Yellow Jackets

[Chuck52]

Don't know if it works with yellow jackets, but my beekeeper buddy always sets up his hives near some low hanging trees or tall bushes so he can go through them if the bees get excited. Apparently, they tend to lose your trail in the branches. So, run through the briars and run through the brambles and run through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go!

Chuck

 

[cstocks]

How to get rid of them? Well you could do like I have done twice in the past year. Scoop up a load of dirt w/ your front end loader and plop it right smack on top of their hole. It worked for me both times! No fuss, no muss, no nasty chemicals. Just good ol' nature's own, mother earth dirt. To me it seems like a fitting end for the earth dwelling,welt raising little devils!

 

[rancar]

Dan...

<font color=blue>You ran from the yellow jackets and got away? </font color=blue>

Yep....maybe I cheated a bit. I was anticipating this might happen because I have a perennial problem with these buggers against this one foundation wall so I covered myself with Deep Woods Off. This is great stuff. Even with this precaution, I got stung on my leg, right through the Levi's.

Now....I am in a predicament. I am currently working on this wall of the barn replacing barn board. I noticed what appears to be at least one large, maybe two nests behind the barn board about 4 feet above the ground. These buggers are getting to their nests through cracks in the boards. I have to replace these boards and paint this wall before the cold weather comes in.

Any ideas from anyone on how I do battle with these nests behind the clapboards? All I have to do is tap on the boards and they start to swarm inside. Then, they come out.

Bob

 

[cstocks]

Bob,

Is there any way to set off an insect bomb inside the wall? I used one to clear wasps out a well shed last summer and also used them in my deer blinds last fall.

 

[beenthere]

Do you have a pic you can post?

 

[chim]

If you need to replace the boards anyway, how about waiting for a cool morning, drilling a hole in the board, and firing the spray through the hole? I have an allergy to the bee stings, so I try to do battle with them when they are drowsy. We often get wasp nests on the soffit at our front porch. I hit the nests with the spray in the early AM, and have good results...........chim

 

[rancar]

beenthere,

See the attached pic. The boards I have to replace are on the lower part of the big south facing side. The nests are just below the rear two, 1st story windows.

Bob

 

[rancar]

Chris....

I guess I'm a bit ignorant. What is an insect bomb?? I had thought about drilling a large hole in the boards and spraying bug killer in, hoping to hit the nests. I also thought about just braving it and ripping out the boards very quickly, one by one when these buggers are quiet, hoping for the best....then hitting the exposed nests with bug killer. This is problematic as I'm still risking a sudden swarming.

Jim....

I certainly could wait until a cold morning or evening, but that would be in September before that happens. I will do that if I have to as a last resort. But, I have hard freezes up my way in late September and still have much painting to do. Would love to replace these clap boards now and paint this big south facing side before the cold weather comes in if I can.

Bob

 

[cstocks]

It is called a bomb or fogger but is really a small, pressurized can with a button on top and insecticide inside. Once you press the button it stays down and releases the contents in a vaporizing spray mist. The can is small and only takes 15-20 seconds to empty out. When used in the house you would put one in every room, set them off all at once and leave the house for a couple of hours until the fog dissapates. The ones I have seen are for fleas and roaches but they work on wasps as well.

In your case I was wondering if you could make a hole in the wall large enough to stick a can inside. I guess how well it would work would depend how far apart the studs are inside the wall and how tightly the wall is sealed up.

 

[chim]

The ones I deal with are sluggish on cool mornings. It doesn't have to be heavy-coat cold. A cool Summer morning (a rarity around here lately) with temps in the 60's seems cool enough to slow them down. You could test this before venturing in and getting stung by throwing a few stones at the boards to see their reaction. Mine nest in the open, and may be more affected by temperature than those nesting inside some structure.................chim

 

[beenthere]

These bombs work very well for spiders and flies too. Friends of mine have a log cabin, and were inundated with flies that would burrow into the chinks/cracks in the fall, and when the cabin was warmed up in the winter, they would come out into the cabin in droves. After discovering the bug bombs (cans set off and then you leave) they have had little to no fly problem. I use them to rid my shed and garage of spiders.

I think all your ideas of ripping a board off early in the morning would be the best approach, then spray wasp/bee killer on the hive. One could fashion something with a long handle to rip the board off from a distance if getting close and working fast wasn't comfortable.

 

[buck1]

Gas is definitely the ticket but it does call for some caution. Also a warning to you, epecially if you're allergic; killing a yellow jacket on your body is bad news. Killing one of these guys causes it to emit a pheromone signature that signals the other yellow jackets to attack. When the live ones "smell" it on you, they attack you! This is why you'll hear of multiple stings from these critters more so than wasps and bees. Plus they're a bit more aggressive. Burn 'em out!!!

