An easy to make and highly effective trap for the carpenter bee using common hand tools and scrap lumber. Average construction time is 5 minutes per trap. Reposted since I inadvertently deleted the previous one. #carpenterbeetrap
We’re about the same age, the last generation of true “horse sense”, and my friend, you’ve got plenty! Thanks a million for this video. I’m in my way out to the shop now!
It took me probably 30 minutes to make 3 of these traps. Within an hour I had already got one. Thank you so much for making this video. I tried WD40 that I saw on another video but all that did was drive them out of the nest. I had 25 or more of thes things flying around the barn the morning after using WD40
went to home depot and picked up some new bosch speed demon paddle bits. took a 2x4 I had laying around, cut 3 chunks off, drilled them, went to the recycle bin and grabbed 1 water bottle and 2 20oz soda bottles, installed the bottles, found wood screws, headed out to install them now. thank you!!! love easy fast soloutions
Best way I found to keep carpenter bees away from my log home was give them an easy place to nest. I bought a 6-in. x 8-in x 10 ft. pine beam from a sawmill and suspended it between two trees away from my home. The bees went right to it and with minimal determent treatment to my log home I have managed to keep them away. I had to add another beam after two years, pileated woodpeckers about destroyed the beam seeking the bee Larvae.
Best bee trap around. I had to come back and see what size bits he used. Awesome job sir. Only thing i did different was i took a little off the corners for the 1/2 hole goes to make it easier to drill.
I have carpenter bees destroying any exposed wood on my buildings, they should be renamed demolition bees. I will definitely give this a try. Thanks for taking the time to make a great video and sharing it with us!
Florida here , I have lots of nests in my fence posts, and doing research I came across this video, and I made about 7 of these and within maybe 2 hrs 1 bee was in my trap , awesome video, easy instructions and it works, I saw some other videos where they put water and dish liquid in the bottle to drown them , I have 3 with liquid and 4 without, one without caught the first one.
Thank you for the help to rid us of carpenter bees. It worked over about 3 weeks we caught them. Now we can seat on the patio or be outside without them buzzing and getting in our face.
Works great! Took care of my carpenter bee problem in Georgia over the weekend. Thanks for posting!! I named mine The Hotel California (yuck, yuck). Although, I did have some fun working on my tennis forehand - those little suckers can sure move when you put a little snap in your wrist on contact.
In Sharpsburg, GA, I enjoy my time with the carpenter bees and my special badminton racquet. It's fun to knock them down, then step on them, but I think I'll make a couple of these next year. Sometimes I just can't get them all.
Wanted to share something I found. Got rid of mine in about 5 minutes for about 3 bucks. They were boring into the white fascia on my utility building. I bought some white duct tape that matches the color of the wood, and just covered the holes. I made a criss-cross X shape over each hole with two pieces of tape. Next day they returned but couldn't find the holes. They left and haven't returned at all. This winter, I will plug the holes properly but this quick fix worked great for now.
These work! I made one, love the simple design (I am a 65 y.o. Grandma). First year only got a few. Left them in there and this year I already have several more trapped. Going to make more to cover more territory. Was going to add a photo, but can't figure out how to do it.
I make mine a bit differently (metro Atlanta GA) but I learned a few things and will definitely try some of your ideas. Good stuff and great advice. Thanks!
where I live in the mountains of nc we have big problems with the bees. my carport was being eaten but worse, my neighbors two out building were really being weakened by them. the way I've been making traps is very labor intensive compared to yours. I was building boxes. I like your idea much more and will make a few to see just how well they work. I was selling mine at a flea market and they were selling well it's just I don't think I was making out because of the time it took for each box. your design is simple and, from the looks of things, quite effective. thanks marsh rat!
When I was kid I was in our garage and there was a carpenter bee flying around. I watched him fly up into an empty light socket on the ceiling. I got a crazy idea and flipped on the switch. A second later, POP! Dead carpenter bee falls to the floor.
I've had the occcasional June Bug come inside at night during the summer. Best way to deal with them is turn the ceiling fan on high and turn the upward (ceiling) facing light on. Just takes a minute of two for the bug to hit the fan and die.
Live in western NY but I have many good friends from Ohio, all good people and I count you amongst them!! Thanks for sharing this simple trap design. I'm going to make about 4 of these this week. Carpenter bees have been devouring my wooden privacy fence. THANKS!
WNY guy here as well, and house we just bought last year was ate up by these things. So, now while having to replace some of the cedar trim, I'm gonna make up a half dozen of these this weekend as well. Saw another video where someone used a 4x4 which might give more entrances, however the spare 2x4 pieces I've got should do the trick just as well. Tip- I'm gonna put an ounce of water and couple drops of termidor or similar in mine just to speed up the killing.
Moved from Arkansas to North Carolina. Oh...look at all the nice bees doing pollination. No!! carpenter bees tearing up the deck! Many thank for the help. Got 10 in the jars as of today.
Hello and thank you for a very simple and elegant design...heck, I think I may even be able to make one! You instruction is simple, easy to follow, and listening to you made me feel like I was learning from an old friend. Great instruction. Thank you.
Just moved into a need cider sided house, these carpenter bee give a new meaning to being eat out of house and home. Loved you simple design, big fan of of the KISS method of building. They say when you dump the bees out of the tramp leave one or two dead bee in the bottle, it attracts the female bee?
I quit wearing Libertys when I saw made in China on the last pair I bought. Now I wear Pointers. Better made, more comfortable, last a lot longer and made in Tennessee. China can kiss my ass.
I love this guy, and his trap work excellent!!! I have had them up since spring, and they are still trapping these bees, even after I stopped seeing them search for holes or places to make them.
