So, I ran over a bee's nest.. what now..

[nmu98]

Several people have mentioned not using a flashlight, I disagree.
I watched a bee catcher(?) collecting a Bald Faced Hornets nest, he set a flashlight pointing at the nest, several feet to one side. then as you spray/work on it, any bees that escape go to the light

:laughing: I had a friend help me remove a yellow jacket nest and he swore that a flash light would not attract them. He would not go out there without one, so I told him he could take it as long as he was nowhere near me. It was nice, as I took care of the nest, he gave me some light to work by. He only got stung 7 or 8 times.:laughing: I doubt he would take a light again.:laughing:

Great idea leaving it in a spot a ways away from you to attract any ones that get away.

 

[Richard]

Well,hornets are bees,yellowjackets are bees...

I don't know anything technical other than what the Dr. tells me when they are giving me my allergy shots (for stings). One of my shots is for "Vespids" and that is evidently for the yellowjackets & hornets. The wasps and bees are not considered Vespids from what I understand and are different shots.

Meaning.... not all stinging sob's are 'bees'

 

[Richard]

I got into a yellow jacket nest this morning and was stung twice.
I'm somewhat alergic and I swell up where I get stung. I'm more alergic to yellow jackets than other bees it seems.
I'll have to remember the vineger treatment!
I usually find a yellow jacket nest every yr, and gas in the hole at night does work great

I used to be in that boat having been stung many times over my life. Then one November 30 on a very cool day, some stupid little wasp climbed up my sock and stung me on the calf.

I was soon in the emergency room and had 5 or so viles of "stuff" plunged into an IV sticking out of my arm. I think I ended up being there for several hours as they monitored me.

Something you might consider to have handy would be some liquid benedril and might even talk to your Doc about your reaction and have an epi-pen handy.

On my way to the emergency room, I was able to get a bottle of childrens liquid benedril and although it did not 'fix' the episode I was having I do think it slowed down the reaction and bought me some more time.

 

[gauthier]

Well,you maybe right about different bees needing different shots,but so do snakes,[according to the discovery channel],,you need cooper head anti venom for a copper head bite,you need cobra anti venom for cobra bite,and they are all called snakes....

 

[srjones]

Vespidae (Wasps)
Vespidae - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Apidae (Bees)
Apidae - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

They both, though, are Hymenoptera
Hymenoptera - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

However, using the logic presented I will now refer to horses, donkeys, mules, and zebras as just...horses. :laughing:

 

[CompactTractorFan]

Once I tried to get a basketball size nest of bald-faced hornets out of a high limb on a tree that I could not reach...So, I went out at night and got a work-light out and fired up the power washer and aimed it right at the nest to get rid of them. Thankfully none even came close to me, and after a while they abandoned the nest. It wasn't until later that someone told me about how nasty these hornets are. Needless to say I will not be trying that again!

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I was surprised to see a farmer recently who was still using gas in a 2 gallon sprayer for wasp control before storing hay. Dad did that when I was a kid but it is dangerous if you meet up with a spark.

 

[gauthier]

A yellow jackets nest is a hole in the ground,yeah,would agree a sprayer with gas in it spraying paper wasps in a barn loft would be....risky...

 

[rjkobbeman]

Vespidae (Wasps)
Vespidae - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Apidae (Bees)
Apidae - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

They both, though, are Hymenoptera
Hymenoptera - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

However, using the logic presented I will now refer to horses, donkeys, mules, and zebras as just...horses. :laughing:

:thumbsup:

A farmer friend down the road doesn't ever want to be corrected about non-farming "technicalities". But be damned if you ever refer to his cows by the wrong type.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Several people have mentioned not using a flashlight, I disagree.
I watched a bee catcher(?) collecting a Bald Faced Hornets nest, he set a flashlight pointing at the nest, several feet to one side. then as you spray/work on it, any bees that escape go to the light

These insects home in on CO2. Best not to breathe.
larry

 

[Gale Hawkins]

These insects home in on CO2. Best not to breathe.
larry

Good. That means they will all get lost when the EPA stops all CO2 emmissions.

 

[D7E]

Got into the old fordson major that i only use for the log splitter and had not been driven for months in a hurry and in seconds had a splitting pain betwen my eyes..Looked up to see a nice wasps nest as big as my fist in the corner of the cab...B@$tard had me instantly so i filled the garden sprayer with a shot of lorsban that i had a prt jug of and gave them a squirt of that ....no more wasps !

 

[poldies4]

Timely post for me. I was out this morning grading a new trail and hit the dreaded yellow jacket nest in the ground. They got me 3 times before I could out run them. Only took another half hour before they settled down enough that I could sneak back and turn off te tractor. I'll get it home after dark tonight. Those stings sure do hurt for a few hours.

