Welcome, Guest

Author Topic: New respect for yellow jackets!  (Read 5853 times)

Offline Spear

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 224
  • Gender: Female
New respect for yellow jackets!
« on: October 07, 2013, 03:57:27 pm »
A while ago I was at a parking lot that my company is responsible to keep clear of fallen leaves etc. One of my workers was useing the leaf blower at the far end of the lot when I noticed the entrace to an underground yellow jacket nest in a place where a tree had fallen down a few days ago. I decided that was not a good idea to just leave them be so I poured some gas into the hole. Within a few min. the place was buzzing with yellow jackets coming to the nest and carring out the eggs and lavae. I stood very close to the nest and was not threatened even once! It was just so amazing to watch them rescueing their young like that!

Offline Kathyp

  • Global Moderator
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 20363
  • Gender: Female
Re: New respect for yellow jackets!
« Reply #1 on: October 07, 2013, 04:04:36 pm »
you got lucky.  they were distracted.  a couple of years ago, i ran the tractor over a nest of them and ended up stung up pretty bad.  took several days to get over being sick from it. 

they just took out a hive of mine too.  granted, it was a weaker hive and i had not paid attention.  by the time i noticed what was happening, it was to late.  the hive was done.

that's one insect i don't mind killing!    :-x
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline annette

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 5353
  • Gender: Female
Re: New respect for yellow jackets!
« Reply #2 on: October 08, 2013, 12:50:37 am »
Wow, I poured gasoline down a yellow jacket nest and nothing like that happened. They just died.

Offline Joe D

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 2246
  • Gender: Male
Re: New respect for yellow jackets!
« Reply #3 on: October 08, 2013, 02:25:22 am »
Yesterday I found a nest about 25 yards from a couple of my hives.  Poured gas down it, waited a few minutes and lite it.  Today went bay there and they was some going in and out of the hole.  Put about 3/4 of a gal of diesel in a sprayer and soaked it down.  As the ones not in the nest came back to it I sprayed them.  Maybe four or five left.



Joe

Offline tefer2

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 2318
  • Gender: Male
Re: New respect for yellow jackets!
« Reply #4 on: October 08, 2013, 08:35:29 am »
After pouring gas down the hole you are suppose to cover the hole with something to keep the fumes in the ground. Setting it on fire only gets rid of the fumes you want.
I like to use a piece of plywood to cover the hole and the back door if they have one.
The fumes are what does them in.

Offline JackM

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 708
  • Gender: Male
Re: New respect for yellow jackets!
« Reply #5 on: October 08, 2013, 09:00:22 am »
Ya KathyP, the yellowjackets have been terrible this year, but where they are is spotty.  At my flying field the members are getting stung they are so bad and very hostile.  At my home the hives are being left alone and I have only seen a couple 'jackets.  Sorry you lost the hive, we shall see if my weak one survives the winter.
Jack of all trades
Master of none.

Offline iddee

  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 10853
  • Gender: Male
Re: New respect for yellow jackets!
« Reply #6 on: October 08, 2013, 10:27:26 am »
Joe, listen to tefer2. The fumes kill. The flame only removes them and saves the hive. NEVER light it.

To all, I would post regarding pouring petroleum on the ground in the abstract. You will have the tree huggers and the EPA climbing all over you.

IE: "I have heard", NOT "I did".
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

*Shel Silverstein*

Offline rober

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 710
  • Gender: Male
Re: New respect for yellow jackets!
« Reply #7 on: October 08, 2013, 11:00:23 am »
I've also "heard" that it's best done at night when everyone's home. it also may take more than one application. I was mowing hay with a horse drawn sickle mower ( I was using a mule )back in the 60's when I ran over a yellow jacket nest & out they came. I got several hits but the mule was the main target. that ended the mowing for the day as the mule, mower, & I all parted company. the next day was spent repairing the harness. the field was visible from the road & I got a lot of questions & comments from neighbors about the diagonal & wavy path of the cut. most common question was "were you drunk"?

Offline MsCarol

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 135
  • Gender: Female
Re: New respect for yellow jackets!
« Reply #8 on: October 08, 2013, 10:05:06 pm »
If the EPA/treehugger crew wants to cringe,

My dad used "cyano-gas"........at night.

Yellow jackets were the source of my "bee phobia" for years. Thankfully I am "Over it" and am enjoying my new found insect friends. I can even stay relaxed around the wasps and hornets.......as long as i don't "stir up trouble"

Offline Joe D

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 2246
  • Gender: Male
Re: New respect for yellow jackets!
« Reply #9 on: October 09, 2013, 12:48:28 am »
Not much to worry about, shoot, I was at least 10 yards off the road.  And I had mowed it last Friday.  Had the forrestry service out a few weeks ago, they were spraying for, not sure think it is Congo grass or something like that.  Dead grass spots here and there.  Not a lot of traffic on my road, an nearest neighbor is 1/4 mile now, used to be 1 mile.  OK got to rambling again. 


