I discovered a nest of ground bees right where I need to place a post.I had thrown the post hole digger where the post was to go. Hauled
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Replies
Do you mean yellowjackets? Nasty little critters. If so, I've used Ortho "Hornet and Wasp Killer" (foaming) with great success. Good range on the spray, too.
Apply after dark, when they're "home" and quiet.
Good luck, and if it doesn't go according to plan, an ice pack and Benedryl are quite useful too.
:^)
soj
This all happened yesterday afternoon and I used a whole can of the foam up. Have used it before on wasp nests with good results, but this morning there were still a few around. One is all it takes to put a downer on the whole day. I will get some more this afternoon and try it with some Malithon this evening. Thanks
Beekeepers use smoke to make them drowsey.
They will be colder and less active just before sunup
You could roll some mothballs into the hole at night and wait a few days.
I would avoid killing bees, but if it is yellowjackets, go ahead and use mortars and napalm!
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
Had some leftover napalm from Nam in the back of the shed but can't find it now. Where can I get a "60" mortar?
"I would avoid killing bees, but if it is yellowjackets, go ahead and use mortars and napalm!"
Ahh, Piffin, your sensitive side coming out.
BTW never heard of the mothball trick.
I have never even seen a bees nest round here. Only wasps and yellowjackets.
Plenty of honeybees in the clover during the day but never ran into a nest.
I will remember that little mothball trick though.
Wild bees here will sometimes nest in ground banks and logs here. We ewt plenty of bumblebees too.I agree with that comment above too many people can't tell the diff between bees, wasps and hornets
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Just wait until an hour after dark and drop a cup or two of old gas or diesel in their hole. the fumes will make their residence un-inhabitable. You could always come back a half hour later with a match or a fist full of bottle rockets and a few young boys (like my grandfather, allegedly a good show) but the fumes will have killed the bees by then anyway.
------------------
"You cannot work hard enough to make up for a sloppy estimate."
Have to check my Homeowners Policy and see if " destruction of dwelling while killing yellow jackets" is covered. Otherwise I think Malithon is the way to go.
The UK National trust reports that 50% of 12 year old children could not tell the difference between a bee and a wasp.
US based No Child Left Inside Coalition found that American children recognize up to 1000 corporate logos, but failed to identify 10 common garden plants and animals.
It's Nature Deficit Disorder
"The UK National trust reports that 50% of 12 year old children could not tell the difference between a bee and a wasp."I doubt 50% of the adults could either. Most people call anything resembling a wasp, hornet, mud daubber or bee a bee.
I got stung on the hand by what we called a "white face hornet" it was after I got out of AIT back in 84. I had friends over to see me while I was home and now my right hand looked like fred Flintstone's. Man did that hurt.
Oh yeah, I was opening an old window and they had a nest above and behind the shade.
KaiserRoo
Mix up a a gallon or so of good insecticide like malathion in a white bucket using label directions and drench the whole area around the hole. They will be gone. That works when you find the "mothership" nest for carpenter ants too.
Seems thats the safest way to go (but kind of boring). Thanks
"Mix up a a gallon or so of good insecticide like malathion in a white bucket..."What if he has only a blue bucket or an orange one?BruceT
I ran a slow trickle of water from the garden hose down their hole overnight once. they had moved by the next morning to an old log. The battle was easy then.
Negotiation instead of all out war, eh?
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Yeeh old Water torture way (Unfortunately against the Geneva Convention) Just kill em don't play with em
You don't negotiate with Yellow Jackets around here.
The Story: Was trenching for water line from the well to the irrigation using a rented trencher. It was middle of summer here in GA so I was in shorts and T-shirt. As per their SOP they waited until I had driven the machine over the area 3 times (used the blade to clear some small brush and then getting it situated) before they attacked. I get hit on the leg 3 times before I realize what's happening and then hauled adze. Fortunately they had targeted the trencher which was shut down when I bailed and not me. Did the hose trick that night. After the trenching was done I found the new nest location in the log and waged Chem Warfare followed up with bombardment from axe and sledge to ensure total annihilation.
