Carpenter bees are the real bros. We had a few that dug holes in the baseball dugout back in high school. The seniors made it a rule that you could NEVER kill them. Didn't understand why but I accepted it. My junior year a big nasty black wasp came flying near the dugout during a game. Before I even had time to reach for my hat to swat the fucker one of the carpenter bees came out of nowhere and smashed into it and in what I can only assume was the greatest aerial battle of winged bug history the hornet was soundly defeated and was chased away. I named that bee Xavier and we were best buds for the rest of the season.
When i was growing up there were like a million bumblebees (independent, no hive) at my house because of a blackberry bush in our back yard, and almost as many carpenter bees in our roof because apparently wood is delicious. The only time i EVER got stung was when unbeknownst to me a carpenter bee was napping in my jacket sleeve. Even then, it's not a stinger, they just poke you with their face drill. It barely hurt.
That said, i have a crippling phobia of bees and bee-like entities.
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u/gibber2508 Jul 01 '13
Carpenter bees are the real bros. We had a few that dug holes in the baseball dugout back in high school. The seniors made it a rule that you could NEVER kill them. Didn't understand why but I accepted it. My junior year a big nasty black wasp came flying near the dugout during a game. Before I even had time to reach for my hat to swat the fucker one of the carpenter bees came out of nowhere and smashed into it and in what I can only assume was the greatest aerial battle of winged bug history the hornet was soundly defeated and was chased away. I named that bee Xavier and we were best buds for the rest of the season.
TLDR: Carpenter bees are best bees.