100 ground bees- how can I get rid of them keeping the area safe for chickens

[Scott H]

bumble bees are very docile, very large, black and yellow.....you can scratch their backs while they're pollinating flowers. does that sound like the bees you're looking at?

 

[ky chicken mom]

These are almost all black and tiny bit of yellow about 1/2 the size of the common big bumblebee and they are not docile..idk.

 

[rlephoto]

I recently read that if you mix orange peels and a little water and blend it. This kills ants. Might work is a big dose for your bees. I'm a beekeeper also.

 

[centrarchid]

Pictures. ******-off insects defending nest are not a way to measure how docile they are. Multiple species of bumblers and yellow exist in a given area.

 

[ky chicken mom]

Well lets see...this morning I went out and checked the ground area and waited a good 20 min...seeing nothing and no sign of bees...i assumed they had gone to a new home...so for a good 2 hours i had been cleaning rotten wood and re stacking the good lumber..then 1 lone bee showed up...so yes i turned into a statue...now this little guy is walking over every inch of the area i just cleaned up...nothing coming out of the ground...no more showing up...after watching it for a few min seeing his chosen spot i dug about 6 inches and the biggest kinda pupa looking bee/wasp looking bee was wiggling...i have been putting the rotten wood and other stuff 15 feet from point A where it was to point B where it is now...i put some dirt from that area there and added this pupa looking bee and put more dirt,...not packed on it...it is almost 2 inches long...??HUGE...the other bumblebees are about 1/3 that...shes very alive...i think that bee has her location now...so...i hope this is the happy ending for all of us ...the bees too

 

[Scott H]

Boy, wishing for pictures..........

 

[ky chicken mom]

Im sorry I will look and see if the bees are active where i put her tomorrow....if i can...I will photo her...and the bees if they let me

 

[aart]

They could be bees or wasps, the ones I had were yellow jackets which are a wasp....I have had several of the ground nests and they are horribly aggressive, they will actually chase you all the way into the house.

First couple times I used a mix of gas and oil applied at dawn and ignited. The last one I had was under a wooden deck next to the house.
I found a treatment using lots of dish soap and about 3-4 gallons of very, very hot water.
Again, poured in to the hole at dawn as it's the coolest time of day to protect myself from being stung and because they're mostly in the nest at that time.
Saw a few stragglers thru the day and by the following morning a skunk (I think) had come and dug up the rest of the nest for the larvae.

 

[MargaretYakoda]

It sounds like what you've got there are yellow jackets. http://www.gardeners.com/Yellow-Jackets/7700,default,pg.html
If they are ground nesting bumble bees, then I suspect clearing the debris from the area will take care of them without killing them. But I don't know that for sure. If they're yellow jackets, the link I have here has some very environmentally friendly ways of dealing with the nests at the bottom of the page.

 

[ky chicken mom]

Well gotta say idk why or how...but there back or the new born coming out...cant get close to where i put that pupa bumblebee...there guarding her ...not coming after me...no reason to bother her or her guards....but there seems to be a steady stream in and out of a different hole...prob the back door i could not find...chicken babies are in coop/run there...they all went after a bumblebee as soon as they saw it...will/can these guys eat these ok without getting stung...chickens eat bumblebees?....deff not yellow jackets...ground dwelling social...active...unknown numbers now...