I see some bees hanging around my shed and I’m not sure what species they are. First I thought they were honey bees but I noticed they’re mostly yellow and black. Then I saw a hole which could be an old wood knot but its so perfect, I think someone drilled it. Well, the bees are using this hole as a nest! I see them going in and out. The hole is in one of the 2×4 studs which I can rip out but I’m afraid of getting stung without treating first. Any idea what type of bee this might be?
Exact bee identification can be tough without seeing a specimen. That being said, what you’re describing sounds like either a bumble bee or a carpenter bee. If you take a little time to review our on line article about CARPENTER BEE CONTROL, you’ll see what they look like and that they are very likely to drill holes in wood like you see in that stud. Before you rip out any wood, I suggest you first try treating the nest with one of the DUSTS we have listed in our article. I think this will quickly control whatever type of bee is active and save you both the time and effort required to remove and replace any part of the shed.
If the bees come back and are hanging around other parts of the shed, consider spraying with some of the CYPERMETHRIN we have listed in our article. It does a great job of repelleing all bees and will force them to forage elsewhere. It’s easy to use and treatments should last 3-6 weeks.
Drione: www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/dust/drione-dust
Crusader Duster: www.bugspraycart.com/equipment/dusters/crusader
Cypermethrin: www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/liquid/viper-cypermethrin
Cheers,
Jonathan
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Jan Abernathy says
I’ve found what I think are bumblebees in my basement and watched them fly into a hole dug by chipmunks. I’m finding what looks like shavings on the carpet along with what looks like mouse droppings but rather small (too small for mouse droppings). Do these bee’s leave this kind of dropping?
admin says
First, you state you’re finding bumblebees in your basement; are you seeing them randomly flying around or does it appear they are entering and exiting through a specific hole?
Second, you say you’ve been watching them fly into a hole dug by a chipmunk; is this hole just outside the home? If yes, you need to treat it with the Deltamethrin Dust listed in our Bumblebee article here:
Bumblebee Dust: www.bugspray.com/articles99/bumblebees.html#bumble-bee-treatments
The dust will not hurt the chipmunks but it will control any insects nesting in the ground such as the bumblebees. And since I’ve seen outside nests get so deep that they lead under and then into homes, its best to treat any you see within 10 feet of your home.
Third, carpenter bees can definitely end up inside homes – especially in the fall and spring. This can happen if you allowed nests to be drilled on the outside of the home. So do you know of any holes/nests on the outside of the home? If yes, get them dusted with Drione as explained in our article here:
Dusting Bee Holes: www.carpenterbees.com/#carpenter-bee-dust
Lastly, if some adult carpenter bees did in fact end up in your basement and got trapped, they could be drilling new holes to use for nests which would create shavings. But the holes would be directly above the areas where you see the shavings so have you inspected these areas above?
Basically you’ll want to look at the floor joists and subflooring directly above any shavings you find. In my experience, when this happens its pretty easy to find the nest. And if you do find any freshly drilled holes, get them dusted with the Drione for sure.
On a side note; if I was to guess what the droppings might be from, I’d say it’s more likely either really old mouse droppings or even roach feces. You see, large palmetto or oriental roaches will leave small droppings that look a lot like mouse droppings. The main difference is that these will be a different color and not so perfectly shaped like mouse droppings tend to be. So if you’ve had issues in the home with large roaches like palmetto, oriental or wood roaches, it could definitely be from them.
American Roaches: www.bugspray.com/american-roaches.html
Mice: www.bugspray.com/mice.html
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For the bumblebee nest in the ground:
Delta Dust: www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/dust/deltamethrin-dust
For any carpenter bee nests on or in the home:
Drione: www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/dust/drione-dust
To apply either dust:
Hand Duster: www.bugspraycart.com/equipment/dusters/crusader