"&%$#" Yellow Jackets!!!!!!

[Ford960]

I went out to mow a few lots this morning and since the first one was next to one that I did last and ran into Yellow Jackets I wore a long sleeve flannel shirt tucked in over a T-shirt, a ski mask, a hard hat, and had my pants legs tucked into my socks.
Well I didn't find the jackets on that lot or my get-up worked as I had planned.

On to the next lot down the street, the guys were marking the corners for me and I helped them out by knocking down trees so that they could get to the back and find those pins. As I was coming back out I was all of a sudden attacked by hundreds of angry Yellow Jackets. They started on my left ankle and and I got it three times as I slammed the tractor in reverse to get away. Standing on the right brake spun me around and I grabbed 4th gear. I came out of there knocking down trees all the way and shot out on the road along with a couple of trees. Once there I shut down the tractor and jumped off and was fighting those little ***. There where more than a dozen under my left arm and one stung me on the left eye lid.

The guys made it out and came to my rescue as I was being stung through my clothes numerous times. All total I got it over 18 times, besides my ankle and eye lid I got 7 on my right fore arm, 1 on the left hand, 2 on the back of my neck, 2 under my left arm, 1 on the right knee, 1 each on my belly and left chest.

It's safe to say that my precautions failed miserably and 11 hours later I'm still hurting. Does anyone have any ideas of how to get this lot mowed and not get stung senseless by the Yellow Jackets?

I'm going to buy netting to go over my hard hat and thought maybe a heavy rain suit may stop them. The legs would get duct taped to my shoes and the arms to my gloves. Plus the netting taped to the coat all around. I also have a heavy insulated jump suit to use instead of the rain suit. Either one is going to be hot and both have hoods.

Everyone here keeps telling me to find the nest and kill them before I mow, but they don't understand that Yellow Jackets live in the ground and finding a nest isn't that easy.

After I got my act together I went to the other end of the lake and mowed 2 adjacent lots and other than hitting and TV and chopping it to smithereens didn't have a problem. It's strange that I've never had a Yellow Jacket problem on this end of the lake, only the south end. Unfortunately most of the lots to mow are in the south end. I told the developer that I was going to start charging for hazardous duty. Good thing that I'm not allergic to them.

Ford

 

[mudcat]

Sounds like you need a tractor with a cab.

 

[AchingBack]

Ford 960, here are some thoughts, and I will expand them later into a discussion of why I prefer hydro over gear. In the meantime, if you can't afford a beekeeper suit, buy yourself a cheap pair of Tyvec coveralls. I don't believe a yellow jacket can penetrate it very easily. Heck, buy two pair. They are quite light weight, and not as expensive as the pain of all those bites. Soak in baking soda, and apply honey to the bites.

Since you already know where the nest is, you or someone should go back into the field with some raw liver. Put it as close to the nest as possible. Soon, a skunk will find both, and dispatch the nest in the process. Why not just wipe out the nest a night with chemicals? I had one the size of a basketball. Knocked it out with starting fluid.

May God speed your healing,
Bob

 

[Pooh_Bear]

Thank God I haven't seen any of those varmits in a long time.

We used to go out CAREFULLY to around where we suspected the nest was,
and look for a hole in the ground where they going in and out.
Later that nite after it was good and dark we would go back.
Pour gas down the hole and light it. That kills them.
They should be most all of them in the nest at night.
You might see a few flying around drunk from the gas and fumes.
After the fire goes out, dig up the nest and destroy it to kill the eggs.

This always worked for us.

Pooh Bear

 

[RollTideRam]

Several years ago, I worked for a pest control company. Our "bee" suit was just white coveralls, a white safari hat with the net on it. I don't know what is was, but they never attacked the white suit. I know it hurt, those rascals are in the hornet family and are very mean. JC

 

[Ford960]

Sounds like you need a tractor with a cab.

