Yellow Jackets not being friendly

[techwrtr2]

Mother nature got around to taking care of that particular nest. The location of the nest made pouring something inside or even spraying foam ineffective. My efforts only succeeded in killing the weeds that concealed the nest. I guess that's all I needed.

Found that the nest was dug out, the comb scattered about the ground with maybe a dozen survivors cowering inside the cavern that was once their secure brood.

Skunks serve a purpose. Assuming that's what did the job. Now I have to encourage said critter to dig up another nest I found not 10 feet away.

 

[_RaT_]

A skunk is what tore up a nest that I had. I developed a new found respect for them. That takes some real intestinal fortitude.

Interesting as well was as you mentioned that they have the honeycomb down in the hole. I learned some things as a result of that skunk.

Mother nature got around to taking care of that particular nest. The location of the nest made pouring something inside or even spraying foam ineffective. My efforts only succeeded in killing the weeds that concealed the nest. I guess that's all I needed.

Found that the nest was dug out, the comb scattered about the ground with maybe a dozen survivors cowering inside the cavern that was once their secure brood.

Skunks serve a purpose. Assuming that's what did the job. Now I have to encourage said critter to dig up another nest I found not 10 feet away.

 

[Baby Grand]

... Now I have to encourage said critter to dig up another nest I found not 10 feet away.

Drop a few pieces of meat in there. Pepe will find it.

 

[MBDiagMan]

I think what you are calling Yellow Jackets is what, in Texas, we call ground bees. What we call Yellow Jackets are a slimmer, wasp type bug.

I have lots of experience with ground bees. You can drive over them with a tire and not disturb them very much. It's rake teeth that seem to agitate them the most. Raking hay usually doesn't bother them as much as hay baler tines. For some reason, the aggressive forward motion of hay baler tines digs up their nest more. A couple of times over the years I've had to stop the tractor and leave tractor and baler for the bees. They never seemed to learn how to drive it, so it was always there when I returned.

The best way I found to fight them was with a shredder (rotary cutter.) You back it over the nest and they will fight it with zero success. It will kill every one of them. Takes about five or ten minutes just setting there with tractor in neutral and PTO at standard speed. Kill's 'em to death!

 

[techwrtr2]

Drop a few pieces of meat in there. Pepe will find it.

I was going to drizle the juice from some sardines around the hole.

 

[_RaT_]

A quick Google of Yellow Jacket will show you what they are. There are several varieties, not all live in the ground. The slimmer wasps are definitely not the Yellow Jackets.

I think what you are calling Yellow Jackets is what, in Texas, we call ground bees. What we call Yellow Jackets are a slimmer, wasp type bug.

I have lots of experience with ground bees. You can drive over them with a tire and not disturb them very much. It's rake teeth that seem to agitate them the most. Raking hay usually doesn't bother them as much as hay baler tines. For some reason, the aggressive forward motion of hay baler tines digs up their nest more. A couple of times over the years I've had to stop the tractor and leave tractor and baler for the bees. They never seemed to learn how to drive it, so it was always there when I returned.

The best way I found to fight them was with a shredder (rotary cutter.) You back it over the nest and they will fight it with zero success. It will kill every one of them. Takes about five or ten minutes just setting there with tractor in neutral and PTO at standard speed. Kill's 'em to death!

 

[MBDiagMan]

A quick Google of Yellow Jacket will show you what they are. There are several varieties, not all live in the ground. The slimmer wasps are definitely not the Yellow Jackets.

I don't at all doubt that by definition you are correct. It's probably just that the yellow striped, thin wasps that we have here are called Yellow Jackets by the locals. Terms like this often take on a local, albeit incorrect meaning. Whatever the bug is that we call Yellow Jackets, it's much more aggressive than red wasps.

By the definition you found, I expect that our Ground Bees are actually Yellow Jackets. Whatever they're called I do know that a shredder will kill them and they are unable to learn how to drive a tractor.

 

[billdiesel]

Found this nest yesterday while bushhoggin', was lucky I didn't get nailed. Just happend to look down and see right before I was to run over it. Not a very good pic, but i could see the paper nest from the tractor seat. Waited until dark and dumped a little bit of gas on it then a bucket load of dirt.

 

[MBDiagMan]

I don't remember ever stirring them up while shredding. For me it has taken rake teeth of some kind scraping over the nest for them to get aggressive. My cure has been to put the shredder over the hole and let it run at PTO speed for several minutes. They will fight the shredder and lose the battle. It kills every one of them.

Since you were shredding when you found them, that was the perfect opportunity to just back the shredder over the hole, put it in neutral and take a five minute break. Beats using chemicals or flammables.

 

[Boeing]

Guys, here's a thought from a pilot...we get constant schooling on hazardous cargo and fire fighting equipment. Many fire ext are now carbon dioxide. Also, we carry alot of frozen cargo...again carbon dioxide. It seems that CO2 is heavier than "normal air" and will sink to the lower levels (read ground holes) and will displace all the oxygen in short order. (Nitrogen is also available and does the same thing) The bees will die quickly with no ground being poisoned by gas and no fire risk. Talk to any fireman and they might have additional ideas. I know from experience that HORNETS and yellow jackets are MEAN SOB's. attack at night.....:thumbsup: Good Luck