Kamikaze Carpenter Bees in Bridgewater Township, NJ
It’s early spring and pests are waking up and getting ready to find a new location to nest!
Recently, I went on a service call for a commercial client, an apartment complex in Bridgewater Township, NJ. One of the residents was throwing away some garbage and when he entered the dumpster corral, a kamikaze bee dive bombed right at him! Needless to say, this scared the daylights out of the resident and he reported his findings to the property owner, who then called Cowleys to resolve this bee nightmare.
Since the resident was attacked near the dumpster corral, that is where I began my inspection. Immediately, I was greeted by a not-so-friendly bee who was trying to intimidate me by diving right at my head. After over a decade in the pest service industry, it’ll take more than a small bee to scare me off. As I continued my inspection I noticed that there was an area of the wood trim that was stained. Upon inspection, I determined that the “stain” was actually droppings from carpenter bees.
Carpenter bees are similar in appearance to bumble bees, but their abdomen doesn't have any hair and is shiny black in color. While they can be aggressive, they very rarely will sting. Early spring, when the weather turns warmer, they emerge and begin looking for a place to build a gallery to lay eggs. Usually, their preferred habitat is either a piece of wood trim or deck railing. They will bore into wood and then continue boring, causing a considerable amount of structural damage. They will lay eggs in these galleries, which can be over 10-28 inches long! Once a carpenter bee makes a gallery, they will continue to use the same gallery year after year.
The most effective treatment method is to inject the galleries with a direct-contact dust residual. This residual directly targets the carpenter bees and will eliminate any returning bees as well as any newly-hatched carpenter bees leaving the gallery. I will schedule a follow-up inspection with the property manager to make sure that the carpenter bees are gone for good and residents can take their trash out in peace once again.