couple of weeks ago, I was setting up a ladder to do some gutter work. I didn't notice a hornets nest the size of a softball in the eaves until I had bumped it with my ladder and knocked it off and it landed on my chest/neck right under my chin. I'm thinking What was that? and look down. See it on the ground about the same time i hear the swarm start off.I let go of the ladder and beat feet. Lucky for me, it was early morning and they had to get out of bed and slip into their war clothes first. They were too slow for me. Then I dug out the anti-aircraft spray stuff and gunned them down. A bush held the ladder up straight the whole time.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
amazing how fast you can move when motivated, isn't it?
whjat I remember more clearly is how the realization came over me as two and two came together from all senses at one time - the sight of the nest on the ground, the feeling of a little of the paper from it on my bare skin, and the sound of the buzzing....bingo! Time to leave!
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Just came back from Ace with another can of Wasp and hornet foam plus some malathion. I took a 12' piece of pvc and stirred around where they were earlier and no movement.They have either moved or died! Good riddance! But to be sure I will follow your advice and use a screen and pour down the Malathion tonight. It's raining now so maybe they will drown. Thank you for the help and enjoyed all the stories.
One of my buds was mowing the other day in shorts and found a yellow jacket nest. Several went up his shorts and nailed his thighs. We were showing a regional VP of a large credit union the property in hopes of selling it for a branch.
My bud was relating the story and the local VP (a cute little blonde), said darn, if that happened to her she would yank all her clothes off. Both of us were looking for that nest (actually all three probably)! Willing to take a couple of stings.
One of the tree hugger whatevers had a thing in the paper about how bad pouring a little gas was and the you should pour soapy water down the hole. You might as well stand there and fa*t hoping to gas them.For those who have fought for it Freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.
LOL! The old black guy I always used for flat work would just shake his head, and say, "I see a snake, I gots to go"
Forrest
All this talk of fire, and you mentioning black guys reminds me a short stint I did on Con Rail with a track crew.
To bend track, we'd lay a 2" dia. rope along the rail and soak it with diesel, light it and heat the rail..outta a 5 gallon can. I was the FNG and I had the walk down the rail with the can..I got about 80' away from the all black crew and I heard them laffing thier axes off...
I looked back, and they had lit the rope..flames were coming right for me, holding that 5 gallon can..LOL
I quit shortly thereafter..
Sorry,it just popped in my head.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
You gonna play that thing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32Ln-SpJsy0
Edited 8/2/2008 8:09 pm ET by Sphere
<a short stint I did on Con Rail >
Man - DW and were just talking about you.
Iffin' yer gonna plan on dying', you'll wanna set aside a good amount of time fer yer whole life to be a flashin' in fronta' yer eyes.
Forrest
I'll make a note to self on that.
Almost had a flash of life this morning, but it was only the plastic nail on cable staple that I drove into the 220 feed for the water heater..I was tidying up the basement for more storage and the hurry up work I did just before we moved in needed some attn.
Got new glasses, and couldn't see a frigging thing, hammering the two little nails overhead and "FWAPP" I had a light show..LOL, then another when I pulled it back out..funny ( sorta ) that the breaker never tripped.
So now I have a spifffy new J-box.
It was all for naught tho' it 's STILL too wet for usable storage or reefer units, unless I do something more drastic..everything I squirrelled away ( wood wise) is molded beyond belief, this is after regrading and adding gutters, it appears the water table is 1/2" above my concrete floor.
So uhhhh..I gotta axe ya..you and DW was talking about ME..on and early Sunday morning? What'd I miss?
Oh, oh, oh..MY DW wants them wall sticker tiles in critter form from YOUR DW..she have a web prescence? This could go big, her sister is the owner of Galloway-Clements in Ft. Myers Fla. An interior design firm..but my Dw wants Octopuss...I mean Octopods, or Octopii's..fer real.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
You gonna play that thing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32Ln-SpJsy0
No web presence yet. The octupus is bisque-fired to "mature stoneware" at this point; some folks like that. Her plan is to glaze it when kids are back in school next week, unless someone wants it this way.
Forrest
You got my email still?
I see backsplash backlash in my future.
Let 's haggle.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
You gonna play that thing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32Ln-SpJsy0
Wife headed out the front door the other day and did a double take and retreat. Saw this Copperhead on porch. Yesterday I was digging in some of the piles of boxes and cr*p in the basement and saw what looked like a snakeskin. Panic in the streets.
