Got yellowjackets and wasps?

[Lacy Blues]

I don't have any pics for this one.

Perhaps you've heard of cutting the side out of a milk jug, hanging a piece of liver or whatever on a wire suspended from the milk jug's opening at the top. Put water and dish soap in the bottom. This is very effective. The bees eat so much they can't fly and then fall into the soapy death below.

Well, you can feed these nasties to your chickens IF you use olive oil (or any other acceptable food grade oil) to the water instead of the soap. It coats the insect once they fall in and they don't get out.

Scoop the dead bees out and add them to your daily feed. Yummy!

(NOT)

 

[mrcman]

Lacy,

Are you pulling my leg???? Ya know, I'm gonna give this a try and see what happens. We have a huge nest of paper wasps in our chicken coop and have been hesitant on spraying them at night. I don't like the idea of using a spray around the hens. But...I will give this a try tomorrow. I can see you laughing at me as we speak. Okay, time to come clean... Are you pulling my leg??

Tony

 

[Lacy Blues]

Lacy,

Are you pulling my leg???? Ya know, I'm gonna give this a try and see what happens. We have a huge nest of paper wasps in our chicken coop and have been hesitant on spraying them at night. I don't like the idea of using a spray around the hens. But...I will give this a try tomorrow. I can see you laughing at me as we speak. Okay, time to come clean... Are you pulling my leg??

Tony

No. Not at all. I used to live in the Sierra Nevada foothills and we had a terrible time with yellowjackets and wasps. This is what I did to help get the numbers down. Just be sure you use food grade oil instead of soap. There are also yellowjacket traps that attract them with a sex pheromone and they can't get out. You can use these as well but be sure all the bees are dead before opening it!

 

[Lacy Blues]

If they will eat meat, this will work.

 

[Lacy Blues]

So Tony, did you try it? Hopefully you have some wasps that will eat meat and you can get them taken care of. Try to put your trap somewhere that your chickens can't get at it. Possibly at night, you can hang the trap below the wasps' nest and then in the morning they can go at it.

Good luck.

 

[mrcman]

Hi Lacy,

I haven't done it yet as I won't be into town until this weekend to get the liver. I am enthusiastic about trying it though. I just really hate the thought of using chemical sprays around my hens, soooo this might be the answer.