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Yellow jackets--start trapping soon!

Started by Pilot, March 28, 2007, 10:41:14 PM

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Pilot

Just a reminder that yellowjacket queens will be on the prowl when the daytime high temps start hitting about 75 deg. Queens are the only ones that survive the winter, getting pregnant in the fall. When the weather starts to warm up, they start looking to start a family, which can number several thousand per nest, but typically is less than 1000. If you trap the queens, you prevent thousands of the critters and you may not see more than a few all summer. Unfortunately, the stores ususally don't start stocking traps and pheromones until the critters become a nuisance, in late July or August, here in western Oregon.

There are several traps on the market, but the one I have had success with is made by an outfit called Sterling.  Google "yellowjacket traps" and they will come up.  I have no connection with this company, but have been happy with their traps for about 10 years now. Others may be just as good. You may also try a pop bottle for the trap--Harbor Freight supposedly sells a gadget they can enter thru, but not get out. That way you don't buy the trap, but you can still use their pheromone. You want to look at the trap to get an idea of where to make holes in the pop bottle.

How well does the trap work? About 8 or 10 years ago, in April, we had a forecast of 80 degrees for one day & I got my traps out the evening before. I got over 25 queens in the one day, about equal to the number I caught the rest of the season. Next day we were back to 60 degree or cooler weather.

Put the trap in the sun to hasten their death. Some do escape, (maybe 25%, based on my observations) so you don't want them in there too long--the longer they take to die, the better chance they have to escape.

Good luck and good hunting!

TexasTimbers

Awesome I didn't know any of this! They don't bother me too much I have been stung so many times I almost like it. ::)
But two of our kids are decidedly allergic to stings of almost any sort.
Thanks for the entomology crash course.
The oil is all in Texas, but the dipsticks are in D.C.

asy

I'm sorry, just curious, what's a yellowjacket???

I assume it's some sort of bee or wasp or something?

asy :D
Never interrupt your opponent while he's making a mistake.
There cannot be a crisis next week. ~My schedule is already full..

bull

They are the meanest ^^&**(*^$$ freekin hornets around !!!
They come in three sizes, Mean little bugger, Oh shti thats going to hurt, and That one can kill you..
They will sting you for no reason at all.... They can also sting more than once !!
I start the season with a case of BEE Spray,,,, any day over 70 degress they will be all around the mill and will cover the sawdust pile.......  They also compete with Honey bees at the sawdust pile and even kill them....

The big ones are 3/8" girth x 1 1/8" in length............   and 1 sting can send you to the hospital, we call them the high breds....  Im alergic and have been in the ER twice, # 1 @ 9 years old  16 sting to
left hand between ring and middle finger "still have a small scare..... damb near died w/ that one...
# 2 16 years old while raking hay " raked right over the nest  16 + stings in the back 2  in the mouth..... drove tractor home 4 Miles with the rake in gear !! Lucked out my father had just pulled in with his cruiser, he was *( Police Chief )* we went code 3 to the hospital, I was unconcoius on arrival and don't rember getting to the Hospital.....  I hate yellow jackets----- Kill them all !!!!!

TexasTimbers

Asy (turn your head Bull) actually they are extremely beautiful creatures. Unfortunately they are like a Sea Siren to some - beautiful and alluring . . . . . but potentially deadly.


The oil is all in Texas, but the dipsticks are in D.C.

semologger

my dad got stung 30 something times running a dozer. not a pretty sight. have you ever heard of chiggers asy. some people have the luck of living where they dont have em.

TexasTimbers

In case you are wondering whether or not these little creatures are taken seriously by our military  asy, I got that picture from the Field Guide to Venomous and Medically Important Invertebrates Affecting Military Operations published by the Air Force Institute for Occupational Health. :D   
The oil is all in Texas, but the dipsticks are in D.C.

Tom_in_Mo.

bumble bees while doing hay is another one. At least (most of the time) they will start circling before they dive bomb you giving you a little chance to get the heck out of dodge.

Sprucegum

Last summer I had a yellow jacket buzzing around while I was eating lunch. I swung at him and knocked him out of the air onto the table without killing him. Before he got back in the air he was attacked by a black wasp! I would have liked to watch the fight but my "killer instinct" swatted them both before I could stay my hand.  ;D

solodan

Quote from: Pilot on March 28, 2007, 10:41:14 PM

You may also try a pop bottle for the trap--Harbor Freight supposedly sells a gadget they can enter thru, but not get out. That way you don't buy the trap, but you can still use their pheromone. You want to look at the trap to get an idea of where to make holes in the pop bottle.



