Bumbles are very efficient in what they do, honey bees travel 3 to 5 miles and I wouldn't be surprised if bumbles can do the same. Bumbles build nest's also above ground, I had one bumble started inside my garden glove, laying on a shelf in the shed, door not closed all the way, one day I slipped into the gloves to find out! You can try to create a home for them, like laying clay pots upside down with the drain hole on top, buried about 2/3 and put some soft dry grass in it or that shredded paper insulation material. Some people make little nesting boxes like shown on this video below, early spring it is always queens what seek out a new home. http://mkat.iwf.de/mms/metafiles/02000018060220000000_lo.asx As kids, we used to know the "secret" nesting site, every year, we went to this ditch, and on the slope, it was a very soft mossy like growth and we could see where the bumbles go in and out, so we would gently open the thumb large hole to see the nest with some baby bumbles in it....soooo cute! Konrad

It may be be the grass-carrying wasp. (Yes, I know that sounds as if I made it up, but it's true.) That wasp provisions its cells with snowy tree crickets. A number of home gardeners here in the northern part of the Willamette Valley who keep mason bee nests have had them nesting in our tubes for several years. Where do you live? Look here https://www.google.com/search?q=grass-carrying+wasp&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a Here is a link that might be useful: grass-carrying wasp

Hi Tony, I'm in Innisfil Ontario north of Toronto near Barrie. Just around the corner is Dickey Bee Honey and another beekeeper is just south of here on the way to Bradford. Even our mayor is a beekeeper! I had a friend who had a couple hives as a hobby - and I've been to a bed and breakfast near Peterborough that is a honey farm - Hunter Farm. I watched Ruth centrifuge the honey. But what do you do with it all?? You'd have to sell it, and I don't want to compete business-wise with my neighbours. Although I do own and operate a grocery delivery business and have been asked for the unpasteurized honey, recommended for health. When my friend tried to turn his unpasteurized honey hobby into a business (we were in a government sponsored business start-up program), he ran into all sorts of problems - apparently he could sell the honey off his driveway or at a stall he himself operated, but ran into trouble trying to sell through a second party - other retailers. Have you any information on why this may be the case? And besides honey, can you make other products if you're a beekeeper - can one make honey 'sugar' for example? How can one differentiate honey from others? Is it worth keeping just a handful of hives or is that not cost-effective? Regarding what kind of wasps/hornets my 'bees' were - they had longer wings but not long narrow bodies. I assumed wasps all have dangly bits hanging off them and hornets are long and pointy and yellowjackets are tiny. Thats about all I thought I knew ;) Thanks for your replies! Lisa

Often if you put out untreated 2X4's the carpenter bee's will be drawn to those rather than your deck/house. Also bees/wasps etc are drawn to the color yellow. I am not surprised that blue deters them. I am seriously going to consider following that suggestion at the house we're buying. Here in VA, we had a bald-faced hornet boom this past summer. They were building everywhere. I'd never paid any attention to them until they tried to build on my deck (I took them out immediately) and then they built a HUGE nest next to my parents porch (and tried to get me). Perhaps your area had a similar increase in population, which may have been taken care of by the winter. Carpenter Bees are good pollinators (from someone who hates bees/wasps, etc). The males do not bite/sting and I've been visited several times by our resident bee. He loves me....we've called a truce. The female carpenters DO bite and sting, though, so be careful. As to wasps, I would consider the blue suggestion. Also keeping 20 ft spray to knock out the nest works for me.