Get Rid of Wood-Boring Bees

If you’ve come to this page, you probably have some serious issues with these pesky little wood-boring creatures. Despite their small size, insects like carpenter bees can cause serious damage to the structural integrity of your home, not to mention ruin your outdoor living space. To get your home back in order as quickly as possible, we’ll break down our three-part process for ridding your home of carpenter bees.

How to Trap Carpenter Bees

  1. Understand Their Habits. Luckily for us, carpenter bees are fairly predictable in their mating and nesting habits. Generally speaking, they prefer soft, untreated wood like pine that’s easy for them to burrow in and lay their eggs.
  2. Buy a Trap. The first step to trapping carpenter bees is...well...buying a trap! What makes Original B Brothers traps different from anything else on the market? Our traps use biomimicry to replicate the natural look and feel of a carpenter bee home. Our traps are made of soft wood that is perfect for bees to nest in (or so they think).Original B Brothers Carpenter Bee Trap
  3. Hang It Vertical, Sunny and High. After you’ve bought a trap, there are a few things to know. First, these traps are designed to work best when hung vertically. This may sound obvious, but it can make a real difference in the amount of carpenter bees that you catch. Make sure your trap is upright after you hang it and not tilted to one side or another. Second, carpenter bees love the sun, so choose an area outside your home that gets a lot of sunlight throughout the day to maximize the trap’s potential. And last,  think about the placement itself. We recommend hanging or mounting the traps in the corners and peaks of your home’s structure.
  4. Bait It? No Way. Lastly, it’s time to bust a myth. Contrary to popular belief, baiting a carpenter bee trap is not necessary. Interestingly enough, nothing entices a carpenter bee more than the pheromones of other dead carpenter bees. Why? It acts as a sort of homing beacon to say, “If this spot was a good nest for another carpenter bee, then it’s good enough for me.” So the sooner you get the traps up, the sooner you’ll start collecting dead carpenter bees that will release more pheromones.

How to Kill Carpenter Bees

Sit Back and Relax. Whew! The hard part is over. Once your Original B Brothers trap is set up and hung correctly, there’s nothing left for you to do but sit back and let it work its magic. It varies from home to home, but most people begin seeing results within the first few days of their traps being hung. Remember, all you need is one dead carpenter bee in your trap to really get the ball rolling with those pheromones.


How to Keep Carpenter Bees Away

Your traps are working great, and you’ve got a lot of dead carpenter bees. Now how do you keep it that way?

Treat Current Nests. Carpenter bees will be lazy if they can be. That’s why it’s vitally important to scan your home for preexisting carpenter bee nests to ensure that your bees aren’t trying to renovate an old nest. Once you locate these old or currently active nests, treat any holes by clogging them with plugs, wooden corks, putty, or even a caulking compound.

    Now that you’ve completed all the steps, it’s time to take back your home and start enjoying these wonderful spring and summer months while they last! Happy trapping!