The easiest way is to cut the top off a two litre or 20oz. plastic bottle and fill it 1/3 with water. Then put a skewer all the way through near the top, and hang a piece of greasy meat on it. Salami works real well. :)  They fly into the bottle and land on the salami, and eat so much they fall into the water and drown. I have seen this style trap kill hundreds of them in a matter of hours. We need to set these traps if we are eating or cooking outside in late july or august. I have seen people leave a piece of meat on the bbq by mistake, then after it cools down the bbq is off limits till the yellowjackets eat the whole steak. :o  One time I cut the head off a rattlesnake and buried it, then I tossed the other four feet on the bbq and had a late night snack. well I ate about a foot of it, but none of my guests were hungry so I tossed the other three feet out by a big ponderossa and fiqured something would eat it by morning. Well, I went out to take a look at it in the morning and this thing was covered in yellowjackets. A couple hours later, only the skeleton remained. The bones loooked like they had been polished, not one bit of meat remained. :o 8)

thecfarm

We have some yellow jackets around here but nothing like what you guys are talking about on the west coast.They are the meanest hornet there is around here.Most of the other bees and hornets won't bother you unless you disturb thier home.Those yellow jackets will hunt for you and sting you for no reason.I have not been bothered by them for many years now.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

submarinesailor

After getting into the second nest last summer, I did a little research on them little #$%^&*()@#$%^&*'s.  They are kinda like a wasp, in that they can string you multiple times and not loose their stringer like a bee.  But, they look like some bees.

Think meat tenderizer and Benadry!!!!!!  If you get strung, mix up a thick mixture of tenderizer and place it on the string(s).  And if you are not allergic to Benadry, take 2.  If don't have meat tenderizer, use baking soda.  After 2 strings to the back of the head and 2 on my left arm, I now have a big bottle of both at the sawmill house (Syria, VA.)

Bruce

BigTrev

We just had a huge nest of little stinging............creatures cleared out of one of our eves by a local bugman. It was sitting above my bbq  :'(

about 400 wasps bit the dust that day, but I got to talking to the terminator and he reckoned that most bees, wasps and hornets cant see the colour white, it confuses them or some such. so I you ever have to deal with the little blighters cover up in all white clothes, preferably loose, and try not not breathe, the CO2 in your breath tend to make em a little antsy.
If at first you dont succeed, try a bigger hammer

asy

Well, just one more reason I love living in Australia...

NEVER seen one of those things, NEVER want to, thanks!

They sound just AWFUL, I'll keep the Red Bellied Black Snakes, thanks...

asy :D
Never interrupt your opponent while he's making a mistake.
There cannot be a crisis next week. ~My schedule is already full..

metalspinner

QuoteOne time I cut the head off a rattlesnake and buried it, then I tossed the other four feet on the bbq and had a late night snack. well I ate about a foot of it, but none of my guests were hungry

I wonder why? :D :D :D
I do what the little voices in my wife's head tell me to do.

Pilot

The meat works at the right time of year.  Early in the season, yellowjackets are more like vegetarians and meat will be less effective.  The clue as to when to use meat is when you start seeing them pick the dead bugs off the front of you car.

But the problem with meat is that you have to refresh it.  Leave it for a couple days and they don't like spoiled meat.

The pheromone will last a few weeks.

And if you get the queens in the spring, you will be disappointed with the meat thing, because you won't have so many yellowjackets to gather on the meat!

TexasTimbers

Well if you want to talk aggressive, the yellow jacket is nowhere near as aggressive as the Hornet that lives in the ground, at least in our parts. These hornets will knock a man down literally.
I have not seen that happen persoanlly but have heard too many old timers say it. And i have seen with my own eyes a hornet carrying off a locust twice it's size. Sounded likje a small helicopter behind me one year around 88 or 89 and I turned to see a hornet laboring hard to maintain altitude but doing so and had a locust clutched underneath it, upside down, taking it to the den I suppose.
Yep if you stir up a hornets nest you will find out how come the term came about.
The oil is all in Texas, but the dipsticks are in D.C.

treebucker

My favorite: watching someone blindly start to take a drink off a soda/beer can/bottle that has yellow jackets on top of it. smiley_lips

If you find one of their ground nest don't try to burn or flood them out. And don't try to bury the entrance - they will simply dig a new one. The trick is to note the entrance location and wait till dark. Then place a clear glass wide-mouth jar upside-down tightly over the entrance...burying its open end about an inch. This will confuse them since they can see light through the glass so they will not dig a new entrance. The colony will die out.

Local lore holds that three stings from a hornet will kill a horse. My cousin got stung between the eyes. He said it hit him like a hammer and knocked him out. It is said that if you throw a rock at their paper nest they will follow the wake it caused in the air back to the source. They hit hard and right between the eyes. I've never tested these pearls of wisdom...I've been too scared. smiley_anxious
Last night I lay in bed looking up at the stars in the sky and
I thought to myself, "Where the heck is the ceiling?!" - Anon

LeeB

OK folks, help me identify this one. About 20 year ago in central Texas I had what looked like a red wasp, only about 2 1/2 - 3" long land on my leg. Talk about nearly soiling myself. This thing ran out a stinger across my pants leg that looked like a 4d finish nail. It took all I had to sit still till it decided to leave. Any ideas what it was?
'98 LT40HDD/Lombardini, Case 580L, Cat D4C, JD 3032 tractor, JD 5410 tractor, Husky 346, 372 and 562XP's. Stihl MS180 and MS361, 1998 and 2006 3/4 Ton 5.9 Cummins 4x4's, 1989 Dodge D100 w/ 318, and a 1966 Chevy C60 w/ dump bed.

