Carpenter Bee vs Bumble Bee: What’s the difference?

When the warm air from a spring breeze rolls in, you can hear the buzzing about of the various bees. Bees are an essential part of the ecosystem here on earth, but most people fret when they get too close for comfort. When it comes to the carpenter bee vs bumble bee, both of these larger bees often bring about more fear than the other smaller varieties.

Why are people so afraid of these larger bees, and do you fear that one sting from these mammoth insects could inflict great pain. If you’re sitting outside and enjoying the weather, you may find that you see a lot of these bees. When the number of visitors seems to increase, it could be because there is a nearby nest. Since they look so similar, how do you know whether you’re dealing with the carpenter bee or bumble bee? Let’s find out!

At first glance, you assume carpenter bees and bumble bees are alike. Thankfully, some hallmarks make identifying these insects easy. Once you really study their physical characteristics, you will quickly see which pests have taken up residence near your home.

Bodies

One of the most significant differences between the carpenter bee vs bumble bee is their abdomen. The carpenter bee has a shiny black body with no hair, while the bumblebee has a hairy body. Additionally, the bumblebee has some yellow mixed into their abdomen, whereas the carpenter is just black.

If you observe their flying patterns, you will also notice a marked difference. Carpenter bees are fast and they can dive and dart back and forth in an aggressive manner. They prefer to be alone, so if another bee comes close, they will chase them. On the other hand, the bumblebee tends to fly in a slower, smoother pattern as they move from flower to flower enjoying the company of other bees.

Behaviors

When comparing these bees, both large bodies make them intimidating, but neither is truly aggressive in nature. The carpenter bee is not a stinger. The male bee can’t sting at all because they don’t even have stingers. Only the female may feel inclined to sting if she feels she is in danger. The same is true of the bumble bee with the one caveat being that while similar, the bumble bee’s sting is a bit more painful.

Both the carpenter bee and the bumble bee are fierce when it comes to defending their nests, and they don’t mind stinging you a couple of times to get their point across.

The females can sting all day long, and it won’t mess with her reproductive system.

Diet

When it comes to the diets of a carpenter bee and bumble bee, you might be surprised. Many people think carpenter bees are like termites who eat wood, but these bees don’t eat the wood, they bore holes to nest in wood, and they love the unpainted variety. Carpenter bees tend to frequent areas where there are bare pine, cypress, cedar, and redwood planks. For some odd reason, the stain doesn’t bother them as much as paint, so if you have wood decking around your home, you may see them move in.

Bumble bees AND carpenter bees eat flower nectar and feed pollen to their larvae.

Life Cycle

There are 250 species of bumbles bees, and some will live longer than others. The queen will live about one year. The worker bumblebees live for about 2-6 weeks and the male bumblebee only lives about two weeks before he perishes as his only purpose is to mate with the queen.

The male carpenter bee lives roughly 12 months, but the female may live a bit longer. Like many other bee varieties, the male dies after he mates with the queen. One unique ability of these female bees is to store the sperm after she mates until she is ready to lay eggs.

Habitat

If you look at the carpenter bee and bumble bee’s nesting habits, you’ll see they live very different lives. The carpenter bee prefers to make tunnels in wood where they create separate chambers for their young. They often will use the soffits around your home where there may be some decay. When you see bees buzzing about your porch or entrance to your home, it’s probably the carpenter bee. They love window trim, fascia to get under siding, decks, and even nest in your outdoor furniture. Since they prefer solitude, they don’t live in big colonies like other bees.

The bumblebee chooses to nest towards the ground. They’re social insects, so they like to live in groups. The queen hibernates in the winter and awakens, ready to find a new location to nest. You won’t find these bees setting up house in your outdoor furniture or on the fascia boards. Instead, they prefer to be low.

It’s common to find the bumblebee nest in the grass, on a log pile, or in piles of leaves. On some occasions, the bumblebee will use a shed or wall to make a nest, but this is not commonplace. Generally, these bees aren’t going to bother your everyday life, so they aren’t as troublesome as the carpenter bee.