Today I was looking in the area and just happened to look at a scrap piece of PVC that I had holding a rocking chair up in the floor trusses. Noticed that it had some dried build-up that pretty well resembled snakeskin. Took it down and about 99% sure that was what had fallen out when I was putting it up. I thought it was too brittle but heck it looked about the same color as the C'head.For those who have fought for it Freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.
Stories like that make me glad all over again that we live 'waaaaaay up here in da frozen north.
I'll take frostbite over snakebite anytime....
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not broughtlow by this? For thine evil pales before that whichfoolish men call Justice....
<Stories like that make me glad all over again that we live 'waaaaaay up here in da frozen north>
Hey - but what about polar bears? Ain't they fierce an' all?
Forrest
And when Moose go bad.
Man, the smell!
Forrest
We had a yellow jacket nest under some pavers that lead into the house. My wife got stung 2-3 times so I figured I better do something about it. We always hired a beekeeper to come into our orchard when I was growing up and deal with the bees and so I knew what their suits looked like to protect themselves so I made a homemade bee suit fashioned after what their suits looked like and I launched a full on frontal attack. I took a 5 gallon plastic paint bucket and cut a couple of notches out of the rim of the bucket with my jig saw that fit over my shoulders when I put the bucket over my head. Then I cut a 10" square hole out of the "face/side/ of the bucket and duct taped down a piece of fiberglass porch screen over the 10" opening so I could see out of it. I duct taped a wide collar made out of a rip off of an old sweatshirt around the notches that went down over my shoulders and tucked that all underneath a heavy sweatshirt I wore and duct taped all that assembly together. Put on heavy gloves and duct taped them to my sweatshirt too. Put on a couple pairs of pants and duct taped my rubber boots to my pants and duct taped my sweat shirt to my pants. I was totally sealed up. Duct tape is your friend campers.........
So after I was completely covered and looked like a character out of a really bad junior high school sci fi flick I went in for the kill as my wife looked through the closed windows of the kitchen. I pryed up the edge of the pavers and was immediately and absolutely smothered in thousands of yellow jackets that were really PISSED OFF. My body was totally covered with angry bees and They were bouncing off my bucket /helmet like a whole troop of 40 boyscouts with peashooters shooting at my head and afterwards I discovered my sweat shirt had hundreds of detached stingers left in the fabric and had to throw it away to the rag bag. I was totally safe and secure and never got stung and I have to admit that it was strangely kinda cool to be in the midst of all their anger and be safely away from it all. I busted up the nest and poured BBQ starter fluid on it and burned it. They were gone. We still get a good laugh when we talk about it.
BjR
Yikes! I went nuts after 3 chewing wasp things found their way under my sweat pants. Yellow jackets, on the other had, have stings that are like FIRE, noway would I tempt fate like you did.Plantlust - shaking head in disbeliefPeachfest 2008 - The Festest is the bestest!
I had so much dust tape around any concievable opening that:
1. it was hard to move
2. I had on multiple layers so stingers would not have been able to reach skin.
3. They would have had to chew through the multiple layers and dust tape. It was out in the open and there was lots of room around me to move around.
I would not have done it if I was in a confined space.
BjR
when Moose go bad.
They only do that for a few weeks a year unless the black flies drive 'em mad. When that happens, they've been known to commit suicide by charging an 18-wheeler.
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not broughtlow by this? For thine evil pales before that whichfoolish men call Justice....
View ImageFor those who have fought for it Freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.
Did not realize pic was so big.For those who have fought for it Freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.
but what about polar bears? Ain't they fierce an' all?
Yeah, and you do not want to mess with one. But they don't sleep in privies nor coil up under a warm rock where you can't see 'em till it's too late.
When a polar bear is nearby or headed yer way, you can usually tell. Apart from the smell--which is powerful enough to make a corpse hold his nose--do you remember what it was like inside the Rebel base on Hoth when Darth Vader's Battle Walkers were approaching...?
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not broughtlow by this? For thine evil pales before that whichfoolish men call Justice....
