Say goodbye to carpenter bees

Took some scrap 4x4's and made some carpenter bee traps. So far they look like the are working well. Thought I'd share the design. Good thing is if you are using nontreated posts they will pass the organic certification. :mrgreen:



Instructions.
Drill a hole in the center of post about 3/4's of the way in using a 1" paddle bit. Then take a 29/64 drill bit (or one as close to the size of their borrows you have) and drill two holes at about a 45 degree angle which meets the 1" hole. Screw a drink bottle into the 1" hole and hang the trap up. Bees will crawl in the hole and then fly out toward the light and get trapped in the bottle.

Hmm good idea.
I know a guy that swears he can hit em with a bb gun. And another guy that uses tennis rackets to tee them up.
I'll have to try your design tho.

I'll give that a try. Wish I had it about a month ago. They are about to eat my shed up.

I usually keep a badmitten racket around the barn till some putz hit the harrow with it and busted it. It was kinda like aerobics only with some killing in it. Sortof fun.

i need to make about 50 of them better get to drinking and as many bees as we have i might have to go up to 2 liters

.22 birdshot works good too!

Great design. It sure beats using a tennis racket.

As soon as I get a chance I'm going to build one. By the way where in the world did you find out about this?

I copied the design from one I saw at a feed store for sale for $19.95.

BTW - it looks like they work better if they don't blow in the breeze. I'm thinking of fastening some to the eves with some glue so it won't move but it still works on string.

what a clever idea.

How many bees have you trapped with that design, Jo?

Jo, are the 29/64 holes at an angle to the bottom of the hole or the top to the light?

GP, I've only caught one but the number of carpenter bees have decreased with this cool weather. I only saw one bee today and he was investigating the hole but I didn't see him go in it. About three weeks ago I had lots of bees flying around and I wish I had them hanging then. A frien of mine has caught about ten in his but his were out about 3 weeks ago.

Slick, the entrance holes go in the side at about a 45 degree angle and enter the larger 1 inch hole in the center. What I did was get the drill started drilling straight into the board then once its bitten into the wood I turn the drill to a 45 while its running and push it in till you hit the 1" cavity.

One tip: don't use pt 4x's if you can help it. The bees don't like pt as much as untreated

Thanks!

Very interesting!

That's a neat idea .

Slick, the entrance holes go in the side at about a 45 degree angle and enter the larger 1 inch hole in the center. What I did was get the drill started drilling straight into the board then once its bitten into the wood I turn the drill to a 45 while its running and push it in till you hit the 1" cavity.

But, do you angle down towards the jug, or up towards the ceiling?

I read it towards the ceiling. They have to crawl up and then down into the jug.

Yes, my understanding is that they crawl into the hole and then they drop down toward the light where the bottle is. Once inside they cannot climb out and they die. Bees are still sluggish here. Still have only one flying around.