How to make a Carpenter Bee Trap

How to make a Carpenter bee trap that actually works!

Be sure to leave a comment and subscribe to my channel and hit the bell icon to get notifications of every video I post. I do DIY, Tips and project videos and I have more videos like this coming soon!

Follow me on Facebook and Instagram for the latest news!

___— Use promo code “CW77” for 12% off your order—___

___— Use promo code “CW77” for 10% off your order—___

#carpenterbees #diy #howto

[turdferguson]

If you're building traps you have a problem. The traps will catch bees but they won't stop your problem. "Well ya crazy ole fart what will"? I'm glad you ask but no one seems to do it. If one of you guys do try this let everyone else know your results. My buddies love it and it stopped a terrible infestation around my barn and sheds. That's why I started mixing it. I built over 20 traps of different styles trying to see which one was best. The 4x4 style was the winner which you made. I even drilled holes in the jars to let the thermion scent out but that doesn't help. It will help a trap get started if you'll swat a bee and put it in the jar for scent. Enough with what doesn't work and on to what does, Carpenter Bee Wax.

This mixture took some time but I'm happy with this. Get a 13 oz container of petroleum jelly at the Dollar Store or Walmart ($2.50), get the 8 oz bottle of  Permethrin 10% liquid ($10.50 I went to Tractor Supply but most farm stores will have it). Permethrin 10% is used to treat children's head lice and spray on animal to kill flies, it's considered safe for humans. The petroleum jelly mixes easily if you warm the container in a pot of warm water on the stove, it turns into a liquid. Mix 13 ounces of petroleum jelly with 4 ounces of Permethrin 10% pour both ingredients into a 1 quart canning jar and shake well, that's all there is to it. Draw the mixture into a 60 CC / 2 ounce catheter syringe with the long smooth tip ($3.30 at the farm store). You want it thick enough to stick in their holes but thin enough to be used in a syringe. Optional - put a 7" piece of 3/8 OD x 1/4 ID clear vinyl tubing ($3.20 for 10' at Lowes) on the end of the syringe to reach into their holes better. The tubing slides on the syringe easier if you heat it with a hair dryer or heat gun. When it's time to refill the syringe, warm the container in warm water on the stove so it can be drawn into the syringe. It doesn't take much to treat a hole, less is more in this case. A 60 CC syringe should treat 150 holes. Imagine a 7/16" diameter Carpenter Bee going down a 1/2" tunnel, all they have to do is get this stuff on em. This will make 17 ounces and the syringe holds 2 ounces so you will have 7 refills. Basically a lifetime supply and you've only used 1/2 of your Permethrin. I like to treat the hole while the bee is inside so early in the morning works well. Try to squirt the mixture about 1/2" - 3/4" inside the hole so it won't prevent the bee from going in if she isn't in there already. If I treat just inside the edge of the hole she doesn't want to go in. This targets the female that bores the hole, lays the eggs, and stings. The male doesn't do any of those things. This will kill their offspring as they emerge also. You'll find a pile of bees under a hole. It turns every existing hole into a trap. They'll start buzzing, crawl out of the hole, and die on the ground in a few minutes, I had dead bees everywhere. The petroleum jelly protects the Permethrin giving it a longer shelf life to last all season. If you spray Permethrin it would be effective about 14 days before starting to breakdown. For less than the price of one store bought trap you can mix this stuff, if anything is ever going to stop em this is it. This stuff will wax em, thus the name Carpenter Bee Wax. I'm not selling anything and make no money from this stuff but it fixed my problem and several others so I want to offer it to everyone. Might even make a good video, good luck everyone

[ajking]

My dad ended up tending generations of a carpenter bee "colony" and im moving them before we sell his house. Thank you. Ill keep tending them this way. ❤

[TonyBeier-pw]

The access hole is drilled with a 1/2-in bit according to your introduction and what you used in the video, but during the video you called it a 3/8 inch bit. Also, I caught a lethargic carpenter bee and put it in the jar. This seemed to attract bees much faster than a empty jar. I never empty my jar, I think the bees are attracted by the scent of a dead bee, they go in to take over and already used hole.

[chachab]

Yes.. bought one😊 at hardware couple years ago. Thanks❣️

[wadel]

Exactly what I've beenlooking for! Thanks!

[itsmeshay]

Thank you we needed this! Seems like it's getting worse every year but they have only been coming to our porch for the past 2 years 🤔

[boxofmoles]

Thanks for sharing. Do the traps have to be "primed" with anything to attract them?

[Hammerback]

I read somewhere that having a bee ir two in the trap increses other bees coming in. Maybe wrap the jar so other bees cant see them?
(Note- i read this, and have no idea if bees can "see" or if they operate on something different. Yes. I consider myself a bee idiot, just sharing what i read )😂

[Bdbrad]

Do you put anything in the jar to attract them?

[EclecticKnowledgeCenter]

They are solitary creatures, that is why they don’t enter if there are others in it. Thank you for this build.

[cindytoo]

What stops the bees from leaving the bottle

[kalindrangovender]

This is brilliant. Going to build one today. Thanks so much. What would you charge someone for these?

[JoeandAngie]

Swatting one with a tennis racket, etc (IF you can) causes it to emit a warning to the other bees and they stay away. Over a few days time they leave.

Much more labor intensive, but when it's all ya got...

[davidshepherd]

I admire the damn things, being able to chew a near-perfect hole into wood as they can. But it sure is tough on the woodwork, and chemicals are a nasty inhumane way for them to die. The bees don't bite or sting, so they're merely a nuisance when they're out and about, but the long term damage on the structure they get after unfortunately outweighs my admiration for them. I hope these traps work...

[samiam]

Should’ve used the craftsman the whole time lol 😂

[andrewgibb]

I tried this with 3/8” holes and the extra saw shavings I put in the jar, about half an inch of them. 🤞

[billg]

Any videos of this actually working? Everybody makes videos on how to make them but they don’t work

[myleftthumb]

Is this any danger to true bumblebees?

[braddeem]

Ours worked and for some reason the bees around here must be stupid because Wheatfields one of those jars halfway with dead bees before we emptied it

[-fh]

That’s what I use and it catches the female only!