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Bumblebees!!!
4/6/2015 | djf

Posted on 04/06/2015 9:00:54 PM PDT by djf

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To: ImaGraftedBranch
I have a log home. I also have carpenter bees. I also have a tennis racket.

I've been waging war against carpenter bees for several years now. They seem immune to spray. My latest weapon is an electrified tennis racket looking thing I found at Lowes.

Bumblebees nest in the ground. Carpenter bees nest in wood - they seem to like decks. They don't eat the wood so if you plug their holes over night, they won't be able to escape. However, I used duct tape over a hole last year and wouldn't you know it - someone staged a rescue and bored into the tape from the outside!

Carpenter bees are very aggressive but they don't sting. So you can get up face to face with them and whack them with a tennis racket. Their main defense is that they look like bumble bees. I've also read that they don't contribute much to pollination. So whack away!

61 posted on 04/07/2015 6:38:56 AM PDT by meowmeow (In Loving Memory of Our Dear Viking Kitty (1987-2006))
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To: fivecatsandadog
fivecatsandadog:".. the Italians would chase me all over the yard, right up to the back door - and then hang around waiting for me to come back outside"

Each hive has a different personality , based on the Queen.
The more aggressive bees were always the most productive honey makers.
Best to avoid loud noise (lawn mowers), big hair, dark shirts and fuzzy sweaters, or being around the hive with an approaching storm as that seems to aggrivate the bees.

62 posted on 04/07/2015 8:02:25 AM PDT by Tilted Irish Kilt
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To: ImaGraftedBranch

I gave my self tennis elbow doing that one year. The new electric tennis rackets are pretty fun on those things too.


63 posted on 04/07/2015 8:12:36 AM PDT by CJ Wolf
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To: Vendome

64 posted on 04/07/2015 9:50:14 AM PDT by Daffynition ("We Are Not Descended From Fearful Men")
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To: djf

I’m not sure about bumblebees, however honey bees have the ability to “dis-locate” or un-hinge their wings (internally) and they vibrate in the hive to generate heat. That is what you are hearing. How big is the birdhouse?


65 posted on 04/07/2015 9:54:13 AM PDT by Ghost of SVR4 (So many are so hopelessly dependent on the government that they will fight to protect it.)
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To: fivecatsandadog
Ooooh, those Italian bees! The former Mr. Fivecatsandadog kept bees and the Italians would chase me all over the yard, right up to the back door - and then hang around waiting for me to come back outside.

Italians are the most docile; I was just removing my queen excluder last night with no problems what so ever. Now, if you eat a banana and get around a hive, you will have some problems. Banana's have the same make up that bees use to convey threats to one and other and ID an attacker. The guard bee's (usually six-seven per hive) are the first to kick things into high gear.

66 posted on 04/07/2015 10:05:28 AM PDT by Ghost of SVR4 (So many are so hopelessly dependent on the government that they will fight to protect it.)
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To: Hot Tabasco

I know. There’s been a couple times when they come in and buzz my house - I gently use a glass and piece of cardboard to put them back out!


67 posted on 04/07/2015 12:19:33 PM PDT by djf (OK. Well, now, lemme try to make this clear: If you LIKE your lasagna, you can KEEP your lasagna!)
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To: Ken H

Not intentional I assure you. ;D)


68 posted on 04/07/2015 5:58:41 PM PDT by Nuc 1.1 (Nuc 1 Liberals aren't Patriots. Remember 1789!)
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To: meowmeow

Female carpenter bees have a painful sting, but are rarely agressive. The males are usually the ones that dive bomb you and are very curious. They don’t have a stinger. If anyone wants to know the difference, bumble bees have a hairy abdomen, carpenter bees have a shiny hairless black one.

I’m not sure if any male bees sting, I don’t think so.

Freegards


69 posted on 04/07/2015 6:11:19 PM PDT by Ransomed
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To: Hot Tabasco
a soccer ball sized nest

I had one of those in a cedar tree in the back yard last summer. I figured I'd wait until winter and go back and get rid of it while they were hibernating. When I went to check on it, it had been ripped open and all the cells were empty. Kind of looked like woodpecker damage.

70 posted on 04/07/2015 6:24:21 PM PDT by tacticalogic ("Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: Nuc 1.1

I need to start saving these. One of my favorites was a thread where someone wrote, “A McMansion is expensive. You gave to pay people to maintain it, repair it and desecrate it.”


71 posted on 04/07/2015 6:31:41 PM PDT by Ken H
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To: Ken H

Lol! That was good!


72 posted on 04/07/2015 7:29:00 PM PDT by Nuc 1.1 (Nuc 1 Liberals aren't Patriots. Remember 1789!)
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To: tacticalogic
while they were hibernating.

Actually the bees remaining in the nest are all males and they die while the queen flies off and finds maybe a wood pile to spend the winter in. In the spring she comes out then starts the building of a new nest, laying eggs that will hatch into the males that will help her build it.

It's birds that shred the old nest looking to eat the dead bees.........

73 posted on 04/08/2015 3:47:59 AM PDT by Hot Tabasco (Uncle Sy: "Beavers are like Ninjas, they only come out at night and they're hard to find")
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To: meowmeow

Up to 96 for the spring. Hope to hit 100 today.

We are restaining the logs and putting a glossy clear coat over them. Carpenter bees need to latch on to something, and now it is impossible. Love it.


74 posted on 04/09/2015 8:18:04 AM PDT by ImaGraftedBranch (If you haven't figured it out, there is a great falling away...happening before your eyes.)
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To: ImaGraftedBranch
Up to 96 for the spring. Hope to hit 100 today.

Wow! I knocked out maybe a dozen last year. Weather's warming up and I already see some coming back to last year's nests in my porch (in a space I can't reach). Time to change the batteries in the electric tennis racket...

75 posted on 04/10/2015 4:24:12 AM PDT by meowmeow (In Loving Memory of Our Dear Viking Kitty (1987-2006))
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To: Yardstick

You are correct. It was carpenter bees.


76 posted on 04/11/2015 9:28:00 PM PDT by gunsequalfreedom (Conservative is not a label of convenience. It is a guide to your actions.)
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To: djf

I was always told to watch out for the ones with
white faces, they have a mean bite.


77 posted on 04/11/2015 9:30:03 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: gunsequalfreedom

Yeah, probably the males dive bombing you. I didn’t realize until this thread that they’re stingerless. It has changed my attitude towards them. I was outside working this past week and had some carpenter bees pestering me, but I just ignored them and everything was okay. I actually admire them for their bravery — defending their homestead against me without even having a sting for a weapon. They were also fighting off some wasps in the area, which was helpful. Any time a wasp would slow down to surveille me, a bee would come zooming in and escort the wasp away.


78 posted on 04/12/2015 12:36:28 AM PDT by Yardstick
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To: Yardstick

Well, you could have told me that before I went running like a screaming maniac into the house as they were chasing me! LOL


79 posted on 04/15/2015 11:30:27 PM PDT by gunsequalfreedom (Conservative is not a label of convenience. It is a guide to your actions.)
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