Upon closer observation and after being attacked at the breakfast table I realized that the offending bees were in fact Yellow jackets. Yellow jackets I usually don't have too much of a problem with, but these guys were being down right pushy and really disrupting the peace and karma in the yard around the house. The chickens did a great job of making short work of the ones in the back but there were just too many. I guess it's just swarm season or something, but when I got stung taking a load of compost across the street to our pile..it was on. I gradually determined the location of the nest (easiest during the day) and commenced with operation "Shock and Flame". This operation involved a night ops component and night stalk commando tactics to defeat the enemy. I found the entrance which to my surprise was about the size of a fist. Now the fun part... Steps to vanquish yellow jackets:1. Apply Gasoline- with a low vapor pressure and lightweight liquid form it does a pretty good job penetrating soil. (2 Cups)
2. Let stand 3-5 minutes- This is the hardest step because it involves waiting with fire in your hand to apply to the gas, but it is necessary. The gas slowly soaks into the hive and the vapors at the entrance begin to overcome the enemy.
3. Apply fire- This is the tricky step. By now there are most certainly some pissed off soldiers in the air. If you turn on your light too long they will seek you out and sting you at night. So you very quickly light a paper towel on a shovel and slide it to the entrance and run like hell. Soldiers in the air are vaporized as well as ground troops trying to escape the vapor of the nest. The most satisfying part about all this is if you've done it correctly every jacket in the next will be dead or severely incapacitated for the final counter attack to come. The burning gas burns the bastards outside the nest and the burning gas in the outer tunnels of the nest effectively pull all the oxygen from it suffocating all the workers inside. Turning over the surface soil for about 5-10 minutes will ensure a good enough burn to dispatch the nest, in most cases.
4. Kill ALL survivors- Dig the nest up slowly making sure you got the oxygen out of every compartment. The air exchange can be a big issue for hives, so odds are everyone is crawling for oxygen on the verge or gone. In any case they will be lethargic and once you see the hive it's time to do a secondary burn to make sure there are no survivors. Dig up the rest of the nest and spread the contents out around on the ground. The birds will take care of the rest at first light the following day. Check over the next few days to see that there wasn't a sub nest or another portion to the original one. Visual of the queen usually gives me good affirmation that the job is done. She'll be in the middle of the hive well protected, but she's noticeably larger than the dudes that serve her.
Yellow jackets love to build subterranean nests around old stumps and particularly underground rocks which ad a bit of security to their nests. This nest was bigger than I had anticipated (About the size of a regulation NFL ball) and they had quite the assemblage of soldiers on the inside.
The initial dig is where the likelihood of night time stinging is greatest.
The Hive
More Hive and Grubs.
An extinguished worker chamber.
1 comment:
"The burning gas burns the bastards outside the nest and the burning gas in the outer tunnels of the nest effectively pull all the oxygen from it suffocating all the workers inside." Comments like this make me miss working at the pool.
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