speaking about yellow jackets
Ditch-Runner
Member Posts: 25,225 ✭✭✭✭
a short time back a discussion was on bee stings on th eforum page
I commented I could not recal th elast time I was stung and lucky I am not allergic
well last night I noticed some bees hovering around a old door frame in a old chicken coup on our place that has to be a hundred yrs old and shows it age ( not really a bee but we call them that yellow jackets actual in the wasp family )
so I took out a few by swatting and few more with a almost empty can of bug spray
I went back out today they had decided between the inner and outer wall to build a hive
they were leaving me alone but upset at me when I pulled away a inner piece of plywood exposing their nest about two foot square and 4" thick
swarming all around me as I made short work of the nest ( my wife took a photo of the nest before I ripped it off the wall I will see if I can get a copy to post ) but I never got stung once out the several hundred plus angry yellow jackets , just stupid lucky ,
later on just after dark I went out to lock up the chickens in their coop a few yards away from the old shed
so I checked in on the yellow jacket situation about 50 to 100 had regrouped on a LED light fixture all I hasd was a spray bottle of WD40 close by so thats what I used they were not to fond of it but were falling fast as i sprayed them
but one decided ,I could not just walk away and got me twice in the left side of my neck . 😫 I think it had landed on my neck and got pinched between my shirt collar and neck why it stung me
so i have to update my story I just got stung after years of being lucky . not the most Plesant feeling but not so bad
Comments
Yellow jackets seem to ambush you when you least expect them.I stirred up a nest with a string trimmer and they got me pretty good.I mixed some Bifen in a pump up sprayer and stood back and misted them as they came in and out of the ground.In a few minutes they were walking backwards,in circles,and finally still.Next day the ground was covered with dead yellow jackets and that was the end of that nest.
Yellow jackets are ground nesters, so it is likely you had a different wasp species, which might account for your near miss (yeah, I know, I have been stung a few times too, no fun). If you got 'em, end of story. If you find them again, post a good photo.
I took these a few minutes ago after the WD-40 incident I tossed part of the nest on the ground as I was removing it
the black is a roll of black plastic that was under the light after I sprayed them
by the way when I turned the light back on a short time ago to take these photos the survivors are still a bit upset and looking for revenge now 🤨
my wife's phone has photos of the nest before it was torn apart I will get a copy later on and post
They resemble yellow jackets but I think they are a different species. As HeDog said, at least around here Yellow Jackets nest in the ground.
Yellow legs and black antennae mark them as aerial yellow jackets. They are an odd species that normally nests in trees instead of in the ground like other yellow jackets. They feed their larvae other insects and spiders like most wasps, but feed themselves on nectar and pollen and nectar feeding insects.
When you are stung by a eusocial wasp species, you are also sprayed with a pheromone that says to others of the species, "This is the enemy, STING HERE." The best first thing to do is beat feet.
I thought so also as in the past all I ran across lived in the ground but my best guess was yellow jackets
They had a some what a large start on a what loked like large paper wasp nest but it was flT due to the walla and had several layers of larva growing going on I tore out after removing a panel on the inside
Will add there is a pear tree right next and in contact with the old chicken coop I found them in and apple tree just a few yards away so In the fall bees and yellow jackets are not uncommom
Just the first nest I have found so close
Maybe related to why ?
I did find photos on the internet of yellow jackets nest living in walls that looked just like them
You were really lucky fooling around that nest and not getting several stings.
Most generally when a yellow jacket latches on he just stays in the same place and has to be smashed to get him off and the next one's sting in that area also because the first one labels you as the enemy. They also do not lose their stingers like a honey bee, knock him off and he just comes back.
They build in both the ground and inside or under something in this area.
I've seen where SKUNKS have dug out the nest and eat the nest and the larva.
Now that is a hungry skunk.
If you ever step in a ground nest you will not ever forget such. I had to get in a pond one time to get them off and keep them off. (Was lucky that water was nearby and I was not allergic to the stings)
They are mean when they get mad.
Great name for a football team. You never get stung by just one, rather, all eleven will sting you at the same time.
Skunks have really long dense fur and seldom get stung. If you are going to eat stinging things, best evolve a good defense. Same with bears, except their noses.
LOL
The town I grew up in Sidney Oh
The sports team are called the yellow jackets
oakie
I was suprized I was not covered with stings but they were very angry and buzzing/ swarming all over .I even had my wife come out to see the nest she was worried about being stung But at that time not one hD even landed or was roused on me as being a threat
But for some odd reason they did not even pay us any attention Lucky lol
When I got stung it was hours later ,dark out and I was wearing a head lamp and I thing they focused on it
Went out today what was left were still mad big time and came at me but no more stings
A can of brake cleaner finished them off best I can tell
I've seen the Queen of them dudes. She is larger and longer than the others. She is the only on that lives through the winter to start a new colony.
Seems strange that she is the only one that survives.
Here is a link about their life cycle.
https://www.pest-help.com/pests/wasps/yellow-jacket/yellow-jacket-lifecycle/
Apicide does a good job on the hive/queen. Only issue is dusting it into the hive's entrance without triggering an angry response.
I just got through getting rid of a nest of ground hornets last night. Sunday seen the nest in the yard, so I waited until after sunset and went out and sprayed the nest. Yesterday I checked and they were still active. I had some old rifle powder out in the pole barn, so I took it out last night after sunset. I just poured it in the hole, I was surprised how much was going in the hole, maybe 1/4 pound. So I Lit it, it started burning, when it started burning down the hole,,,Woo.
No more ground hornets. What was it someone told me a while back, the last words of a red neck usually are. Watch this. Lol.
I did see only the females can sting (hurt ) us sounds about right LOL
That is true of all the bees, wasps and ants. The sting is a modified ovipositor, and in the sterile female workers serves in defense. Since males have no ovipositor it does not become modified into a stinger. Females of some solitary wasps are stingless.