterminator came yesterday and gave us the all clear. Looks like it was just a loner our buzzin around.

About the stinging-He said the bees are not aggressive and that only the females sting and only if they feel extremely threatened. He said he was up on a ladder just the day before plugging up a hole and swatting the bees away with his bare hands. And while they're large and annoying the males do not sting under any circumstances and the females very rarely. HTH.

He also said if they've burrowed into your wood you'll see a perfect hole and 10 or more going in and out.

Considering this is a company that makes their exterminators wear bees suits to deal with bumble bees and anything else that stings and he doesn't wear the suit for carpenter bees I feel more comfortable.

[JTsMom]

Seriously, what is the deal with those things? We didn't have them in FL, so they are new to me. We had a huge debate going at the park a few weeks back, b/c the place is swarming with them. Some people said they don't sting, some said they do-something about looking at dots on their head, and some said one sex stings, the other doesn't.

Someone looked it up on their cell, and said they DO sting, but even though the kids were playing around them, and their must have been hundreds of bees, nobody was stung. One mom said her husband regularly catches them in his hands and has never been stung.

I'm very confused about this bee issue.

[missym]

Male carpenter bees act more aggressive than the females, but can't sting so it's all show. Females can sting, but rarely do unless provoked. In general, carpenter bees are slow-moving and dopey.

Here's some good info:
http://www.ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/carpenter_bees.htm

I don't mind the bees themselves as much as the woodpeckers who go after their hives! One poked big holes in our swingset to get to the larvae.

[Wife_and_mommy]

Both my kids have bug phobias(from their mama, of course:p ) so I feel your pain! That bee would have ruined my night too. So sorry that happened.

[ShanaMama]

I am so ignorant I didn't even know what type of bees you were referring to until I clicked on the pp link. I hate those too.
When DD was still in her infant carseat I was opening my front door with one hand & holding her carseat in my other. One of those monster bees came swooping down at me & kinda landed on my ear. Those little claws are sharp & I thought it was stinging me. I completely freaked out & *dropped* DD. Thank G-d she was strapped in & totally unhurt, but I felt so guilty afterwards. Think that's where her utter fear of bugs comes from?

[mytwoboys]

We had these in our yard too. They actually made quite the hive in our neighbor's siding. Our swing set is on that side of the yard and when DS#2 tried to go down the slide 2 of these bees came at him and would fly right into him. It sounded like hail against his little head. Poor thing. I had to get up there and bring him down. It's been over a month now and he will NOT go near the swing set. We had to call an exterminator and we begged our neighbors to do the same. Now and then we will see an occasional one, but before there would be 20+ carpenter bees in my yard at any given time.

[elaineandmichaelsmommy]

ok, so now I don't feel so bad having only had 1. But I can safely say that at 20 bees dd wouldn't have set foot in the backyard PERIOD end of discussion for her.

[emmiem]

They do not make hives. The bees live solitary. The females burrow in unpainted wood and lay eggs. They have a stinger. The males hang around waiting for an interested female. They buzz you but don't sting. You can't really spray them away. You have to spray the holes they make, and fill them up. Paint your wood under the eaves, swingsets, and facias with two coats of primer and two coats of paint. They generally last about a month or two and then don't bother you as much. They do come back every year if you don't repair your wood.
Michele

[MamaMolly]

I was at Kohls yesterday and thought of you. They had these bug zapping paddles (like ping-pong paddles) you could get to zap the bees!

DH used to use a racquet ball paddle to knock them to the ground for our German Shepherd to eat. We no longer have the paddle, dog or house...now that's one way to get rid of the bees! ;)