My barn was infested with CBees. I read a post on this board
suggesting putting bubble gum in the openings, another suggested
painting them. I tried spraying red paint (spray can, Wal-Mart $0.98),
They I tried expanding foam into the holes (dripped all over, ooozed
out and left interesting effect in th barn ceiling rafters and a real
mess on me).

A neighbor suggested fuel-oil and I bought a gallon of diesel for
$2.75 and sprayed the ceiling using a garden sprayer. Really Soaked
everything in site. Next day - still had bees. So, I sprayed another
gallon (covering some spots I missed and making sure everything was
dieseled completely. Next day, still some bees hanging about. Maybe
fewer, hard to tell as they are not easily distinguishable, one from
the other (save those that got sprayed with the red paint on day one).

Now, a couple of weeks later, there are No Bees in the Barn.

And, I also tried another trick. I broke up a few old roofing shingles
and put them in the bottom of a wide-mouth jar. Then, covered them
with diesel fuel and let it sit like a container of Sun Tea.

Makes a really good stain for OUTDOOR projects kids are not likely to
chew. I put it on and let it soak into the wood, then repeat until it
looks as if the wood will absorb no more. Let it sit in the out of
doors until it dies to the touch, then "install it."

No way to tell yet if the properties of the ingredients of this
"stain" will protect the project for years and years, but I think it
may do quite nicely. It appears that the bird feeder sheds water like
a duck.

'course, I may expire soon from the toxins . .

On Jun 19, 1:29 pm, Hoosierpopi wrote:
My barn was infested with CBees. I read a post on this board
suggesting putting bubble gum in the openings, another suggested
painting them. I tried spraying red paint (spray can, Wal-Mart $0.98),
They I tried expanding foam into the holes (dripped all over, ooozed
out and left interesting effect in th barn ceiling rafters and a real
mess on me).

A neighbor suggested fuel-oil and I bought a gallon of diesel for
$2.75 and sprayed the ceiling using a garden sprayer. Really Soaked
everything in site. Next day - still had bees. So, I sprayed another
gallon (covering some spots I missed and making sure everything was
dieseled completely. Next day, still some bees hanging about. Maybe
fewer, hard to tell as they are not easily distinguishable, one from
the other (save those that got sprayed with the red paint on day one).

Now, a couple of weeks later, there are No Bees in the Barn.

And, I also tried another trick. I broke up a few old roofing shingles
and put them in the bottom of a wide-mouth jar. Then, covered them
with diesel fuel and let it sit like a container of Sun Tea.

Makes a really good stain for OUTDOOR projects kids are not likely to
chew. I put it on and let it soak into the wood, then repeat until it
looks as if the wood will absorb no more. Let it sit in the out of
doors until it dies to the touch, then "install it."

No way to tell yet if the properties of the ingredients of this
"stain" will protect the project for years and years, but I think it
may do quite nicely. It appears that the bird feeder sheds water like
a duck.

'course, I may expire soon from the toxins . .

Not if you smoke next to what you did.

R

How can you be sure that the diesel fule caused the carpenter bees to leave?
Maybe they were about to leave the barn anyway!


--
There is always an easy solution to every human problem -- neat,
plausible, and wrong." (H L Mencken)

Larry Wasserman - Baltimore Maryland - lwasserm(a)sdf. lonestar. org

Tue, Jun 19, 2007, 10:29am (EDT-3) (Hoosierpopi)
doth sayeth:
My barn was infested with CBees. I read a post on this board snip
A neighbor suggested fuel-oil and I bought a gallon of diesel for $2.75
and sprayed .snip Maybe fewer, hard to tell as they are not easily
distinguishable, one from the other (save those that got sprayed with
the red paint on day one). snip

Good man. ALWAYS believe every single post you read here.

You must have missed the post about using alchol tho. For the
bees, but a little later for yourself is never bad.

Next time paint numbers on them, so you can keep an accurate
account when your report back.

I found a site a long time back that says if you hang a chunk of
2X4 or similar up, outside, with about 3/8" holes drilled upwards at a
slight angle, the bees will congretate there and leave structures alone.
I've not tested that theory, nor heard feedback from anyone that has.



JOAT
If a man does his best, what else is there?
- General George S. Patton

On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 10:29:27 -0700, Hoosierpopi
wrote:

'course, I may expire soon from the toxins . .

