I HATE yellow jackets

[Ugly Cowboy]

Quote:
I love you!

 

[Akane]

I'm highly allergic to bee stings. Luckily I've never been stung by anything bigger than a bumble bee or I might not be here. Usually if it's a hanging nest near the house we stand in the doorway, spray with the hose, and duck inside. Repeat as necessary. If it's on the ground we slowly slide the hose up and flood it out (while ducking in the house to watch). If it's away from a solid building for shelter someone else sprays it.

Most native US bees will not cause a bad reaction and will only sting if directly stepped on, grabbed, etc.... The bumble bee is the only one. There are hundreds of species of useful bees and wasps that can't really harm you or won't sting unless forced. Many gardeners build homes for mason and leaf cutter bees to pollinate plants, kill pest bugs, and help keep away the more dangerous species.

 

[Chick_a_dee]

We have wasps... and lots of them, and we had started pulling the siding off our coop to put the new stuff up during the renos and realized WASPS WERE LIVING IN THE WALLS, so we got ourselves the CIL wasp and hornet killer, works like a charm! ...

 

[chickens4jojo]

I have a very large fig tree in my backyard near my house & there must be a 1,000 yellow jackets feasting away all day.

The are so mean & I can't find their nest (nests??)~YIKES~~I will try some of those traps.

I even feel like cutting down my fig tree so I could enjoy my backyard again in the summer.

 

[beana1225]

I just saw this thread looking for info on chicken mites. Cause I was checking for them on my chickens and they do look like they may have a bug but it looks more like a flea. ANywhooo.

Don't cut your fig tree down. If you can't see the nest just look for the bees. That is all you need. We had some in the backyard. Could not see where they were at. Couldn't even see the bees. But everyday walking back there you better be running. Anyways, husband got a tip one day. He really likes it too. Get ya a bear in a can (no fancy one people) drink ya about half for having to deal with the devils insect. Set it down where they hang out. Leave it for a couple of days. Then go get ya another beer, drink about half of it and do it again. If you have a lil bit of evil in ya. You can pour it out and look at how you KILLED all those lil demons. But it will be full. WE did this over and over til we weren't running from them anymore. We figured out they were coming out from around our water spout on the side of the house.. Trickie lil demons. Yes this takes longer than spraying them with a quick spray. But you are not getting stung. And sometimes if you can't get the nest your wasting it anyways. We never had another problem in that area of the house. I swear they left. Or all died. We have used it more since then and it has worked. But nothing as drastic as this one. And if it doesn't work. Well at least you had an excuse to drink a couple cold beers.

 

[spook]

Yellow Jackets are attracted to sweet. The Farm store near you should have fly and yellow Jacket "traps" , jars with holes in a certain place where they get in, but don't get out and they die. Probably you could make a trap by using a milk jug, poke a few holes 1/2 way down the jug, around the size of a pea. Then for flies, you place a 1" sqare of fish in a bit of water. Place it away from the barn and especially your house, it will attract flies! Skunks and racoons too!
For yellow jackets, use a mixture like humming bird food and they will be attracted to the sweet, crawl in and die. It is less of threat to your home taking care of them like this.
Good luck!

 

[Bawkadoodledoo]

i have a phobia of wasps bees and hornets...

 

[Jolyn]

My cat has brought home two large rats this last week....lovely i know...but the bees we have coat the rats by the time we get out there to find them. It's like they are eating it.......ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww just sick.

 

[tink]

What is the easiest way you have found to find the mother nest?
Tink

 

[spatcher]

Could someone help me identify this please? They look similar to a yellow jacket in that they have striped bodies, but are 3 to 4 times the size. They are not bumble bees. Only see them at night when the flood lights are on. They are really hard to kill swatting them as they have very hard bodies. They buzz really loud and hit the glass door or siding and make a racket in doing so. Never knew of a bee or wasp that would only be seen at night. Thanks for any help!