As the weather turns cold and the leaves start to fall, you may be wondering what happens to those pesky carpenter bees that were buzzing around your wooden deck all summer. Where exactly do they disappear to once winter arrives?
The Carpenter Bee Life Cycle
To understand where carpenter bees go in winter it helps to first review their annual life cycle
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Spring – Adult carpenter bees emerge from their overwintering nests. The males wait nearby for females to emerge so they can mate.
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Summer – Females (the ones that can sting) excavate new nesting galleries in wood to lay their eggs Males cannot sting and do not participate in nesting
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Fall – Eggs laid earlier in summer hatch into larvae. The larvae pupate and develop into adult bees.
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Winter – The new adult bees that emerged in fall return to their original nests to overwinter The old males and females from spring die off
Carpenter Bees Hibernate in Their Galleries
When the weather turns cold, carpenter bees do not migrate or leave the area. The adult bees simply crawl back into the original nesting galleries they emerged from in spring.
Inside the galleries, the bees go into a state of hibernation or diapause. Their metabolism and activity slows down dramatically.
They do not forage, mate or maintain the nest during this time. They remain inactive in an effort to conserve energy and survive the winter.
Preparing for Winter Hibernation
In late summer and fall, carpenter bees prepare for their upcoming hibernation by:
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Feeding heavily on available flower nectar to store fat reserves
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Gathering bits of pollen to eat over the winter
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Finding an abandoned nesting tunnel carved into wood to overwinter in
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Mating so new bees can emerge to form colonies in spring
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Laying eggs that will become next year’s generation before dying off
The bees do not make any new nests or forage for food once winter hits. They rely on their fat stores and bits of pollen tucked away in the galleries to survive the cold months.
Ideal Temperature for Carpenter Bee Hibernation
Studies show carpenter bees prefer to overwinter in areas where the temperatures remain moderately cool. Ideal overwintering conditions are around 50-60°F.
If temperatures fluctuate too much or get too warm, the bees will burn through their fat reserves faster trying to maintain their body temperature. Freezing conditions can also kill them.
Carpenter bees tend to overwinter best in wall voids or attics since these spaces stay dark, dry and cool throughout winter.
Carpenter Bee Activity in Winter
During hibernation carpenter bees are mostly inactive aside from some slight movement to reach their stored pollen. Their heart rate and metabolism decreases by about 75% compared to normal active periods.
You are unlikely to see any carpenter bees flying around or buzzing outside your home in the wintertime. But they haven’t disappeared – they are just laying low in their insulated nests!
Treating Infestations in Winter
Since carpenter bees are hibernating in winter, this offers a good opportunity to address active nests. Treatment is possible as long as temperatures are above freezing:
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Locate nesting galleries by looking for rounded entry holes with coarse sawdust beneath. Drill pilot holes to determine tunnel depth if needed.
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Carefully plug holes and tunnels with caulk, wood putty or other sealants after removing bees and debris with a vacuum cleaner.
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Inject insecticide dust into deeper tunnels to kill developing bees. Apply residual sprays to the surface after sealing.
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Replace badly damaged beams, siding, trim boards or other wood as needed.
With the bees inactive, you can safely treat infested areas of your home over the winter months. Just make sure no live adult bees remain trapped inside when sealing up their galleries.
Spring Emergence After Winter
As spring returns and temperatures start to rise above 50°F, the carpenter bees will emerge from diapause. The males emerge first and wait near nest sites for females to appear.
Once mated, the females will seek out new areas to excavate wood and lay eggs. And so the carpenter bee seasonal cycle begins again!
Preventative Action Against Carpenter Bees
Since carpenter bees return to the same nesting sites year after year, taking preventative action before spring is key. Identify and seal up old holes and galleries to discourage bees from re-inhabiting your home. Installing carpenter bee traps nearby also helps capture scouting bees.
With a proactive defense plan, you can help reduce carpenter bee damages and minimize their presence around your home in the warmer months. Deterrents and exclusion tactics make it easier to manage these destructive pests.
Some bees go at it alone and hibernate during winter, while others push through the months of cold weather by staying warm with their colony.
When temperatures drop, the usual buzzing of bees disappears.
Which bees go where? How do they survive winter? Or do they survive at all? The answer isn’t always clear because it depends on their social lives.
From social honeybees to solitary carpenter bees, the way these bugs stay alive depends a lot on whether they are with a colony or by themselves.
Social bees, such as honeybees, tend to live in large colonies in hives. Honeybees, in particular, live in colonies containing a queen and between 10,000 and 50,000 workers.
A professor of entomology at Texas A&M University and an associate professor of apiculture said, “They live in close harmony.” “Imagine that every little bee is like a cell in a body. Everyone is a part of the body, and the body moves on its own.” “.
One of the abilities of this colony is the ability to thermoregulate.
Rangel says that when the temperature drops below 45 to 50 degrees, the bees will gather in a cluster and move together to form a ball. Then, they shiver to make enough body heat to stay warm, which can be 20 degrees warmer than the outside temperature.
The honeybees will remain in this ball throughout the entire winter. Rangel said they won’t leave the colony to find food. Instead, they will rely on the honey stores in their hive to stay alive.
Also, bee colonies, particularly those living in tree cavities, will winterize their hives as the temperatures drop. Rangel says that the bees will use a special glue they make to seal all the cracks and holes in the cavity.
She added that the bee will also choose homes with smaller openings. The smaller opening will keep less cold air from getting into the hive during the winter, making it a better line of defense.
It is thought that bumblebees and other species of bees are semi-social because they go back and forth between leading social and solitary life stages.
In the winter, bumblebees live as solitary individuals. Without the help of a colony, they make their own underground burrows and stay dormant for months to get through the winter.
“Their physiology just goes to the very lowest point of survivorship,” Rangel said. “Theyre not dead. Theyre just hibernating to withstand the cold temperature. “.
Come spring, the warmer temperature cues the bees to reactivate their bodies again. They leave their burrows and make new colonies of between 100 and 200 individuals.
They become social individuals until cooler temperatures return in the fall.
Mason bees, carpenter bees and other bee species live their entire lives on their own.
Rangel says that either these bees survive the winter by sleeping underground, which is how bumblebees do it, or they die within a year. Download the FOX Weather App Available on iOS & Android.
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