You ought to. Killing bees is totally unnecessary.



--

Mike wrote:


You ought to. Killing bees is totally unnecessary.

Maybe I'm jumping into the middle of something, but bees are a long
way from carpenter ants, which by their very nature, are very destructive.

Not sure which is worse, termites or carpenter ants, but with either
one, it is time for a fumigator.

Lew

Hoosierpopi wrote:
My barn was infested with CBees. I read a post on this board
suggesting putting bubble gum in the openings, another suggested
painting them. I tried spraying red paint (spray can, Wal-Mart $0.98),
They I tried expanding foam into the holes (dripped all over, ooozed
out and left interesting effect in th barn ceiling rafters and a real
mess on me).


We used Timbor on our boat house. You can get it on line or maybe at a
local exterminator. Bora-care is another. It's borax based so a box of
20 mule team borax from the grocery store might be cheaper. It's also
good for termites and a good wood preservative. I know of a wood fence
installer that sprays it on every job

Lew Hodgett wrote:
Mike wrote:


You ought to. Killing bees is totally unnecessary.

Maybe I'm jumping into the middle of something, but bees are a long way
from carpenter ants, which by their very nature, are very destructive.

And if you were thinking of honeybees, just about as far away in
usefulness as a carpenter bee, as well.

That said, dousing a barn in diesel fuel is a pretty stupid way to try
to eliminate them...

--

"Jody" wrote in message

We used Timbor on our boat house. You can get it on line or maybe at a
local exterminator. Bora-care is another. It's borax based so a box of
20 mule team borax from the grocery store might be cheaper. It's also
good for termites and a good wood preservative. I know of a wood fence
installer that sprays it on every job

Yep ... we use an environmental pest control company that sprays the entire
frame, top to bottom, of our new houses with a water soluble borate powder.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 6/1/07
KarlC@ (the obvious)

Swingman wrote:

Yep ... we use an environmental pest control company that sprays
the entire
frame, top to bottom, of our new houses with a water soluble borate
powder.

Keep it up guys, US Borax, in Boron, CA, is a good customer.

Lew

In article , dpb wrote:

Lew Hodgett wrote:
Mike wrote:


You ought to. Killing bees is totally unnecessary.

Maybe I'm jumping into the middle of something, but bees are a long way
from carpenter ants, which by their very nature, are very destructive.

And if you were thinking of honeybees, just about as far away in
usefulness as a carpenter bee, as well.

with the deaths of most of the wild honeybee hives, carpenter and mason
bees (with are native to America, unlike honeybees) are the major wild
pollinators again

--
--------------------------------------------------------
Personal e-mail is the n7bsn but at amsat.org
This posting address is a spam-trap and seldom read
RV and Camping FAQ can be found at
http://www.ralphandellen.us/rv

On Jun 20, 8:32 am, Ralph E Lindberg wrote: In
article , dpb wrote: Lew
Hodgett wrote: Mike wrote: SNIP. Killing bees is totally
unnecessary.

1. Nope, not sure if it worked or it was their time to leave.
1a. Will have to wait and see what happens next Spring.
2. Did not kill the bees, they flew off.
3. The distractor post with holes sounds interesting, but they liked
the INSIDE of the structure - none bored through the outside.
3a. Holes would (need to) be about 1/2" for these bees
4. Hard to fumigate a barn like mine as it is not sealed
5. "Hmmm, Borax." I heard of a salt solution and recal spraying same
in Florida for termite protection.

RicodJour wrote:

'course, I may expire soon from the toxins . .

Not if you smoke next to what you did.


A cigarette will not ignite gasoline, let alone diesel fuel.

HeyBub wrote:
RicodJour wrote:
'course, I may expire soon from the toxins . .
Not if you smoke next to what you did.


A cigarette will not ignite gasoline, let alone diesel fuel.

No, but a diesel-soaked timber will surely burn nicely from what may
have otherwise been an easily controllable fire...

--

On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 05:32:21 -0700, Ralph E Lindberg
wrote:

In article , dpb wrote:

Lew Hodgett wrote:
Mike wrote:


You ought to. Killing bees is totally unnecessary.

Maybe I'm jumping into the middle of something, but bees are a long way
from carpenter ants, which by their very nature, are very destructive.

