Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Lesser of two evils?

OK, my house here is a nice wood house. And lately it's been cursed with carpenter bees which eat the wood and resist every effort to wipe them out. As a result, several of the boards under the eves are starting to look swiss-cheesish.

But now "help" has arrived in the form of the carpenter bee's nemesis: the Red-Bellied Woodpecker.

Uh...Hooray? Honestly I'm not really sure which one is worse.



GET OFF MY HOUSE!!!!

Of course I've been chasing it away all day, but when I took a couple hours to go to the range, I came back to find a BAH (Big-Ass Hole) where the woodpecker had been pecking. Of course below it, I found the remains of numerous carpenter bees. On another side of the house, I found another hole, lots of sawdust, and more bee pieces so it obviously got what it came for. Now let's hope that it moves on.
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8 comments:

  1. Old NFO6:26 PM

    You just can't win can ya...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rev. Paul6:40 PM

    Lesser of two evils, or the evil of two lessers?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Keads7:16 PM

    Hell, what's next? Locusts? I prefer chemical warfare, but you have Murph around.

    ReplyDelete
  4. an Donalbane9:57 PM

    My Dad had a problem with his pecker, er, let me re-phrase - a woodpecker was wreaking havoc on the cedar trim about 20 above ground level.

    It seems the Savage single-shot .22 his Dad gave him in 1943 (when he was 5), loaded with some Winchester #12 rat shot (the crimped kind, not the CCI-style plastic shot cup) dissuaded the feathered bipeds, without collateral damage to the soffit, fascia, and frieze boards.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Monsoon Matriarch10:21 PM

    I set up 'egg boards' for the borer and carpenter bees to attract them away from the house. Works. See:
    http://monsoonmatriarch.blogspot.com/2012/07/keeping-ahead-of-pesky-critters.html

    ReplyDelete
  6. ProudHillbilly6:12 AM

    I had the same problem, both with borer bees and woodpecker's going after them. I finally started plugging every bee hole I could find with wood putty after soaking the hole good with bug spray. Seemed to do the trick.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ruth7:51 AM

    There are "wasp sprays" specific for carpenter bees. Can't help with the woodpecker, never had issues with one though we see them all the time.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Moogie P5:58 PM

    I"m not sure who should have the worse headache -- you or the woodpecker!

    ReplyDelete

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