Mac's One of The Best Carpenter Bee Traps, Set of 2

These work. This is the fourth generation of this product that I’ve used. If you want them to work, you’ll need to know a little more than the included instructions tell you. 1) plug all existing bee holes. Do this now. In the spring, before they come out. Jam some fine steel wool or a small ball of aluminum foil in the hole followed by some wood patch, silicone or...a cork. Why? Because these bees are lazy. They will go for an available hole before they will chew their own. Thus, they’ll go for the holes on the trap. Exploit their stupidity. 2) you may have noticed that all the holes you filled were mostly on the eastern elevation of your house. They like this side, it warms first and these guys get busy early. PLACE YOUR TRAPS ON THE EASTERN, MORNING SUN SIDE OF THE HOUSE! Get them kinda high, just like the instructions say. 3) Ideally, get them out now! (April3rd ofmthis review) before they show up. Why? You want the queens. Once you get females in the traps, all the males will come rushing to those traps. You can put them out later in the season, it just works better early. If you got a late start, you’ll want to place you traps at night because the males will harass you like crazy trying to place them in the day. You don’t want to be on a ladder when they are coming at you. 4) DON’T empty your traps, unless they are completely full. This is important. The scent of other bees, particularly the females makes the trap more attractive, even when they are dead. 5) if you are starting fresh, the scent drops will hasten captures. It’s expensive, but a little goes a long way. After you get a few in the traps, you are good and no longer need the scent drops.These creatures are vicious, destructive a-holes. I have a cedar home and have fought them since I moved in. If you let it go, it can get much worse. Larval bees in wood will attract woodpeckers and once that happens, you’ve got a real mess on your hands as the peckers will blast out huge chunks of wood looking for them. Also note, only the females sting, and the chances of you getting stung by a female are slim as they are at work in the wood making more of these annoying creatures. The ones chasing you are males and don’t sting but...they can and will bite. Luckily they are dumb and slow. An electric racket swatter will give you some satisfaction, though. Best availed them and place traps late at night or on a cool early morning. Get at ‘em.Good luck, but you won’t need it if you follow the above advice.

I was hoping for better success. Not total failure , just not too pleased.

Just writing a review a bit late. However this is the perfect Carpenter bee trap. The key is to find the perfect location. I have to admit, in our first season, I hung them where I saw the bees, so it ended up like a bird house. Big mistake. Caught one in a season.Then I had a thought. They get under the deck, so let's try one under the deck. It has been about two weeks, and the trap is so full, we will have to empty soon. So location is the trick. Also, if you can kill one (Tennis racket works great), add the dead one to the trap, and it draws the others in.The photos are hard to see how many are in there, but it is full, I would say at least 10-12.Love this item, have three now...

We’ve been using these for about three years now, and they work great! The first year was hardest, because it took a while for that first carpenter bee to enter the trap . Once the first bee was in, the rest just followed. Each year we save some bee bodies for the following year, and each spring there’s just a short delay before they all go in.The two traps we ordered this year came with the front and rear walls split, as if the wood was cut before drying.... but we put them up and they worked just fine. We got two years’ use out of the first set, and replaced those with new ones this spring.

I am pleased with the look and design. I have hung them up. So far, I have not trapped any bees. We will see if it works. I had difficulty hanging as the chain attached was too small for most hooks that I had. A nail was provided but it required a bracket which was not supplied to give it room to hang from a post or wall.

The bee traps are very well made and easy to hang. I was beginning to think however that they were a total waste of money until after about three weeks I finally caught a bee in one of them. There have been a lot of carpenter bees buzzing around, maybe most of them are just too smart for the traps. I don't know.

These traps worked for me. I'll explain my method: First I treated the holes these destructive bees made with Spectracide Foaming Carpenter Bee Killer. Do this on either a cool day or at night. I think this killed a few but more importantly prevents the ones that are out at the time from not going back. I hung my traps 3 feet off the ground at both ends of my shed. The first two days nothing. Then 1 bee in each. Then an amazing bonanza of bees. The photo shows 1 week of captured carpenter bees - 18 in total. I emptied them on a paper towel and a few were still alive moving around, so I sprayed them with Spectracide Carpenter Bee Killer again.Didn't wipe out the jars and rehung the traps and a right now have 3 or 4 in each trap. In total, I think these traps have captured 24 Carpenter Bee's. So in conclusion, they've worked very well for me and will be up all year.

Products both arrived with their metal rings dented. Fortunately, I could fix them with pliers. Including a nail to hang them from is a nice touch. Here's hoping the carpenter bees like them.