A carpenter bee with a mostly black abdomen. (Ysmad.com CC BY-SA 3.0)

Carpenter bees, also called black bees due to their appearance, are beneficial insects in the wild. They pollinate flowers and benefit humans by pollinating food crops. However, these bees are also destructive since they burrow into wood when building nests. They leave holes in wooden fascia, decks and other wood structures and bring down your home's visual appearance.

What Do Carpenter Bees Look Like?

Carpenter bees are called many different things: wood bees, wood boring bees and, of course, nuisance pests. They look very similar to bumblebees but vary in appearance. A bumblebee has a fuzzy body due to thousands of small hairs covering it from head to abdomen. It also has black and yellow bands across the length of its body.

A carpenter bee doesn't have as many hairs as the bumblebee. The abdomen is shiny black in appearance, and the fuzzy yellow and black color is usually only seen on its head and back. Whereas bumblebees are social insects that live in colonies, carpenter bees are solitary insects that burrow holes in wood.

How Did I Get Carpenter Bees?

Everyone who owns a home or lives in an apartment building has seen carpenter bees flying around the patio and the exterior walls. They're looking for places to burrow and to build nests for their young. You don't have to do anything to get carpenter bees around your home. All you need is wood, and the carpenter bees will show up.

How Can I Get Rid of Carpenter Bees?

Carpenter bee control is vital to keep your home from looking like an eyesore. One way to prevent these pests from chewing holes in the wood is to use a pretreated wood when building new decks or replacing wood surfaces on your home. You can also spray a carpenter bee insecticide on the surfaces to kill them and to keep them away.

A DIY Carpenter Bee Pest Control Program

• Use pretreated wood to prevent a carpenter bees nest.
• Hire a carpenter bee exterminator if infestations are severe.
• Cover exposed wood fascia with aluminum trim.
• Spray the perimeter with bee control products regularly.

Getting rid of carpenter bees is easy when you have a plan and the right products from Pedchem. Whether you're dealing with a few bees or a massive infestation, we have insecticides to deal with nuisance bees and to keep them from ruining your property.