The Old Folks Home

[chickadoodles]

We had a bunch of ginorourmos wasps that looked like yellow jackets on steroids flying in and out of a crack next a window in our back room. I climbed on top of our van and sprayed wasp spray into the crack, good thing it was one of the ones that spray like ten feet. It was a battle for a while but after soaking the ones flying out there must have been fifty coming at me and I ran! The wall sounded like there was hundreds of them in it and they were getting into the house so we bug bombed the room and left for the day. I thought they had to be killer bees, but they were actually not very agresive so we think they might have been European Wasps, they were two and a half inches long. I sealed the window up with spray foam that bugs and mice won't chew through, has something in it they don't like, costs more but I didn't care lol. And then calked it.

I can relate. That is scary! I like bees and wasps outside like they are suppose to be but not in the house!

 

[tntchix]

Oh my that would drive me crazy! We spent a summer on a lake in MN. and some bees had built a hive in the walls and they swarmed out of the walls into the cabin! 5 kids and 4 adults took off in every direction! lol

We were sitting on the couch on a nice, spring afternoon and heard scratching above our heads. Of course, DH immediately thinks, mice. He jumps up and puts his finger on the ceiling and says it's soft. *should've been my first clue to BOLT.* He sticks his finger through the drywall and out come hundreds of bald faced hornets. The meanest little suckers I have ever encountered. I was out that door so fast- ran to party store to grab wasp spray, get home with two cans 5 min later and he is sucking them into the vaccuum. I told him I am never using that thing again. LOL They had made a nest in between the studs after one chewed through it. We took most of the ceiling down to check. The nest was all the way in the middle. Weird, and then we had to replace the ceiling. I was not happy with all bugs for a very long time.

Is it Friday, yet?

Is it Spring, yet?

hoping hoping hoping

 

[dsqard]

Actually "killer" bees look a lot like regular honeybees. From what I remember when I was living in Arizona, the only way to really tell the difference (other than DNA) is by the average wing size. Killer bees have slightly larger wings. Of course something like 95% of the bees in Arizona are the Africanized strain (or a mix) so we pretty much just assumed any bees you saw were Africanized and you didn't mess with them.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

They might. Water filter systems use a light now to kill bacteria.

They're UV water purification systems. I had to install one when salmonella was discovered in the cooling tower that was part of our power house complex. The health department's concern was that mist from the cooling tower fans would spread far and wide. The entire plant was shut down for a couple days till the heavily chlorinated cooling water system tested free of salmonella.
The compressors can't run without the cooling tower and the plant can't run without the compressors.
It took several more days to install the UV cabinet, heater and pipe it in.
That allowed us to almost eliminate the use of chlorine cubes we carried in 55 gallon drums and had been a daily task.

We have carpenter bees and a log house. It is hard to keep them in check.

That would be a problem.
Carpenter bees are only one of the species laying eggs in holes in wood.
They prefer to nest in untreated and unpainted wood so providing some raw wood and short logs will guide them in that direction rather than your house.
30% of the native bees in North America use a tunnel in wood to raise their young.
Native pollinators are much better at pollinating plants than European honey bees. Honey bees will ignore some flowers and less than large numbers of flowers. Honey bees prefer large fields of clover other flowers or trees.
Native pollinators will work much smaller masses of flowers and vegetables.
I have a native pollinator house and am building some bigger ones. Each species needs different size holes. Deeper holes will develop females and shallower holes will develop males. Or at least I was told by a local bee firm that markets houses and beekeeping supplies.

Oh my that would drive me crazy! We spent a summer on a lake in MN. and some bees had built a hive in the walls and they swarmed out of the walls into the cabin! 5 kids and 4 adults took off in every direction! lol

Wild.

I can't believe you have turkeys already...

Hence the 13 degree latitude difference from where you are.

We had a bunch of ginorourmos wasps that looked like yellow jackets on steroids flying in and out of a crack next a window in our back room. I climbed on top of our van and sprayed wasp spray into the crack, good thing it was one of the ones that spray like ten feet. It was a battle for a while but after soaking the ones flying out there must have been fifty coming at me and I ran! The wall sounded like there was hundreds of them in it and they were getting into the house so we bug bombed the room and left for the day. I thought they had to be killer bees, but they were actually not very agresive so we think they might have been European Wasps, they were two and a half inches long. I sealed the window up with spray foam that bugs and mice won't chew through, has something in it they don't like, costs more but I didn't care lol. And then calked it.

I've had a problem with wasps since we moved in here. Over time, I've eliminated most of them in the house. Now they just nest in various places around the property and the Spectracide wasp and hornet killer does a great job.


I set a havahart trap last night and thought I'd share some pictures. Tonight I'll probably set a couple duke type dog proof leg traps.



















He ate all the mackerel on the treadle without tripping it.
Even if he had tripped it, notice how he keeps his butt hanging out so even if it closed, he could just back out before it locked.

 

[tntchix]

sneaky

 

[chickadoodles]

sneaky

x2 smart and sneaky!

I don't like bees, wasps or anything that stings if it gets close to me! However my dad always used a mud poultice on us for bee stings it really works great.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Many of them don't sting.
Wasps and hornets are the most aggressive.
Honey bees won't sting unless one messes with the hive. They only sting to protect the brood and stores. A foraging bee won't sting unless it gets stepped on or trapped in clothing. They save their stinger to protect the hive. A swarm won't sting either since they have no brood or stores to protect.
Bumblebees and other solitary bees are pretty docile.
Bottom line, don't mess with them and they won't mess with you.

http://www.nativebeeconservancy.org/

 

[bamachicks8]

Many of them don't sting.
Wasps and hornets are the most aggressive.
Honey bees won't sting unless one messes with the hive. They only sting to protect the brood and stores. A foraging bee won't sting unless it gets stepped on or trapped in clothing. They save their stinger to protect the hive. A swarm won't sting either since they have no brood or stores to protect.
Bumblebees and other solitary bees are pretty docile.
Bottom line, don't mess with them and they won't mess with you.

http://www.nativebeeconservancy.org/

I would love to keep honeybees.

 

[Bunnylady]

Many of them don't sting.
Wasps and hornets are the most aggressive.
Honey bees won't sting unless one messes with the hive. They only sting to protect the brood and stores. A foraging bee won't sting unless it gets stepped on or trapped in clothing. They save their stinger to protect the hive. A swarm won't sting either since they have no brood or stores to protect.
Bumblebees and other solitary bees are pretty docile.
Bottom line, don't mess with them and they won't mess with you.

http://www.nativebeeconservancy.org/

Generally speaking, I agree with this statement. However, sometimes, it's hard to say what a wasp considers "messing with."

Some times, we have been pruning shrubbery, and pruned out branches with wasp nests attached, and not gotten stung.

On the other hand, on 3 different occasions, I was just standing out in the open, no possible nest site within at least 20 feet of where I was standing, and a wasp flew into me and stung me.

I have a pretty good reaction to bee/wasp stings. By "pretty good," I mean I can wind up with a swollen area as big as I can span with my spread fingers (about 8 inches) from a single sting. The best treatment I have yet found for a sting is household ammonia. I soak a paper towel in straight ammonia and put it on the sting. If I can do that within a minute of being stung, within a few hours, there will be almost no sign of the sting at all. I've heard that the ammonia works by chemically reacting with the protein in the bee venom, converting it to something that doesn't trigger the body's reaction. All I can say is, it makes a huge difference for me.

 

[drumstick diva]

I would love someone else to have the bees and give me the honey.