Posted on 09/13/2017 11:20:25 PM PDT by nickcarraway
I ran over a nest with my lawnmower a couple weeks ago. Fortunately they attacked the lawn mower and I was able to just walk away. Lawnmower did not seem too traumatized by the experience.
It is hard to sit on my back deck this time of year with any kind of drink or food. They crawl right into my beer glass.
Little arseholes with stripes. Ours are paper wasps out here and they love to get into any enclosed area when it gets cold. Open a disconnect box and there’s liable to be several hundred in there. I get hit several times a year by the little bastards, I hate them.
Funny. We called them “Meat Bees” as well here in the South Bay...
They aren’t as aggressive as people make that type to Bee...
It used to be that way around my house at this time of year but I almost never see a yellowjacket now. This is farm country, I wonder if the insecticides have killed them off.
I was walking around inspecting my property when suddenly I felt like I had been shot in my right thigh.It hurt that bad.
It turns out that I had been stung twice by these yellow jackets.I ran as far away as I could but those mothers will pursue you.
Best things to do with them is kill them when you find them.
I never want to experience that pain again.
Around here, people call them “bees”, which makes no sense at all.
Unfortunately for me, I discover the nests a simpler way...
I ride over them with my tractor while cutting the grass.
The stings really alert me to the problem.
After much cussing, I then look for the nest.
Then I kill them all in revenge.
Wasps, hornets and yellow jackets do serve a purpose. They store yeast in their guts and allow yeast to survive winter temperatures. Without these stinging critters, there would be no beer, wine or fermented products like leavened bread. The late summer is when many fruits ripen. Grapes and ripe fruit attract hornets and yellow jackets and when they come to feast, they leave behind yeast.
We had a nest in our attic and one afternoon most of them found their way into our bedroom. I opened the door and the air was full of them.
DS 1 grabbed a can of “dairy bomb” fly spray that we had for the cows — a new one sitting on the kitchen counter, had not made it out to the barn yet — put one arm through the door and fogged the place. Bravest thing I ever saw because he hated those things. Had gotten stung in the face as a toddler and remembered it. The whole can took them out. What a mess tho.
The ones we have here build in places like eaves, attics, window frames and trees. There’s hornet and wasp spray that makes a stream, or fly spray that fogs.
We have the little bitty guys who nest in the ground. Gasoline usually fixes the problem. Any petrol based product will ruin the nest for them.
As in TX, it’s a consequence of going from drought to wetter times.
I thought the had gone extinct before it started to rain again. Having them return was good sign.
back in July, I needed to fix the lamp post in the front. I put up a small ladder and was on the second step when the attack came. I had placed the ladder such that my ankles were directly in the flight path to the underground nest.
They ate me up. It took three weeks for it all to heal.
I destroyed the colony with one of those cans that shoots out a long stream. I have poured gas down other yellow jacket holes but that was not necessary this time.
Ya learn something every day here at FR. Same thing our chickens would do at sundown.
B-I-L and friend needed to remove a bald-faced hornet nest so they could use the truck. The arrangement was to dislodge the nest at night into a heavy garbage bag. B-I-L dislodged the nest and holler “OK” so the friend would catch in the bag and dispose of. The friend was too quick on the closure and the Hornets weren’t in a “stupor”. A one time plan went awry.
My son and I would make YJ traps out of 2 liter soda bottles. We would hang them up and get our lawn chairs and watch the YJs around the trap. We would make bets on which ones were going to go in the trap. My wife saw us and wanted to know what we were doing. She said, “You are such hicks.” All we could say was “Yup.”
Different beasties.
Is there some other, gentle and unaggressive type of Yellowjacket of which I’m unaware? They’re nasty under the best of circumstances, but particularly ornery when it’s raining and warm, in my exposure. It’s always fun to “find” a new underground nest of them with the lawnmower, too.
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