MarkV

Same thing happened to me. Just as I hit the hive, I ran out of fuel, loader full of dirt. I waited until well after dark, but they never went into the hive. Snuck out early the next morning, they were still angry and apparently are early risers. Held my breath and fueled up the tractor and got it out. I drove about 200 feet or so and parked it. Came home from work that day and went to put the tractor away, and there they were, still flying around/in the dirt that was in my bucket. They stung me twice, kinda made me want to call my mom, I didn't though. I stayed away for the rest of the year, don't like killing stuff if I don't have to. Yup, the yellow jackets won, however by the next spring they had moved on and I was able to finish that trail.

 

[MarkV]

Sounds like you may have picked up their nest with the load of dirt. That would be about the worst case scenario I can think of.

MarkV

 

[carpenter383]

Same thing happened to me. Just as I hit the hive, I ran out of fuel, loader full of dirt. I waited until well after dark, but they never went into the hive. Snuck out early the next morning, they were still angry and apparently are early risers. Held my breath and fueled up the tractor and got it out. I drove about 200 feet or so and parked it. Came home from work that day and went to put the tractor away, and there they were, still flying around/in the dirt that was in my bucket. They stung me twice, kinda made me want to call my mom, I didn't though. I stayed away for the rest of the year, don't like killing stuff if I don't have to. Yup, the yellow jackets won, however by the next spring they had moved on and I was able to finish that trail.

:laughing::laughing:

 

[johnrex62]

These insects home in on CO2. Best not to breathe.
larry

Whew! Glad my primary emission is methane! :ashamed:

 

[Sackett2]

These insects home in on CO2. Best not to breathe.
larry

These guys were interesting to watch; they paid us 5 dollars for any baldfaced hornets nest we could find. They would show up in the afternoon, carefully prep the area as best they could, snipping branches free until the bees started getting irritated.
they would come back after dark with a burlap sack; and as quickly as possible plug the hole in the bottom of the nest and get the sack around the nest. Any bees that escaped would head to the 6v flashlight, and he would pick them up using heavy rubber gloves.

He sold the nests to a company that froze them, ground them up and extracted the poison for antidote.

A few years ago I found t BFH nests in the rhody bushes at my parents place, both within a foot of each other.

And my first year of tractoring I was mowing around my place, no problem. When fall hit and the leaves started falling, there was a BFH nest in a tree I was mowing around/under. Thank God my ROP didn't hit it, it was at that hight.

 

[TomWhite]

The problem with ground nests is that sprays may or may not kill them. Here's something that has worked for me.

2. Take a picture of the area or mark it by tossing a small object near it, it's going to be tough finding it at night and a flashlight will attract their attention.

I use a spray foam that does a good job. It sprays a stream about ten feet or so.

I've also taken to having a couple of driveway markers attached to the tractor. You know, the ones with a metal shaft about three feet long and have a red reflector at the top. When I find a nest in the ground while mowing, I park the tractor a safe distance away, grab one of the reflective markers, and get close enough so I can toss it near the entrance to the nest. The reflectors make it much easier to find the nest at night.

 

[Don87]

Contrary to popular belief, yellow jackets do build paper nests(just like hornets).
Several years back, I ran over an 'inground' nest of yellowjackets. Got stung a couple times.
In my P O'ed state, I grabbed the gas, during daylight hours and set it on fire.
The next week, I found them again....A paper nest under the eve of my garage.
Still hit them a little too early apparently, because 2 weeks later while mowing, I came face to face with another 'paper' nest of yellowjackets on a maple tree limb that got weighted down by the size of the nest.
That one I burnt well after dark.........problem solved.
Just another note about yellowjackets. They are primarily 'meat eaters'. But the do love orchards(they feed off the fruit). Good place to get stung big time.

 

[Tony_S]

Oh yes...Love the ground hornets! They sure do get upset when you mow over their home. They got me twice above the right eye, once on the left temple, left knee cap and left calf. Of course after getting nailed above my eye, I swatted like crazy to get them off, knocked my eyeglasses into the woods, jumped off the mower and ran far enough to be left alone. Then had to walk all the way back to the house from the "bottom" in severe pain, cant hardly see, sweating like mad, cussing like a sailor. So I go in the house, paste a bunch of baking soda all over my face, finally find my spare glasses.

So she asks me if I think I ought to have her take me to the hospital because I am fairly allergic. I said, "no, but I would like you to go turn the mower off"

Well, we waited a few minutes and walked back down there...slowly...it was pretty calm... no hornets to be seen...found the glasses.....killed the mower...pushed it away from the impact zone....never did see any hornets.....she's starting to think I'm losing my mind...then the swelling starts.
This pic was taken the next morning.
Ouch