Won't work as the tree limbs would knock the cab off in the first ten minutes. If I were mowing some nice open fields then I would definately go that route.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e380/Capt-Ron/Lots/C0015Indian1.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e380/Capt-Ron/Lots/C0223Pinto1.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e380/Capt-Ron/Lots/C1533RedWing2.jpg

 

[Ford960]

Ford 960, here are some thoughts, and I will expand them later into a discussion of why I prefer hydro over gear. In the meantime, if you can't afford a beekeeper suit, buy yourself a cheap pair of Tyvec coveralls. I don't believe a yellow jacket can penetrate it very easily. Heck, buy two pair. They are quite light weight, and not as expensive as the pain of all those bites. Soak in baking soda, and apply honey to the bites.

Since you already know where the nest is, you or someone should go back into the field with some raw liver. Put it as close to the nest as possible. Soon, a skunk will find both, and dispatch the nest in the process. Why not just wipe out the nest a night with chemicals? I had one the size of a basketball. Knocked it out with starting fluid.

May God speed your healing,
Bob

Bob, I looked at the Bee Keeper suits but I wonder if they would really work. These are the meanest Yellow Jackets that I've ever seen, they stung me through two layers of loose clothing. Last week they chased the truck as I was leaving.

I know about where the nest might be but it's all overgrown and pinpointing the nest is going to be hard.
As far as letting a skunk get them they are rare here. I've been looking up info about wiping out the pests and may try a few that I found on the internet.

Thanks

 

[Ford960]

Thank God I haven't seen any of those varmits in a long time.

We used to go out CAREFULLY to around where we suspected the nest was,
and look for a hole in the ground where they going in and out.
Later that nite after it was good and dark we would go back.
Pour gas down the hole and light it. That kills them.
They should be most all of them in the nest at night.
You might see a few flying around drunk from the gas and fumes.
After the fire goes out, dig up the nest and destroy it to kill the eggs.

This always worked for us.

Pooh Bear

Pooh Bear, That would work except that the area is heavily wooded and setting the woods on fire is not something that I want to be charged with.
I only need to get rid of them for a couple of hours, just long enough to mow the brush and saplings off the lot. Besides, my hand don't fit a shovel handle.
Since they don't see well at night maybe I should try to mow then...NOPE!!!

Thanks

 

[Ford960]

Several years ago, I worked for a pest control company. Our "bee" suit was just white coveralls, a white safari hat with the net on it. I don't know what is was, but they never attacked the white suit. I know it hurt, those rascals are in the hornet family and are very mean. JC

RTR, I looked up some of those suits on the internet but unless they specifically claim that a Yellow Jacket can't get through it then I would rather not waste money on them. I need a sure fire, proven Yellow Jacket proof suit that I can depend on and still operate the tractor.

Thanks

 

[Farwell]

You do not need to light the gas. Kerosene, diesel fuel or gasoline will kill the nest in the ground. I fill a 2 liter soda bottle 3/4 full of fuel, wait until it is almost dark, turn the bottle upside down into the yellow jacket hole and it will kill all of them. I want to light the fuel to get even with the yellow jackets for all of their stings but common sense has prevailed so far.
Farwell

 

[Pooh_Bear]

That's true. You don't have to light the gas.
Just pour it in and leave it till morning.
That should be enough to kill 99% of them.

Then I would go in the next morning and clear out enough around it to light it.
It doesn't make a big fire. By morning it mite not burn at all.

Like the man said, you don't have to burn them.
But it sure is nice to get revenge on the little buggers.

Pooh Bear

 

[NHTC30]

My daughter was mowing her yard today and ran over a yellow jacket nest. She got stung twice. I asked her how she got off the mower, she said she just balled up and sat there and screamed until her husband came out and got her off of it. They left it setting right on top of the nest, and the yellow jackets were still swarming around it when I got to there house about 20 minutes after she called me. It is a Cub Cadet ZTR, and the hydrostat was of course still locked in. We couldn't get on it to start it, so we finally used the hydrostat disconnect rods to get it out of gear, and then my son-in-law pushed it off the nest, and got stung on the hand while doing that. I was standing a little too close after helping him get it out of gear, and one stung me on the chin. Those were some angry little buggers. I guess we all looked pretty funny walking around with ice packs on the stings. Hopefully my son-in-law got rid of them when they all got back on the nest.

