Ow... Best laid plans...

[Reverenddel]

So the kids, and I were gonna spend the day doing some yard work. I tasked them with picking up larger sticks, pine cones, and leaf piles, then throwing it in the ravine behind the yard...

About an hour into it. I hear screaming, Middle kid stung by a yellow jacket.

Dangit... So I get him in, give him pain killer, and allergy medicine, advise him to hold ice on the sting.

Asked him where he was when he got stung, he said "...by the house."

I get the insecticide sprayer... spray the WHOLE house, and surrounding ground.

NOPE! Kid's wrong... I get stung TWICE putting leaves in the ravine.

Sprayed the area... and two hours later? The yellow jackets still swirling around the area... mad... just...mad.

Gotta figure out how to get them before winter. May have to WAIT till winter. Dang. The humor of the whole situation is seeing my round Jew 300 lb keister float like a ballerina as I get stung, screaming expletives as I run from the yellow jackets, and the kids?

THREW ME UNDER A BUS! Ran inside as soon as I started screaming, and LOCKED... THE... DOOR!

I yelled to them "WHY DID YOU LOCK THE DOOR? YELLOW JACKETS DO NOT HAVE THUMBS!!!"

They just couldn't answer... (sigh) I know where I stand in the family food chain now.

[VBshooter]

Fire works real good on bees their nest is probably in the ground so some gas and a match may work wonders on them.. if it's in the open wher you can get near the entrance,, been stung a number of times myself,,

[Reverenddel]

Unfortunately...

There nest is near about 30 tons of dead hurricane branches, leaves, etc, etc...

I use gas, or anything fire related, and I have a feeling the Police, and Fire Department will be coming out... And I go away... Muy Feo!

[WRW]

Wait till evening and you can watch them going into their hole. Wait till the traffic slacks up and pour gasoline down the hole. I've never had to light it...the fumes have always done the trick.

[WRW]

OBTW, if you garden you can use a little Sevin dust and not have to worry about flammability.

[graybeard321]

I feel your pain, 3 weeks ago I run over a nest of Yellow Jackets while using my dr trimmer to mow along my 1/2 mile long drive way. I was at the end 1/2 from house. this 58 year old men (Allergic to bees) ran the fastest half mile of my life.

[Kreutz]

Just pay an exterminator, let him dig around in that crap and handle the nest. Sometimes its best just to fork over the $ and save yourself time and pain.

[JacobDW]

You can't out-wait mother nature... And now those yellow jackets know what you taste like... I call divs on your guns

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[JacobDW]

Meant to say dibs... : /

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[Palladin]

Just point it out to the nearest skunk...

No more yellowjackets.

[WRW]

Just point it out to the nearest skunk...

No more yellowjackets.

No more NEST. The former occupants will remain...and they are hostile. If you ask me how I know, specify whether you want the long story or just the highlights.

[mk4]

^^^
sounds like there's an interesting story here... and possibly a painful lesson learned.

[AlanM]

About 20 years ago I was on a service trip to a southern state tire plant where one of the workers told me a story about one of their weirder co-workers.
About 5 or 6 of them would car pool to work each day and this one morning they stopped at "Bubba's" house and found him using four tent stakes and bungee cords to tie down a gas powered lawn mower on his front lawn.
He got it staked down, started it up, tied the auto stop so it would continue to run without supervision, checked the gas tank was full, started the engine, and then picked up his lunch and got into the car.
They asked him what the heck he was doing and all he said is that he had a yellow jacket nest under that spot and they hadn't yet started coming up that morning.
The consensus was that he was nuts. But that was the general opinion anyway.
That evening, when they pulled in to let Bubba out, they all got out to inspect the results.
The lawnmower, of course, had run out of gas. The area around and under the mower was covered in yellow and black pieces of bugs. THOUSANDS of bugs!!!

[Yarddawg]

30 years ago, I was dove hunting with my dad on my uncle's dairy farm just outside of Suffolk. I was walking along a hedge row when I felt something crunch under my left foot. The next thing I knew, a bunch of yellow jackets had flown up my pant leg and I was stung at least a dozen times on and around my knee! I was jumping and dancing all over the place trying to get them out of my pants and hollering in pain. My gawd those little bastids pack a punch!

Oh, and my dad...I don't believe that I have ever seen him laugh so hard in my life!

[Jakeiscrazy]

How rural of an area are you in? How about a bunch of birdshot? If you can pin point the nest you can use a paintball gun for some distance shooting. I had a hornets nest I shot with a paintball gun. They never even had a chance to come at me.

[Reverenddel]

I'm in wonderful Suburbia!

Thankfully, I'm surrounded by Blue-Collar folk, like I'm from...

SEVIN dust is a GRAND idea! I have some at the 'rents for the garden! Make some "Sevin" grenades, and run like hell!

I sprayed yesterday about 13:40... they...are...still...mad...and Buuuuzzzzinnnnggg!

I saw a squirrel get too close this morning, and poor thing didn't stand a chance! One stung it, and it scurried away like it was sniper shot!

Them, and Wasp... Both of those things are just MEAN lil' buggers! Pardon the pun.

[grumpyMSG]

One more thing about yellow jackets nobody has mentioned, they start getting more aggressive in mid to late August, right after it starts to cool off a little. Sevin dust may be good for the job around the nest, but buying a Sevin liquid applicator that hooks to the garden hose might work better. If I were you, I would wait until after dark and it cools down, then drown the nest with the liquid Sevin, making sure you get a lot in the hole...

[WRW]

+1 on the after dark ops.

The reason I recommended dust is that it remains potent for a longer period of time than the liquid (spraying fruit trees during times of low bee activity will render the tree safe later the same day). If the entrance gets dusted any 'jacket entering or exiting the hole, even days later, will be affected.

[Reverenddel]

NICE! I think Friday/Saturday night when the temps drop into the low 50's, and there is NO moon will be death dealin' time!

[WRW]

OK, now on to too much information. Bald faced hornets are not hornets at all, but are aerial nesting YELLOW JACKETS. A true hornet, the European or German hornet is an adversary of the yellow jacket. I knew this before having read it because I watched (years ago) as a hornet bit the heads off a few yellow jackets.