 

[rancar]

Okay guys....I DID IT. I got rid of these buggers. Late this afternoon we had a rain storm come through for about 10 minutes. It was one of those 'monsoon' soakers you'd often see every summer afternoon in New Orleans. I figured what better time than attack these yellow jackets. I ran out in the rain with my crow bar and started ripping these boards off where I thought the nest was. Rain was coming down in sheets. By the time the rain ended I found the nest. All I can is was I /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif. It was about twice as big as a softball. There were only a few of these buggers as most of the hive was likely out doing their thing (whatever that is) and got caught elsewhere in the rain. I attacked this nest and these buggers are no more.

I took before and after pictures of this nest and will post here in this thread when I get this film roll developed....likely by end of next week.

I wouldn't recommend this for everyone, but I guess I was just desperate. I got stung once on the hand...nice battle wound that I'll remember when I take a look at these pics in the future.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

Bob

 

[beenthere]

Well, glad you did the bees nest into oblivion, but.. this brings this thread to a sudden close. See you all at the next one.
Wonder if the absent bees will be po'd when they return and find home no where to be found.

 

[rancar]

<font color=blue>"...but.. this brings this thread to a sudden close. See you all at the next one..."</font color=blue>

Well....it's time to revive this thread so I can tell about my recent battle with yellow jackets....and this one is a doozy.

Last week I was working at the computer one morning and all of a sudden one of these buggers came at me. I tracked this bugger down to my wife's study where I found half a dozen of his compatriots buzzing in the room by the window. Looking quickly around, I found these critters had started digging a hole through the sheetrock behind her computer desk and bookcase. I knew immediately I had a situation that demanded immediate attention.

I saw the small hole they were excavating and fetched the vacuum cleaner to draw them out. Little did I realize that there wasn't much sheetrock left where they were excavating. These buggers were consuming the sheetrock /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif At first contact with the vacuum cleaner, a fist size hole quickly fell away and dozens of these critters started invading Judy's study. Lucky I was there with the vacuum cleaner. But, even this didn't stop some of them from swarming into the room. Well, I kept at them for about 10 minutes trying to suck as many of them out of this hole as possible....I also got a good part of the nest. After 10 minutes, the buzzing stopped, I placed a board over the hole, and I thought this was the end of the battle.

Battle -- Phase II

This afternoon we arrived home from work and again there was a swarming and buzzing around the hole in the wall of my wife's study. This time, I went onto the roof, found the crack along the roof line and wall of house where the yellow jackets were entering and decided to attack them with some old Ortho Pest Killer with Diazinon (this is great stuff which I haven't been able to replace). Within minutes, this made the yellow jackets furious as all get out. Going back into the study, we heard such an enormous swarming, we felt they were digging and scratching another hole to get out.

Now, we had to formulate a battle plan on the run here. We decided to arm ourselves with double barreled vacuum cleaners. I would pull away the board covering the first hole sucking up as many yellow jackets as I could. My wife would be my rear guard sucking up the critters that got by me with a second vacuum cleaner.

Into action we went. I pulled the board away....boy, were these critters mad. We spent another good 5 minutes sucking up dozens of these buggers that were trying to escape their Diazinon soaked nest.

So, I think we finally did it. We felt like Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday with our double barreled vacuum cleaners attacking a nest of evil doers. The next couple days will determine if we succeeded.

Moral of this story....be persistent and innovative with these critters and attack then relentlessly. And, if you use a vacuum cleaner, don't leave it in the house afterwards. These buggers eat through the paper filter and rubber gaskets trying to escape.

Until the next battle....
Bob

 

[webbmeister]

When will this be released on video? /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[DarinRay]

Hey all,

I have this hive on our house and have been watching them lately and now they have built this multi entrance and exit hive and I'm not quite sure how I'm going to attack this one. These bees(wasps) are darker than the yellow jackets and I"m not sure what kind they are. Any idea and sorry for the distant picture but I was already standing on a 30 gal barrel just to get this close and I didn't even get stung. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Any advise is appreciated.

Darin

 

[cstocks]

Looks more like hornets and a hornets nest you have growing there.

 

[DarinRay]

Rutro,,, I am now wondering if they should be exterminated or just leave them to eat other bugs.

 

[cstocks]

Got this info from the following site:

http://www.uky.edu/Agriculture/Entomology/entfacts/struct/ef620.htm


Hornets

University of Kentucky Entomology.

"Hornets are far more difficult and dangerous to control than paper wasps. The nests resemble a large, inverted tear-drop shaped ball which typically is attached to a tree, bush or side of a building. Hornet nests may contain thousands of wasps which are extremely aggressive when disturbed. The nests are often located out of reach and removal is best accomplished by a professional pest control firm."

There is more to the article but I think this about says it all... do you really want to risk making them mad and having them swarm you or a family member or a pet?