I was on a roof in Florida once when an old black man who was the project cleanup guy came slowly shuffling along headed for the portapotty for one of his half hour breaks.He was cranking the door open when all of a sudden he screamed and jumped a good twenty feet back, falling over himself. His loafers were still setting right outside that portapotty door.Turns out a rattlesnake had spent the night there and was upset at being woke up.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Piffin
Something similar happened to me, my head hit the nest I hadn't seen and suddenly 4 million 500,000 attacked me. They later found 34 stings on my body. Since then a single bee sting has me running for a shot. Yes I keep 2 epi pens nearby because I have roughly 30 minutes before my throat closes and the lights go out.. Kinda scary with an apple orchard in my yard.
Bees don't bother me at all but those wasps and yellow jackets!!!!!
Lol. Had a similar experience a few weeks ago.
Standing on an 8' stepladder in front of a strip mall, working on the facade. I had the whole project finished, I just had to pound in 1 masonry nail through the stucco. Wouldn't ya know there was a wasp/hornet/(big, yellow, nasty sucker) nest in the sign above me.
1 whack and there's instantly an angry swarm heading for my head. I cannot believe how fast I got on the ground. Luckily my hammer missed all the parked vehicles(including my own) as I waved my hands over my head like a maniac!
Sidenote: I took a Bark Scorpion sting last fall. Hurt like a bad bee sting, but with bonus side effects.
Not that big a deal for me actually, your misery may vary.
The best way for DIY'er in this predicament is the water trick. Like someone else said wait 'til after dark, turn the hose on and get it as close to the hole as possible and drown them out. Just be careful not to shine a light into hole while doing it at night, you won't like the result.
So I guess they die just like us - move thru a long tunnel and move to the light!;)
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Exactly...
What I do...
Spend 15 minutes during daylight observing the entrance and the surrounding area for any other entrances.
In the evening, take a screen out of a window and place it over the hole(s).
Pour diesel fuel, kerosene, whatever through the screen into the hole.
An hour later remove the screen and treat with Sevin or the insecticide of your choice.
I ran over a ground nest with small rear-motor riding mower....that kind put you way closer to the ground than the current tractor styles. The little buggers came out like a cloud of yellow smoke. I managed to get out of their range without a sting and began to make my plan for their demise....
Their ground nest hole was about the size of a pint jar and the paper lining flowed outward in ripples almost as if it had been poured. Quite a sight!!
I waited until the sun sat and gave it about 2hrs more. With half a pint of then cheap gasoline in a pint jar, and my wife in the distance holding the flashlight on the target, I crept up to the nest and poured the gas down into the hole and then used the mouth of the glass jar as a plug. With the hot summer sun shining through a miniature glass greenhouse, I left the jar over the top of the hole all the following day...just to be sure. They never came back, plus I used some dirt and gravel to pack closed the hole at the end of the week.
Bill
I had a taxus shrub that was incredibly dense. I saw a little tunnel about an inch in diameter in it, and wondered what would make it. Stuck my finger in it and found out. Six million yellow jackets.A cool evening and a couple cans of wasp and hornet killer did the trick. They had ate out the inside of the shrub and put in a mcmansion size nest.
diazinon
http://cecalaveras.ucdavis.edu/jacket.htm
Where can we get diazinon nowadays? I thought it was taken off the market about 5 or 6 years ago?
Even better is a thimble full of chlorodane in a bucket of water. Only problem with that is it will kill 1/2 the honeybees within 200 yards also.
Plus, if you didn't stash away a stockpile in the 70's or have an exterminator's liscense, you outa luck to find any unless in the trash at an estate sale.
I stocked up with like 50 pounds of diazinon back then. Used it all fighting Japanese beetles at my momma's and kid's houses.
Could use more...
A: this stuff will kill you so it will be taken off the marketB: I gotta get a bunch of that to stockpiledoes the darwin award apply hereor is it the stupid tax;o).
.
"After the laws of Physics, everything else is opinion" -Neil deGrasse Tyson
.
.
.
If Pasta and Antipasta meet is it the end of the Universe???
Getting back to the bees - A coffee can of gas poured down their hole followed by a lit piece of paper has always solved my problems with them. Makes a nice WHOOOOPHH!! And burns for a while. I prefer the quick torch because the hydrocarbons are less likely to be a soil issue thereafter.
And you get that good feeling that that little bastids died a horrible but fitting death!!For those who have fought for it Freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.
