Caught a Queen Yellow Jacket yesterday..

[_RaT_]

They are out and looking for new nests in some parts of the country.

 

[1bush2hog]

Did you happen to take any pictures?

I've never seen a YJ queen before

 

[_RaT_]

Did you happen to take any pictures?

I've never seen a YJ queen before

Just much bigger then the others, much bigger. Otherwise, I far as I can tell the markings are the same.

 

[Podunkadunk]

Just much bigger then the others, much bigger. Otherwise, I far as I can tell the markings are the same.

Yep. Identical...except for being much longer and slightly, only slightly larger in diameter.

Plus, at this time of year, they are the only ones out and about...no workers yet. I have killed 3, 2 on the back deck gathered around some canteloupe I have drying for seed and 1 was coming out of her hole by a tree I was weedwhacking next to.

The way I figure it, I just killed about 10 or 15 thousand! I hate those son's of beeyotches

-Podunk

 

[1bush2hog]

I guess they must look similar to a "news bee" Same colors and size. Maybe I just never paid that much attention unless I was standing on their nest - and that lasted about .0000001 sec.

I found about 8 nests last year - the hard way

 

[_RaT_]

Yep. Identical...except for being much longer and slightly, only slightly larger in diameter.

Plus, at this time of year, they are the only ones out and about...no workers yet. I have killed 3, 2 on the back deck gathered around some canteloupe I have drying for seed and 1 was coming out of her hole by a tree I was weedwhacking next to.

The way I figure it, I just killed about 10 or 15 thousand! I hate those son's of beeyotches

-Podunk

They scare me. They have a complete battle plan for intruders. Send out a small group to find the intruder, bite, sting and scream for re-enforcements. I think I heard them one time screaming, "he's on the orange tractor, he's on the orange tractor and he killed Charlie, Larry and Carl, nail him!"

 

[Seon]

I've got 5 traps thru-out my property but none caught. They're flying all around the garage and shop. I've been spraying the new nest they're building so maybe that's why none are in the trap.

 

[Pilot]

Seon,

Maybe they aren't yellow jackets? There are lots of kinds of wasps & the pheromone in the YJ traps only attracts yellow jackets.

 

[_RaT_]

Seon,

Maybe they aren't yellow jackets? There are lots of kinds of wasps & the pheromone in the YJ traps only attracts yellow jackets.

Thats what I was thinking. While yellowjackets will nest in walls, their typical fortress is in the ground.

 

[Podunkadunk]

They scare me. They have a complete battle plan for intruders. Send out a small group to find the intruder, bite, sting and scream for re-enforcements. I think I heard them one time screaming, "he's on the orange tractor, he's on the orange tractor and he killed Charlie, Larry and Carl, nail him!"

YES, they scare me too. I'm not too worried about the paper wasps, there aren't many of them. A yellowjacket nest can contain thousands of them at any given time. They are by far (according to the WWW) the most aggressive of all the wasp family. They are relentless in their pursuit of an intruder and they even post guards at the entrance of the hole. Talk about structured defenses.

I do know this though, last October/November I killed a couple nests. One had an entrance hole at the base of an oak tree the size of a pie plate! I waited until dark, when all the workers were at home watching Letterman, snuck out there with a flashlight, eased up to the hole, poured a gallon of gas down it, then lit it. It burned for 15 minutes at least.

Would you believe that the next day they were rebuilding? Those buggers were removing the charred nest and putting it by the entrance hole. I had to burn them out again that night. This time it worked. No more yellowjackets! It sure was fun and I never got stung.

If you find a nest, wait until night. They are "dormant" at night and not as aggressive, I don't think they see well at night...???