My grandfather would sit on the porch, whittling wooden pegs and wait for the bee to go into the hole, then plug the hole.

While they very seldom sting, they will sometimes fly into you and it feels like getting hit by a rock.

The only bird that I’ve seen that will run them off is a barn swallow, and the swallows are more of a nusance than the bees.

http://gravityc-idealism.blogspot.com/2007/04/vanishing-bees.html

Maybe you just need to get cell phones?

http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2007/04/cell_phones_and_honeybees.php

No! Don’t do it! That’s all we need is a fire resistant species of carpenter bee!!

First, the males have no stinger, and the females are very reluctant to sting. You have to seriously molest them in close quarters to get them to sting. They are very non-aggressive.

Secondly, they are very curious creatures. They investigate anything new, or that moves. Their “dive bombing” behavior is just a friendly, “Hello, who are you?”

Third, they are homers. That is, one child will occupy the mother’s old hole, and the others want to be close neighbors. Breed holes breed more breed holes.

Finally, they are smart. If they dig a hole that then heels over, they look for an entirely different “tree”. They only inhabit dead wood.

My solution is to do weekly inspections during the spring. If I see a hole, I knock on wood to chase the lady-bee out, then plug it with Liquid Nails. That board and its near neighbors are then safe from that bee family for that season.

I don’t kill them because they are filling in the ecological niche now being left by the failing, exotic and imported, European honeybees. That is, they pollinate our plants. Our tomatoes, cherries, etc. need them.
btw: Honey bees aren’t big enough to do fertilize tomatoes, anyway.

http://gravityc-idealism.blogspot.com/2007/04/vanishing-bees.html

Maybe you just need to get cell phones?

http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2007/04/cell_phones_and_honeybees.php