And if you were thinking of honeybees, just about as far away in
usefulness as a carpenter bee, as well.

with the deaths of most of the wild honeybee hives, carpenter and mason
bees (with are native to America, unlike honeybees) are the major wild
pollinators again
Lots of carpenter bees on the crape myrtles. Well maybe not carpenter
bees but they are bigger than the honey bees that stung me as a
barefoot child walking under the apple tree that was dropping fruit.
Bigger than the honey bees Dad, brother and grandfather kept.

Jim Behning wrote:

Lots of carpenter bees on the crape myrtles. Well maybe not carpenter
bees but they are bigger than the honey bees that stung me as a
barefoot child walking under the apple tree that was dropping fruit.
Bigger than the honey bees Dad, brother and grandfather kept.

Those may be bumblebees, which are also beneficial as pollinators.

Ralph E Lindberg wrote:
In article , dpb wrote:

Lew Hodgett wrote:
Mike wrote:


You ought to. Killing bees is totally unnecessary.

Maybe I'm jumping into the middle of something, but bees are a long way
from carpenter ants, which by their very nature, are very destructive.
And if you were thinking of honeybees, just about as far away in
usefulness as a carpenter bee, as well.

with the deaths of most of the wild honeybee hives, carpenter and mason
bees (with are native to America, unlike honeybees) are the major wild
pollinators again

Know there's a problem in some areas, don't know about "most"...saw a
study results indicating a multitude of causes, largest of which seemed
to be "unknown"...

I did look and found that carpenter bees of more use as pollinators than
what I had thought--interesting to know.

--

All the honeybees! - about 20% around here (NE USA) seems to be a cyclical
die off according to the local beekeepers.


"Ralph E Lindberg" wrote in message
...
In article , dpb wrote:

Lew Hodgett wrote:
Mike wrote:


You ought to. Killing bees is totally unnecessary.

Maybe I'm jumping into the middle of something, but bees are a long way
from carpenter ants, which by their very nature, are very destructive.

And if you were thinking of honeybees, just about as far away in
usefulness as a carpenter bee, as well.

with the deaths of most of the wild honeybee hives, carpenter and mason
bees (with are native to America, unlike honeybees) are the major wild
pollinators again

--
--------------------------------------------------------
Personal e-mail is the n7bsn but at amsat.org
This posting address is a spam-trap and seldom read
RV and Camping FAQ can be found at
http://www.ralphandellen.us/rv

TH wrote:

All the honeybees! - about 20% around here (NE USA) seems to be a
cyclical
die off according to the local beekeepers.

I get some e-mails from time to time from a bee keeper in
North-Central (Ashland County) Ohio indicating a loss of local honey bees.

Here in SoCal, the Africanized bees have arrived.

Lew

Subject

When I was a kid, my mother would pick blackberries and make
blackberry preserves.

She would pour the preserves in pint canning jars, then pour a
paraffin seal over the preserves to seal.

We lived out in the country, in the middle of a woods.

One year, carpenter ants got into the house, found the preserves, and
bored thru the paraffin seal and into the preserves.

Probably lost at least 2/3 of that year's jars.

Hell of loss.

I don't have much sympathy for carpenter ants/

Lew

I don't have much sympathy for carpenter ants/

I still have a pint of Chlordane(sp?) at home waiting for my NEXT problem
with carpenter ants... The first one has been gone for 8 years so far but it
was a doozy!
--


Regards,
Joe Agro, Jr.
(800) 871-5022
01.908.542.0244
Automatic / Pneumatic Drills: http://www.AutoDrill.com
Multiple Spindle Drills: http://www.Multi-Drill.com

V8013-R

"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message

When I was a kid, my mother would pick blackberries and make blackberry
preserves.

Memories .... we kids picked blackberries till our fingers were sore knowing
how good they would taste come winter. The parrafin we used for the sealer
came from the Gulf "filling station".

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 6/1/07
KarlC@ (the obvious)

Swingman wrote:


The parrafin we used for
the sealer came from the Gulf "filling station".

They must have had a corner on the paraffin market.

Lew

"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message
Swingman wrote:


The parrafin we used for
the sealer came from the Gulf "filling station".

They must have had a corner on the paraffin market.

A by-product of hydrocarbon refining?

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 6/1/07
KarlC@ (the obvious)