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Author Topic: Removing Bumblebees  (Read 2950 times)

Offline mtnb

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Removing Bumblebees
« on: August 23, 2017, 12:38:41 pm »
Does anyone have any experience moving bumbles? Lady said they're honey bees but some are as big as her thumb.  Went and looked and they turned out to be bumblebees. They're flying into a hole in the side of her siding. The hole looks drilled plus there are three others that have been caulked in. What could they be? She's never noticed them in 5 years living there and doesn't know. 

It looks like trailer skirting on the bottom and Bob says it should just pop apart at those seams. There is a foundation. He won't be able to help me with this one. Do you all think they'll be just on the bottom of the studs maybe? Or would they have tunneled in further? I hear they like to walk a little way to their nest? I'm hoping I can just scoop them up with a dustpan? I also hear they become quite agressive and smoke doesn't really work.

Any advice you can give me is appreciated!
I'd rather be playing with venomous insects
GO BEES!

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Removing Bumblebees
« Reply #1 on: August 23, 2017, 01:52:22 pm »
Yvonne,
Sounds like Carpenter Bees. They bore 1/2 way into the wood and then bore with the grain. They add some food and lay an egg, seal it and add another egg and food and so on. They do a lot of damage. The only way to stop them is with a thick coat of paint. They did a lot of damage to my dock. I only had sealed on it. I had to replace the boards that they used.
Only way to move them would be to move the boards.
If you have exposed boards on your house, you do not want to move them to your location.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline iddee

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Re: Removing Bumblebees
« Reply #2 on: August 23, 2017, 02:02:22 pm »
Kenny Rogers said it well. "" Know when to walk away, and know when to RUN.""

Tell her to call an exterminator.
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

*Shel Silverstein*

Offline paus

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Re: Removing Bumblebees
« Reply #3 on: August 23, 2017, 03:41:02 pm »
If the hole is "round" They are carpenter bees.  They do not sting but as Sawdust said they are very destructive.  There several ways to control these bees but every way that I know requires a watchful eye to retreat.  The most effective method I have used is to caulk every hole, every time one starts a new hole.  I have used diesel squirted in the hole, effective but messy. foam, any insecticide, but caulking and painting is the best way I have found.

Offline mtnb

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Re: Removing Bumblebees
« Reply #4 on: August 23, 2017, 04:11:39 pm »
Thank you guys. I've googled carpenter bees in the past and thought they were smaller. But now that I'm looking again, they do look very similar to bumblebees. So now I'm not sure what I saw. Lol I better go back and look again and maybe try to get a picture. The holes are definitely round. Thanks for the advice!
I'd rather be playing with venomous insects
GO BEES!

Offline mtnb

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Re: Removing Bumblebees
« Reply #5 on: August 24, 2017, 04:09:30 pm »
Ok. They're definitely bumblebees. Orange belted ones. Is it possible that there were carpenter bees who made those holes, maybe got killed or abandoned the nest and it was taken over by bumbles?
They sure don't like me standing there looking. I was trying to take a picture of the one on the plant when it was trying to get into the hole and it chased me around to the front. Lol

I'd rather be playing with venomous insects
GO BEES!