Carpenter bees VS. Chicken Coop

[Reilyjarm]

Hey y’all! We have had our chicken coop for a little over a year now and yesterday I noticed some Carpernter bee “scouts” in my chicken yard!!! Our coup is not painted but sealed with some industrial strength wood sealer. Should I still be concerned about the possibility of those pesky bees trying to find a home in my coop?
Have any of y’all had to deal with this?!
Any advice would be so helpful! Thanks!!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Interesting question. There are different kinds of carpenter bees and they can have some slightly different habits, but generally they bore a fairly shallow round hole into wood, then run a horizontal tunnel along the grain of the wood, then branch off this with nesting cavities. To do this they need a certain thickness of wood, but a 2x4 is plenty thick for them to do this. I had them drilling holes in my 2x8 shed rafters but left them alone as they were still pretty near the surface and did not weaken those beams that much. Plus they are good pollinators and I liked having them near my garden.

Did those scouts escape? If they can catch them your chickens will eat them. A protein source maybe?

I don't know how well that sealer will protect against them. I'd think it may cause them to look elsewhere. They do not actually eat the wood but I'd think that sealer would make it harder to drill into. I'd take a wait and see attitude. If you see round holes maybe 1/2" diameter or sawdust I'd think about treatment.

 

[Reilyjarm]

Thanks so much for answering!
I am pretty sure the scouts are from a playhouse (that the bees have almost destroyed) which is about 12 yards from my chicken coop.
About 2 years ago, I tried everything to get them to move away from the playhouse, to no avail so we just let them have it. I’m hoping they stick with the playhouse and leave my chicken coop alone!

Will keep an eye out for any holes, sawdust ext! Thanks so much again!!