 

[CurlyDave]

... Does anyone have any ideas of how to get this lot mowed and not get stung senseless by the Yellow Jackets?

Everyone here keeps telling me to find the nest and kill them before I mow, but they don't understand that Yellow Jackets live in the ground and finding a nest isn't that easy.

If you know about where the nest is (Sounds like you do), put up a couple of yellowjacket traps near it about a week before you mow. They are about $12-13 at WalMart and if you can get one of them about 20' or less from the nest it will take care of a lot of them in a week.

Finding the nest: My neighbor showed me this trick, and I have seen it work. Catch one of the yellowjackets without harming it. Tie about a 12" to 18" piece of red thread to it, which makes it much easier to see & follow. It will usually go back to the nest pretty quickly. Follow it and mark the nest.

It really helps to have the piece of thread pre-cut and pre-louped so that tying it on the insect is quick & easy. Otherwise you run the risk of getting stung, or damaging it so badly it can't make it back to the nest.

As far as destroying the nest goes, I like to saturate the opening with insecticide. As soon as I get enough in there, the ones that come out die before they can sting me. Sometimes I will be attacked by ones from a different hole while doing this, I don't know if the nests have more than one opening or if it is a second nest, but this is a golden opportunity to spray the second nest also.

 

[NHTC30]

I was told by one of my friends tonight that usually they have two holes leading to the same nest.

 

[RayH]

I was push mowing the yard last year and found a yellowjacket hole. They got me seven times, head, face, ankle X2, hand, calf and thigh. I had real problems with the thigh one. My whole upper leg swelled and got rock hard for three days. I couldnt even walk it hurt so bad, I couldnt bend it. The other stings didnt do this. I figure it was because I went back to push mowing after the attack which circulated the poison throughout my thigh.

 

[Pooh_Bear]

I have always been told yellow jacket nests have a backdoor.
And that has always held up for the nests I have destroyed.
Don't usually find it till you dig out the nest and trace from there.

Pooh Bear

 

[sandman2234]

A couple more discussions on the same problem.

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php/topic/1/13867.html#000035

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php/topic/1/24269.html#000017

Been there done that, and didn't have fun doing it!
David from jax

 

[RalphVa]

Go back there near sundown. You'll see them returning to the nest hole.

You don't need to light gasoline or kerosene. It's the vapors that kill them. That's why starting fluid (ether) worked for one person.

Sprinkling Sevin dust somewhere near the hole is a recommendation by Virginia Tech. They'll walk in it and carry it into the hole and supposedly kill the queen. Tech also recommends spraying a whole can of hornet spray into the hole. Kerosene or gasoline are cheaper and potentially less damaging to the water table if they get into it than that nerve agent spray stuff.

I had some attack me while running the Gravely. I just left it sitting there running and came back to suit up with a jump suit, boots, gloves and a hat with a het on it that I bought in Australia.

One stung me once on the JD. Since then, I suit up but haven't been hit or hit a nest. So, I can't comment on how well my suit works. Works better than being naked, which is the usual way I used to use my tractor. Still do, except for when brush hogging. The suit keeps red cedar needles from dropping onto my back at least.

Ralph

 

[Farmwithjunk]

One stung me once on the JD.

Ralph

I bet that was painfull

 

[slowrev]

One thing I learned a few years ago is, Don't wear brightly colored clothing. They are attracted to brightly colorded clothes esp when agitated. Red draws them like a magnet. Blues, Tans, or grey seem safest.
Had on blue jeans and grey T shirt last year ran into a nest and the jackets were busy attacking the yellow tractor while I made my escape. Had to let the tractor run for quite a while though before I rescued it
Ben