ohsoloco

Yellowjackets never seem to bother me if they're eating, but maybe it's just the sweet stuff.  When the apples and pears are covering the ground in the fall at my parents' place I can walk right through 'em and they won't bother me.  I'm easily talking hundreds of 'em, and I don't think twice about it in sandals.  Get near their nest, on the other hand, and those things will chase you down.  Last year I was walking across their driveway and noticed something flying out of the corner of my eye.  I remembered one of the railroad ties that edges the driveway is hollow, and about that time I got hit in the ankle  :(  Sometimes their sting hardly bothers me, and other times it swells to about the size of half a tennis ball, and I'll wake up in the middle of the night while I'm scratching the sting  :-\

Back in October I was spreading some mulch around a tree at work and noticed a hornets nest bigger than my head.  I always wanted one of those, so I started looking around the internet on how to get one and kill the hornets.  Simple...place bag over nest, put in freezer overnight, and voila  ;D  I waited until a cold evening (maybe it was just a little cool), and I backed my truck up under the nest and got the bag ready.  As I was trying to get the bag around the nest I snagged some little branches that were in the way.  The nest sprung to life and I jumped down with my heart thumping, but thankfully they didn't chase me down (maybe cuz it was so cool out).  After sever attempts at this (one evening my girlfriend came along and watched me from the cab of the truck with a big  ;D on her face waiting for me to get stung).  I didn't get the nest that night, but got all of the obstructing branches cut off.  One frosty morning I finally slipped a garbage bag over the nest (what a rush!).  Double bagged it (just in case) and popped it in my deep freeze.  Next day all of those things were dead, and now it's hanging from my living room ceiling  :)

Asy, isn't it Australia (or maybe New Zealand  ??? ) that has those jumping ants?  From what I've seen those things are pretty nasty.

Lee, I saw a dead one a few years back sitting on top of a billet of wood in the back yard with its stinger stuck into the wood.  Don't know what it was, but I'm glad it wasn't alive.

treebucker

Quote from: ohsoloco on March 29, 2007, 09:51:37 PM
Yellowjackets never seem to bother me if they're eating, but maybe it's just the sweet stuff.  When the apples and pears are covering the ground in the fall at my parents' place I can walk right through 'em and they won't bother me.  I'm easily talking hundreds of 'em, and I don't think twice about it in sandals.

Asy, isn't it Australia (or maybe New Zealand  ??? ) that has those jumping ants?  From what I've seen those things are pretty nasty.
Same here, I've allways wondered if they were drunk from the fermented fruit juice? smiley_mellow smiley_alcoholic_01

Is it called the Bullet ant or Jumping Jack ant?
Last night I lay in bed looking up at the stars in the sky and
I thought to myself, "Where the heck is the ceiling?!" - Anon

Engineer

I've got a paper wasp nest (not yellowjackets) - is that what you're referring to as hornets?  I got it off a white birch tree during the winter.  Never opened it up, it is the size of a basketball and has several birch twigs running through it.  I want to hang it in my house but my wife flat out refuses.  Says I have to wait until I build my shop.  I wanna hang it up high in my timber frame and tell guests to speak quietly and walk softly so they don't bother the bees.....  :D ;D

TexasTimbers

 Some of us are confusing certain hornets with yellowjackets. Wikipedia explains the differneces well. After I read the article some of what I thought I knew was discovered to be erroneous. ;D

But the baddest of the bad is this bad boy. KingBadSting

Here is a good quick read too.  ThreeCommonStingers

But this is HANDS DOWN my favorite hornet! ;D The Best Hornet!
The oil is all in Texas, but the dipsticks are in D.C.

Dale Hatfield

Quote from: LeeB on March 29, 2007, 09:44:29 PM
OK folks, help me identify this one. About 20 year ago in central Texas I had what looked like a red wasp, only about 2 1/2 - 3" long land on my leg. Talk about nearly soiling myself. This thing ran out a stinger across my pants leg that looked like a 4d finish nail. It took all I had to sit still till it decided to leave. Any ideas what it was?

My now wife lived in Texas. At the time i was stung i was in her horse trailer.  I never saw what hit me .Knocked me flat down. went back later that evening. Armed with 2 cans one for each hand. It was the  red wasp that you described. They warned me about them critters after i got stung. Geeze thanks.
That was worse sting i have ever had, ive been into all kinds of stinging critters. Bald face hornets in the Christmas trees,yellow jackets in the fields/woods,bumble bees in the hay ,wasps .But the red wasp  was by far the worst.
Game Of Logging trainer,  College instructor of logging/Tree Care
Chainsaw Carver

Tom

Just be careful about calling all insect stings "bees".  Our honey bees are having a bad time now and we might find ourselves without them.  What a bad thing to have no honey. 

It's common for people to call all stinging insects bees, and bees get a generically bad name.   Actually, our European Honey Bee is quite docile and needs protection.

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