Damage

There really is no comparison when it comes to the damage a carpenter bee vs bumble bee causes. Since the bumblebee doesn’t invade your space, they’re not much of a danger to you. However, if they put their nests in a place where anyone in your home is threatened, then they need to be relocated. Don’t grab spray from your local hardware store, as it can be extremely dangerous to try to eradicate a nest without proper equipment. You can make the bees mad and cause them to come after you.

The carpenter bee does cause a significant bit of damage to your home. These bees drill holes or tunnels into your wood to nest. Each hole houses one bee, and the female will create a spot that she will use as a nesting space.

When she is ready to lay eggs, she will place 6-8 inside one designated area. It’s not uncommon to find numerous holes in one region, which equates to several nests. However, don’t let the beauty of their craftmanship detour you from their destructive nature.

Unlike some insects, the carpenter bee doesn’t cause structural damage. Like termites that can cost thousands to repair their path of destruction, this bee’s work is only aesthetically unappealing. One problem that you must watch for is that these nesting holes often attract woodpeckers. These birds love to get the larvae the queen laid and end up causing more damage than the bee.

With carpenter bees and bumble bees, no one wants too many of either around as it’s troublesome to young children and those who are allergic to stings. A word of warning, professional assistance is recommended due to the possibility of being stung repetitively. There is a proper way to combat these critters. The females of both species don’t like to sting, but it doesn’t mean that she won’t sting.

The Bumble Bee

Unlike carpenter bees, bumblebees’ nests are close to the ground. If they’re out of your way, then don’t disturb them. If you want the nest moved to preserve the ecosystem, then a trained professional should do this.

Don’t ever think buying a bee suit at your local hardware store is sufficient. It takes much more than some protective gear to accomplish this task. Even if you choose to kill the bees, this too should be handled by a professional. Bees often go crazy when sprayed, and it can be dangerous.

Prevention is one thing you can handle on your own when it comes to either a carpenter bee vs bumble bee problem, but we are here to help if you need us. If you are working on prevention yourself, it’s always best to work in the nighttime as bees are less active and won’t be apt to sting. If you have any woodpiles on your property, make sure you move them to a location where children and pets won’t frequent to prevent the bumblebee from taking up residence. Additionally, if any rodents or animals have dug holes in your yard, then you need to fill them up.

Not only will filling in holes keep bumblebees at bay, but they can also keep yellow jackets and rodents from setting up housing.

The Carpenter Bee

Getting rid of the carpenter bee or bumble bee is not as dangerous as it is laborious. The difference being, carpenter bees are solitary bees unlike the bumble bee so you are only messing with one or two bees at a time. Since these wood-loving bees don’t like painted surfaces, it’s best to paint all wooded soffits and fascia to keep them away. Wood stains provide some distraction, but it’s not a foolproof method. During mating season, it’s essential to keep any building or garage doors closed, so they cannot gain entry.

One thing you can do to help keep carpenter bees away is to put up fascia boards made of plastic or metal. When the wood underneath is covered, then they cannot get into it to nest. A carpenter bee can’t drill through any aluminum or vinyl products, so it’s a better option.

Once all the active bees have left the nests, you can plug these holes to keep them from returning the next season. However, this cannot be done till July or August, so you will need to find other ways to combat them until this time. A liquid treatment can be sprayed in areas where these bees are likely to nest.

However, it’s best to spray in early April before they start hunting for a new home. Timing is essential when it comes to combating these bees. You don’t want to seal the holes during their active season because they can chew their way through the barrier.

When dealing with a carpenter bee or bumble bee issue (or any bee/wasp for that matter), it’s always best to bring us in to help. Since the danger of someone getting stung and possibly having an allergic reaction is high, you don’t want to take the chance. If you have children or pets that roam your grounds, then having bumble bees poses a serious health threat. While both the carpenter bee and the bumble bee are about the same size, they are two vastly different bees. Both can be destructive in unique ways, and it’s so much easier to have our Kapture Pest Control team take care of them quickly and effectively, saving you a lot of time and stress in the long run.

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