Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => DISEASE & PEST CONTROL => Topic started by: ayyon2157 on January 30, 2010, 12:35:35 am
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Hi everyone:
I have one hive which had been completely taken over by Eastern yellow jackets. They are all now dead except possibly the queen as they are supposed to die off in cold weather. I hope to get some pictures on a mild day of what they did inside the hive.
Even more interesting, beside it I have a hive where the bees and yellow jackets co-existed! The bees seem ok, but some fly out of the hive when I open it and don't seem to come back in the mid 30 degree weather we have been having, so I want to wait until warmer weather to see what I have there.
I will try to get pictures when I do.
ayyon 2157
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BUMMER!!! :'( I HATE yellow jackets! Bee sting, no problem. YJ sting = anaphalactic shock for me. If you find the burrow, pour a quart of gas down it and light it. :evil: VERY satisfying! Did you have an entrance reducer on it? I can't imagine them being able to overpower the guards of a reduced entrance even if it was cold. Something I've done to help a weakened cold hive is to put a warm bottle of syrup inside the hive just at sunset. The heat is beneficial as is the feed especially if they have been picked clean. If it is too cold for them to fly, I'd stop up the entrance entirely to prevent any further intrusions.
Kelly
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Found a yellow jacket nest last summer and we poured gasoline down the hole. I didn't know you had to light it up!!. I would be afraid to do that around these parts with everything so bone dry.
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Found a yellow jacket nest last summer and we poured gasoline down the hole. I didn't know you had to light it up!!. I would be afraid to do that around these parts with everything so bone dry.
I wouldn't worry about that, slash and burn agriculture has been around for centuries... :evil:
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Annette,
You are NOT supposed to light the gas after pouring it on the yj nest and cover the hole. The gas fills the cavity and the fumes kill the adults overnight.
Interestingly enough, I did that last year and dug it up and the adults were all dead but the larvae in capped cells were still alive.
Lighting it...think molotov coktail....but the fire does provide some vengeful satisfaction...
Rick
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The gasoline did kill the nest, but smelled horrible for weeks. It was very close to the house.
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It was very close to the house.
That's actually the best reason not to light it!!! :)
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Yep!!
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You pay for homeowner's insurance for years, you may as well use it from time to time.... :roll:
In our area, the skunks dig them out. It seems they are a tasty snack that skunks like. They dug five nests out of our back yard in one year. You go out one morning, and there's a new hole somewhere!
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Found a yellow jacket nest last summer and we poured gasoline down the hole. I didn't know you had to light it up!!. I would be afraid to do that around these parts with everything so bone dry.
Lighting it is the best part! :evil: I love the smell of fresh burned YJ's in the morning! Why let them off easy with just a quiet suffocation, when you can give them the death they so richly deserve! Ah, the satisfaction in knowing they are getting a preview of the Hell they are all going to. After all, isn't that where all YJ's belong? (Well maybe a few in Obama's shorts, but I digress...) :-D
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Kedgel, lighting it is:
1. Dangerous from a fire standpoint.
2. Possibly explosive if it gets trapped in an open area underground.
3. Less effective, since it will many times burn above the nest and leave the queen and brood below, which survive.
4....Most important.... It is putting bad info out to the members that don't know better and are looking for a solution to a problem, not bigger problems.
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I have found much enjoyment with using my propane-fired weedburner and a pitchfork to remove the little buggers from the ground. (Sometimes I just can't wait for the skunks to do the job for me.) I direct the flame at the opening to keep them at bay while digging the nest out of the ground with my pitchfork. They make a such a lovely popping sound, and there are no survivors. (We takes no prisoners!!! :-x)
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Kedgel, lighting it is:
1. Dangerous from a fire standpoint.
2. Possibly explosive if it gets trapped in an open area underground.
3. Less effective, since it will many times burn above the nest and leave the queen and brood below, which survive.
4....Most important.... It is putting bad info out to the members that don't know better and are looking for a solution to a problem, not bigger problems.
:evil: You just don't know how to have FUN! ;)
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Cheap, safe, nontoxic (to people, plants & animals that is:). 8-)
Just about every cable or satellite guy we've ever encountered carries a big spray bottle or super soaker filled with dish soap liquid and water. Cheapest brands seem to work best. We use Dawn. Squirt as much of the hive as you can, especially the entrance. You can take down the flying guards too, then stomp them, because the soap film gums up their wings.
Dish soap is toxic to wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets. Big nest or small, they won't even try to clean it, they will abandon the nest :-D, leaving the larva to starve. If you want to be proactive, dish soap spray all under your eaves, and anywhere else that wasps like to build, including around here, under vehicles.
The sticky residue will repel them for 6 months to a year, depending on how many side ways rains you get or massive puddles you drive through. I spray the U and T posts in my garden, because the red wasps otherwise seem interested in them.
We keep soap squirt bottles in the yard, garden, poultry yard, kids play yard etc, but we will NOT be keeping them at the hives. Dish soap it appears is ALSO toxic to bees. My husband knows of at least one unwanted beehive in a wall that no one wanted to remove, that was gotten rid of with dish soap, sprayed liberally around the entrance several days running.
Unknown whether it killed the hive. :'(Hopefully it just abscounded.
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Or just look in the phone book for a yellow jacket removal company...it's big business. I've got a friend who removes them and sells them (for their venom) to various labs. He's always getting calls for honey bees which he turns over to me, I get lots of calls for yellow jackets which I turn over to him, kinda symbiotic I guess.
I'm fascinated with his methods and will be helping him the next time he has a removal in my area....it's a cool system.
Scott
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Does he Bee Vac them out? Just interested.
We are happy with the dish soap method. We don't really have as much of a problem as you might think, reading about all the squirters at our place :) I just hate stopping what I am doing and traipsing all way up to the house to get a squirter if one is pestering me. Oh yeah, if you wing one with the soap water, it will die later.
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Yes, he vacuums the out. He has an attachment with an absorbent rim that he saturates with some kind of pheromone and from what I've heard they really go for the stuff! Just turns on the vac and lays it next to the nest (after disturbing them) and they fly right in....can't wait to see him in action!
Scott
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Has anyone tried using gopher bombs or road flares (giant gopher bombs!)? Just curious.
Do be careful with fire. It can very quickly cause a tragic accident if it gets out of control.