Last spring, I thought they were regular bumble bees, until I saw the holes in my deck. Grr. Made a trap and got the 2 bees that were doing all the work. Plugged up the holes and painted the deck. The next spring, they returned to the same spot, gave the deck a look over,but did not start boring. They do not like paint. I am going to hang a few traps around the property.
im from springfield ohio and i have a bunch of carpenter bees around my porch deck. they have drilled into the wood hand railing. im gonna make one of these traps this week hope it works.. thanks for posting this vid
Do you spray the bees, or in the holes, or the wood? Does it make them angry or knock them down so you can step on them? Thanks for sharing. Will give this a try up here in NW Ohio they are a big problem now.
Helpful and encouraging video! I like the way you emphasize that you need to wait a day or two before seeing results. I'm from New York--very impatien!. I installed 2 traps on my cedar siding exterior late this morning, was disappointed when I didn't see any bees in the trap by mid-afternoon. I guess I'll have to wait a couple of days to see results.
Awesome! I am being invaded in SC and this is so easy to duplicate! The last suggestion I had was painting the exposed wood in my pole barn with used oil (took all summer and a Giant waste of time!) I just made 4 of these and will let you know in a few days.... fingers crossed
Thanks so much for the info on making a carpenter bee trap...i live in southern Alabama and they are everywhere boring holes, even in a cedar rocking chair I made last year that I like and don't want bees drilling it to pieces...LOL! Cheers to you, too, from LA (lower Alabama :)
man thank you so much . you made the video very informative and with easy and quick instructions .I'm from Marietta GA and we have these dang bees everywhere I faint wait to get my new traps up
Love it! I have had problems for years. I think I can even do this. Thanks. They seems to love my old chimney too, old mortar.... Have a hundred year plus house.
This type of bees are very destructive.My wooden handled wheelbarrow was just one item they chewed.Hard to use with one handle.This was over 2.5 months leaned up against my shed.The other was my air handler base made from treated wood.Treated for what,bee hotels? Great video! You seem like a real nice grandpa..
I cant believe people gave a thumbs down cause this video is AWESOME!!!!!!!!! you just got yourself a new subscriber right here🙋🏽♀️🙋🏽♀️🙋🏽♀️🙋🏽♀️🙋🏽♀️🙋🏽♀️🙋🏽♀️🙋🏽♀️🙋🏽♀️🙋🏽♀️🙋🏽♀️🙋🏽♀️🙋🏽♀️🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
Hi Marsh Rat, just saw your video and your traps are great. I think they will work good. I know some people get bent out of shape for killing bees but these things are destructive. I use Cyper WP www.domyownpestcontrol.com/cyper-wp-p-228.html It seems to really knock them back and keep them from drilling. It will killl the ones that eat the poison but if they sense it they will not land on the exposed wood and just go somewhere else. Which is what I want. Thought I would share :)
thanks, made four of them in about half hour with no investment, hung them on my deck rails, thought I had 4 to6 , caught 17 in two weeks and haven't. seen one since, afraid I will miss them as pollinators
Great way to save the building. Been thinking how to do something similar on my bottom board of my beehives for catching small hive beetles. I think you helped me solve that one small glitch in my design
Very informative video! I have a carpenter bee problem where I live as well, and this valuable construction video helps a lot! Thanks for a great video!
I just completed making one of these traps, inspired by your idea in this video! When I get it hung, I'll have to post a video of mine with the 'lodgers' I expect to see soon!
Thanks for that amazing video Marsh Rat! I've only had them up for a couple days and works like a charm!! Keep the info coming. We're from Amherstburg Ontario!
I have built a few traps similar to your simple one, but the prototype I followed from a friend used a 5/8" hole for both holes, with a mayonnaise jar below, and the entrance hole was just drilled horizontally into the end grain, not angled upward. It still seems to work, but now I wonder if it would be more effective with the upward-angled hole. Next trap! Thanks!
WOW !! Never heard of that. Gonna give 'er a try !! Those pesky little suckers can do some DAMAGE. I make and sell traps and I have some that work pretty well that are very similar to these but ... always tryin' to make a better BEE TRAP !!! LOL !!
Stir a little Dawn in a big plastic soda cup of water than toss it on the nest and they hit the ground dead. The soap makes the water wetter and instantly drowns them. Much cheaper than the expensive sprays. It is not flammable. It won't kill your shrubs. It won't stain. It won't kill you. You can also put the soapy water in a pump sprayer to reach out and get the ones higher up. Don't forget to knock down the nest and crush the larva inside, so they don't hatch. :-)
Killing them in the hole doesn't or trapping bees doesn't solve anything - new bees just make new holes and keep laying their eggs and the offspring will return the following year to repeat the process. Keep in mind that the hole you see is the egress point for a series of chambers the bee created as part of her nursery tunnels. I've been fighting carpenter bees from late April to mid June for the 5 years and just come up with a solution two weeks ago. Fill the existing holes with a product that comes in a tube called Tangle Foot. This will cover their wings with a sticky substance as they exit after laying their eggs. Their offspring will also get a dose of the same sticky substance as they exit after exiting. BUT, to keep new bees from boring new holes spray the wood with 100% cheap white vinegar - insects have a very keen sense of smell and apparently bees don’t like the smell of vinegar. This year I sprayed white vinegar once a day for the past two weeks. a few bees will routinely return to my front porch near the wood and fly away. Another issue is that if the bee problem isn’t solved and if woodpeckers realize that there’s a feast of larvae in the holes they converge on the structure and do even more damage - this happened to one of my neighbors a few years back.