Bumble Bee vs. Honey Bee vs. Carpenter Bee: How to Tell Them Apart
A big, buzzy bee lands on your bee balm. Is it a bumble bee, a carpenter bee or a honeybee? From a few feet away they can look alike, but once you know where to look, you can tell them apart in a second. Start with the back end.
Quick answer: Look at the abdomen. A bumble bee is large, round and fuzzy all over, usually black and yellow. A carpenter bee is just as big but has a shiny, hairless black abdomen and nests in wood. A honey bee is smaller and slimmer, about half an inch long, golden-brown with dark bands. Bumble bees and carpenter bees are native; honey bees came from Europe and are the only ones that make harvestable honey.
Bumble bee, honey bee or carpenter bee at a glance
| Honey bee | Bumble bee | Carpenter bee | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Size | About 1/2 inch, slim | 1/2 to 1 inch, round and chunky | About 3/4 inch, chunky |
| Abdomen | Golden-brown to amber with dark bands, lightly fuzzy | Fuzzy all over, black and yellow bands | Shiny, bare and black |
| Face | Dark | Hairy | Males have a white patch; females black |
| Lives | Colony of 20,000 to 60,000 in a hive or hollow tree | Colony of about 50 to 500, usually underground | Solitary, in tunnels bored into wood |
| Lasts | Year round; the colony survives winter | One season; only new queens overwinter | Adults overwinter in their tunnels |
| Honey | Stores lots of honey | Tiny wax pots of nectar | None |
| Sting | Barbed; dies after stinging people | Can sting more than once, but gentle | Males can’t sting; females rarely do |
| Native to Massachusetts? | No, brought from Europe in the 1630s | Yes | Yes |
How can you tell a bumble bee from a carpenter bee?
Check the shine. A bumble bee’s abdomen is covered in dense hair, usually with yellow bands. A carpenter bee’s abdomen is shiny and nearly bald, like polished black plastic. Penn State Extension notes that carpenter bees also have a distinct black spot in the middle of their fuzzy yellow thorax.
Then watch what they do. Carpenter bees hover near wooden decks, eaves and fences in spring, and males chase anything that comes close. Bumble bees fly from flower to flower and ignore you. Our post on carpenter bees covers how to keep them off your wood.
How can you tell a honey bee from a bumble bee?
Size and color. A honey bee is about half an inch long, slim, and golden-brown or amber, with soft bands. A bumble bee is bigger and rounder, sometimes nearly an inch long for a spring queen, and its colors are bolder black and yellow, sometimes with orange. Bumble bees also fly in cooler, cloudier weather than honey bees, so the bee working your blueberries on a chilly April morning is likely a bumble bee.
Which ones make honey?
Only honey bees store enough to harvest. A honey bee colony lives through the winter on stored honey, so it stores dozens of pounds of it in summer, enough to last until spring flowers and leave beekeepers a surplus. Bumble bees keep only a few thimble-sized wax pots of nectar, because their colony dies off in fall and only the new queens hibernate. Carpenter bees are solitary and store none. Our post on how bees make honey explains the process.
Which ones sting?
All three can, in theory, but none are aggressive away from their nest:
- Honey bees sting to defend their hive. Their barbed stinger stays in your skin and the bee dies, so you get one sting per bee.
- Bumble bees have a smooth stinger and can sting more than once, but they’re docile and rarely do unless squeezed or their nest is disturbed.
- Carpenter bee males have no stinger at all. Females can sting but almost never do.
If you were stung at a picnic in August, the culprit was probably none of these but a yellowjacket. See honeybee vs. wasp vs. yellowjacket and our bee sting first aid guide.
Why does it matter which bee it is?
Because the right response is different for each:
- A cluster of honey bees hanging from a branch is a swarm looking for a home. Call a beekeeper; on the South Coast, that’s us, through swarm retrieval.
- Bumble bees nesting in an old burrow or under a shed are temporary and helpful. Leave them for the season if you can; the colony ends in fall.
- Carpenter bees in your trim need prevention, not poison: paint the wood and fill old holes.
All three are pollinators. Bumble bees are especially important for tomatoes, blueberries and cranberries, because they can “buzz pollinate,” shaking pollen loose from flowers that honey bees can’t open. Our post on native bees vs. honeybees goes deeper.
Frequently asked questions
Is a carpenter bee a type of bumble bee?
No. They’re different groups that happen to be similar in size and color. Carpenter bees (Xylocopa) nest alone in wood and have a shiny bare abdomen. Bumble bees (Bombus) live in small colonies, usually in the ground, and are fuzzy all over.
Are bumble bees aggressive?
No. Bumble bees are among the gentlest bees. They sting only if squeezed, stepped on or when their nest is disturbed. You can work in the garden right next to them.
Do bumble bees die after they sting?
No. Bumble bees have a smooth stinger and can sting more than once. Honey bees are the ones whose barbed stinger catches in human skin, so a honey bee dies after stinging a person.
Why do I only see bumble bees early in spring?
The big bumble bees you see in April are queens, the only members of last year’s colony to survive winter. Each one is looking for a nest site to start a new colony alone. By summer, smaller worker bumble bees take over the foraging.
Are honey bees native to Massachusetts?
No. Honey bees are native to Europe, Africa and western Asia. English colonists brought them to Massachusetts in the 1630s. Read when honeybees came to Massachusetts.
Sources
- Penn State Extension, “The Eastern Carpenter Bee: Beneficial Pollinator or Unwelcome Houseguest?”
- The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, “Ground Nesting Bees” fact sheet (bumble bee nesting).
- The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, bumble bee identification resources.
Next time a big bee buzzes past, check the shine on its back. Fuzzy is a bumble bee, shiny is a carpenter bee, and slim and golden is probably one of ours.