"in the trash at an estate sale."That's my source
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
I have bags of it
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
I had a hive once in a stone wall that I needed to get rid of, with no easy way to wage chemical warfare. I got an old shopvac, positioned the hose near the entrance, turned it on, and let it run all day while I was out and about doing other chores. It sucked up anything that ventured near the opening.
That evening, I shot a bit of wasp killer into the hose and capped it. The next day, I had a shop vac 1/2 full of dead bees and no more problems with the hive.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
This post has really got me laughing this morning. I too have had my share of run ins with yellow jackets. It is so funny how these tiny insects scare the c**p out of us. I was cracking up reading the different types of warfare we wage on them. I prefer the napalm / fire method myself.
I had a buddy back in NJ, that was a house painter. He's at my house shooting the upper siding from a 20' extension ladder, and I keep hearing the gun stop and go in short bursts once in a while.
I look up and he's calmly standing(15-16' up) in a swarm of yellowjackets, and painting the ones that get too frisky.
By the end of the day, there were brown carcasses all over. The only ones that got him moving were blue hornets...
It happens all over the world. I just read this one from Norway (http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article2576490.ece):
Wasp removal razed garage
Instead of merely getting rid of wasps, a man from Fardal in Western Norway ended up burning down a garage and with his car inside.
The wasps are gone, but so is the garage and car.
PHOTO: JEAN HAXAIRE / AFP
The senior citizen poured lighter fluid on a rag and lit it. He failed to notice that the woodpile containing the wasp's nest also caught fire. By the time fire fighters arrived, both the garage and the man's car were smouldering wrecks, writes daily newspaper Sogn Avis.
He is now waiting to hear if the insurance will cover his loss.
"Maybe using lighter fluid wasn't such a good idea, but it was an accident all the same and the wasps are gone!" he said to Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK).
Wasps are not particularly aggressive and if you know a little about their behavior you can usually knock down the nest with your hand and not get stung. Just be sure you know who the "guard" is. ;-)
We call them ground hornets and they don't seem to be a dying species at all. I have had most success by using 2 cycle with a heavy oil mixture as it needs to burn hot and long. Stick a funnel in the hole at nightfall and pour it in. Then light it up. Straight gas sometimes gives you false results (unless you're brave enough to put enough in for a nice boom!).
But if you want to see some truly amazing insect engineering, dig it up after it burns/floods/poisoned. They dig a J tube, similar to a plumbing trap, down to a chamber filled with pancake style nests. I've had them where they had 2 chambers of pancakes linked by tubes. Chambers were about the size of a basketball. Talking from some painful experience, make sure you get them all and dispose of the nests. Nothing like mowing over the area the next week only to get nailed again.
Happy hunting.
All this talk of gasoline, oil and other pyrotechnical stuff got me thinking about this. I'd bet this would do it (albeit designed for somewhat bigger, stingerless, critters). VERY high cool factor, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrGnW0KLFZk
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
Why didn't you call your local beekeeper? He would have sucked the bees into his vac, pulled out the hive and put the whole colony to work pollinating fruit crops somewhere.By the way, if you left the hive in that wall a new colony will smell the honey and set up shop in the old hive.
BruceT
These were yellow jackets, not honey bees. Honey bees, I woulda tried to save.
The hole(s) in the wall were repaired, and no new hives moved in.
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
Down here in the south we refer to yellow jacket and other wasps' homes as "nests" and real bee abodes "hives". (;-)For those who have fought for it Freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.
Hmm. If it's got a bunch of stinging, flying insects living in it, it's always just been "hive" to me. Your correction is duly noted tho', for future use.
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
I hear that!. I believe hive indicates honey production too while those other bastids only produce more of the little bastids in there.For those who have fought for it Freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.
An ex-girlfriend of mine had a standard poodle who was plagued by yellow jackets. He was a smart-#### dog and took his revenge by pissing in their nest hole every time he had to go, which generally got him stung again and made him all the more determined to piss on them again and get stung even more.
The situation was escalating to a full scale animal war until I intervened with a bottle of isopropyl alcohol and upended it in the hole on a moonlit night. It worked like a charm and was environmentally benign. Since then I’ve dumped a bottle of the stuff on another nest in broad daylight with equally good results.