Seeing bees around the garden or plants is pretty common on the spring day all around Australia. You’ll mostly find the carpenter bees and bumble bees. Due to their differences, people often get into debates about the carpenter bee vs bumble bee.
Well, the carpenter bee is a bare and shiny black kind while the bumble bee has yellow marks with tons of hairs. In fact, both differ in looks, nests, colonies, behavior, and so on factors.
In this guide, you’ll learn in detail the main differences between the carpenter bee and the bumble bee. Let’s find out!
9 Differences between the Carpenter Bee and Bumble Bee!
There are tons of dissimilarities that you’ll notice if discussing the bumble bee vs carpenter bee topic. Let’s find them out below:
1. Appearance
In terms of looks, carpenter bees, and bumble bees have massive differences that you can notice closely. Well, the carpenter bees contain a bare and shiny abdomen that’s all black.
Plus, most of them are 1 inch in length if you measure. Based on the specie’s kind, you’ll find the yellow thorax on some carpenter bees. And, other species come with a mixture of blue, black, white, or brown thorax.
On the flip side, bumble bees come with fuzzy heads, thoraxes, and abdomen. You’ll also find most of them between 3/4 to 1.5 inches in length. Plus, they have thin yellow bands while the abdomen is mixed with black and yellow in the thorax.
2. Nests
If you look closely into the nest of carpenter and bumble bees, you’ll find the visible difference in them. Usually, carpenter bees make their house in wood after drilling a hole.
And then, they turn it into 90 degrees to excavate a tunnel deep to lay the eggs. Apart from the wood, there are a few common places where they nest like eaves, window trim, fascia boards, siding, shingles, decks, furniture, and so on.
Then again, bumble bees make nests in hidden places like abandoned rodent burrows, under grass, leaf clippings, stones, logs, and so on. In fact, their nests aren’t within structure like carpenter bees.
Sometimes, you’ll find them making houses above ground in a wall, firewood pile, shed, crawlspace, attic, and so on.
3. Colony
As a group in the natural environment, carpenter and bumble bees form diverse colonies that make them different.
Usually, carpenter bees are private pests that don’t form colonies or work in groups. And, they make their nest as small as possible with one female bee. Plus, it yawns into the wood to lay her eggs in different small cells after digging the nest.
In contrast, bumble bees are social pests that form colonies of around 50 to 400 bees. Not to mention that they work in groups and help each other, unlike the carpenter bees. Plus, you’ll find a queen that all bumble bees follow, care for, and serve to develop larvae.
4. Nature or Habit
Being the two different kinds of bees, they both share dissimilar habits or nature if you put them side by side. Well, the carpenter bees usually hover around the wood siding, decks, eaves, fences, and so on places to excavate a nest.
They also choose these locations to feed the larva inside as it’s in their nature. And, they extract the essence of flowers to collect the sweet nectar or pollen at seasonal times.
Conversely, the bumble bees make their way to dry areas like tunnels to excavate the nest. And, they go and visit different kinds of flowers including milkweed, dandelions, clover, and so on.
5. Aggression
The aggression level of the carpenter and bumble bees are diverse even if both are safe and not violent. To put it clearly, female carpenter bees sting a lot more than other kinds.
They mostly make buzzing noises and sting in an aggressive manner to protect the nest or their offspring. On the other hand, the female bumble bees are calm and only sting repeatedly if their nest is in danger.
6. Relocation
Another difference between both bee kinds is the procedure to relocate them. Well, both carpenter bees and bumble bees can’t find the place easily unless you use the right tricks. And, we find diversity in the procedure.
To relocate the bumble bees, you’ll need to keep the area watery. Also, it should have no dirt, branches, wood pieces, or grasses. That way you can make the place less inviting for bumble bees. Plus, it’s better to clean the trash cans or litter to ensure proper handling.
Then again, you can get rid of carpenter bees if you stuff the holes they make with steel wool. For a better result to stop them from making their home, it’s best to use paint or stain on places where the female carpenter bee creates a small nest.
7. Damage
Both carpenter bees and bumble bees are less harmful to humans, pets, or the environment. However, you might get sick or face major health issues with carpenter bee’s stings.
In other words, they can cause lethal illness especially if the nests are near the entryway of your house or garden. Yet, you won’t face this kind of experience with the bumble bees. This also makes the carpenter bees more dangerous than the bumble bees.
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8. Food Diet
If discussing the bumble bee vs carpenter bee, they both mainly eat nectar and pollen. Nectar is a sweet liquid that bees collect from flowers. And, they both are pollinators.
It also gives them the energy they need. But, pollen is a fine powder made by plants that contains the plant’s genetic material. And, it offers important proteins for the bees.
However, the difference between them is that the bumble bees sometimes eat bee poop, unlike the carpenter bees.
9. Stinging Nature
Bees have a natural stinging nature that they use when feeling frightened or threatened. Based on the types, this can feel severe or usual.
And, you’ll notice the diversity of both bee types if comparing their stinging style. To put it simply, the female carpenter bees can sting painfully and cause a red swollen welt that might hurt the upper layer of skin.
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In fact, the pain can be life-threatening if you have an allergic reaction to stings, especially by bees. On the other hand, you might feel a pinch-type pain on your skin if the female bumble bee’s stings. Plus, it isn’t harmful or severe even if you are allergic to bee sting.
Ending Notes
That’s all you need to know about the carpenter bee vs bumble bee topic! Now, you can easily detect the difference between both and understand their behavior.
If you are planning to get rid of them, you can verily contact us or get a quote to get the job done in an expert way. or, you can check this guide to know the natural ways to avoid pests like bugs. Best of luck for pest control in Perth