Joe

Offline jaseemtp

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 330
  • Gender: Male
Re: New respect for yellow jackets!
« Reply #10 on: October 11, 2013, 03:56:31 pm »
I have seen a few colonies of them that were not overly aggressive and were pretty neat to watch while waiting on the exterminator.
"It's better to die upon your feet than to live upon your knees!" Zapata

Offline GSF

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 4084
  • Gender: Male
Re: New respect for yellow jackets!
« Reply #11 on: October 11, 2013, 09:43:34 pm »
I just destroyed a nest about two nights ago. I have a hydraulic jack that I keep on a piece of plywood. My shed is a pole barn 25x40 with the middle closed in. I walk by it often and I have a chain hoist I lift my wife's lawn mower up with to change the blades. All this is 3 feet from the nest - I still don't have a clue why none of us didn't get hit unless it was new. The first layer was as bit as a closed fist and the second layer was about a third that size. They tunneled under the plywood and dug a hole out. I poured some gas down the hole and the rest is history.

I can't stand a yellow jacket. I've been eaten up by them so many times it ain't funny. The reason I found it was I had been showing one of my swarm traps to someone and set it down not far from it. What got my attention was when I heard a buzzing and saw something checking the trap out. At first I thought it might have been a bee but the sound and the flying pattern gave it away.
When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt, but protects the corrupt from you - then you know your nation is doomed.

Offline BlueBee

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 4587
  • Gender: Male
Re: New respect for yellow jackets!
« Reply #12 on: October 11, 2013, 10:10:29 pm »
And how do y’all get rid of moles. :-D  Will fumes do them in too?

Lots of yellow jackets feasting on the apples this fall, but I haven't found a hive yet.
 

Offline rober

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 710
  • Gender: Male
Re: New respect for yellow jackets!
« Reply #13 on: October 12, 2013, 12:37:08 pm »
http://www.youtube.com/user/Rodenator click on rodenator you tube. I've become pretty good at catching moles but I had one elude capture for 2 months this summer. finally got him a week ago.

Offline GSF

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 4084
  • Gender: Male
Re: New respect for yellow jackets!
« Reply #14 on: October 12, 2013, 09:58:09 pm »
Bluebee,

My experience has proved that they usually find you first.
When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt, but protects the corrupt from you - then you know your nation is doomed.

Offline T Beek

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 2775
  • Gender: Male
Re: New respect for yellow jackets!
« Reply #15 on: October 13, 2013, 07:47:19 am »
I've never used gas  :-\ to rid my garden of yellow jackets ( why would I put benzene anywhere near my garden?), a  water hose turned on low and placed into the hole for a few minutes works well enough for me. 

No refunds, no returns  8-).

That said; I've received (many) more stings from them and their like than any honeybees have ever delivered to me.
"Trust those who seek the truth, doubt those who say they've found it."

Offline GSF

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 4084
  • Gender: Male
Re: New respect for yellow jackets!
« Reply #16 on: October 13, 2013, 08:06:30 am »
The water hose thing wouldn't work down south..,

our yellow jackets are more emotional ;)
When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt, but protects the corrupt from you - then you know your nation is doomed.

Offline T Beek

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 2775
  • Gender: Male
Re: New respect for yellow jackets!
« Reply #17 on: October 13, 2013, 09:59:27 am »
The water hose thing wouldn't work down south..,

our yellow jackets are more emotional ;)

It worked very well at a friends place outside Pensacola, FL a couple years ago  :-\   

Our Northern insects are mostly dormant for up to 7 months a year, it makes most of them extremely aggressive (hungry?). 

I've spent/worked considerable time in the southern States, living in Georgia, Louisiana and Kentucky for a time and still visit family and friends in Florida almost yearly. 

In my own experience, and likely because of your looooong summer season, I've found southern mosquitoes, wasps, hornets and flies, (insects in general w/ exception of those Africanized bees) to be kinda lazy compared with Northerners.

Have you ever been to Rural Canada during the early Spring/summer?  They don't make fly swatters big enough :-D
"Trust those who seek the truth, doubt those who say they've found it."

Offline GSF

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 4084
  • Gender: Male
Re: New respect for yellow jackets!
« Reply #18 on: October 13, 2013, 01:12:56 pm »
T Beek, your prospective is probably right. Ours don't have to get in any hurry because they got all day. One thing that is probably different would be the size of the nest. There was one guy below Wetumpka a few years back that kept old cars in his barns. He pulled the cover off of one he was going to restore and the passenger compartment - front to rear was nothing but a big nest. Saw a  picture of it in the Wetumpka Herald. The winter before that almost didn't exist. Normally yw go below ground I guess the cover made them think they were subsurface. The biggest nest I ever dug up was three layers with each layer being around a foot across. That's some serious yellow jackets.
When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt, but protects the corrupt from you - then you know your nation is doomed.

Offline T Beek

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 2775
  • Gender: Male
Re: New respect for yellow jackets!
« Reply #19 on: October 14, 2013, 06:11:31 am »
You are correct and your words ring true.  YJ do 'sometimes' build nests 'above' ground in some strange and unexpected places.  Serious builders indeed.  I've got one nest right now in some house siding that will get blocked before Thanksgiving.
"Trust those who seek the truth, doubt those who say they've found it."