Carpenter Bee

Description:

Carpenter Bees boring their way through the second floor joists in the barn. Last year there were only a couple, year there's almost 100 of them flying around the posts and joists. Pest or helper? While they are awesome pollinators, they are also very very destructive. I am going to have to find a way to remove them or keep them from the wood. While I hate standard extermination methods, I may have to resort to that if I cannot find a natural means of deterring them from living in the barn beams.

Notes:

in the fourth picture you can see several of the bees flying around the beam as well as the spray of saw dust that they have excavated from the above sill plate.