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Re: Wood Bees

In a message dated 5/17/98 8:30:28 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
mathena@iquest.net writes:

<< 
 I need info on wood bees. They are burrowing in the wood rafters that 
 cover my patio, I use by my veggie garden. They are a bother, do not 
 know how to deal with them, do not want to destroy them.
 Thanks for any help!>>

 Monica,

    These are carpenter bees, very valuable pollinators. In most cases they
don't do enough damage to threaten a building, it's only cosmetic damage.

    They are important, more so, in this day of decline of our pollinator
populations. They work many of the early fruit blossoms. In orchards before we
place the honeybees, carpenter bees are often the only bee I still see,
working nowadays.

   They are very gentle. The female is involved in nest building and will
totally ignore you. If you disturb her, she will fly off. She is capable of
stinging, but will only do so in extreme provocation. If you catch her and
hold her in your hand, she *might* sting.

    The drones are the scary ones, but they are being playful and curious,
rather than agressive. They cannot sting at all. They will hover in front of
you and watch you, sometimes mirroring your movements. You can actually dance
with them!

    The drones are also looking for mates, which is their only function in
life. In so doing they are quite comical. Toss a pebble and watch the drone
chase it. I once got quite a kick out of watching a pair of wrens build a
nest, and a carpenter drone was chasing them every time they flew. They would
sit and scold the drone endlessly, but it didn't do a bit of good.

   The female, after mating will begin to build her nest. If undisturbed, they
often will return to previous nest holes from the past season. Otherwise they
will drill a perfect hole (amazingly smooth) and begin the first cell. An egg
(female) is laid in it and it is provisioned with nectar and pollen, then the
cell is sealed. A second is started, etc. The last one to be build (closest to
the entrance) will be a drone egg. This way the drones hatch first, and are
ready when the females emerge, to do their duty.

    These gentle giants should be protected. They prefer unpainted softwood,
so a paint job will discourage them from wood you want to protect, though this
is not absolute. Some folks provide nest sites by mounting a beam on a couple
of posts. It certainly is a good idea to encourage their populations,
especially since so many people hate them and try to exterminate them.

    I celebrate the return of the adults to their short life cycle each year
in our warehouse. We have a big old wooden building and hundreds of them nest
under it each year. We enjoy watching them and are glad to give them the
little bit of sawdust they take. They won't bring down the warehouse in my
lifetime.

   If you are fearful, learn, somehow, to overcome your fear, and watch them.
Show them to children. Teach them the difference between them and bumblebees,
wasps and hornets, and the different jobs each of them has to do. If we can
teach another generation to overcome fear, we will have accomplished a lot.
Many folks in these modern times are so far removed from nature that they fear
everything about it.

   True there are pests and there are dangers in nature, but carpenter bees
are not on these lists. So please encourage them and protect them as best you
can.

Pollinator@aol.com     Dave Green  Hemingway, SC  USA
The Pollination Scene:  http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html

Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop    (Varietal Honeys and Beeswax Candles)
http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm
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