Yellow Jackets! Be careful!!

[Cabin Fever]

Just a friendly reminder if you're going to be doing any plowing, discing, or mowing of your plots for fall plantings to be prepared for yellow jackets! I was discing up an old clover plot to seed some fall plantings. I must have disturbed an underground yellow jacket nest! They hit me like a 3.5" mag turkey load!! I got stung ~20x in the scalp, ear, chin, neck, finger, arm, side, and back. They ran my ass right off the tractor!! Still in pain and swollen the next day! I went back with a can of bee spray to get revenge, but there must have been 1000+ yellow jackets swarming at ground level over a large area, so I backed out. I guess I disced up their entrance and they were trying to find it. They were PISSED OFF!!

Determined to finish my plot, so I'm going in again this morning as soon as it gets light enough for me to see, and hopefully before the sun warms them and they get active. Gonna wear a thick winter coat and a head net this time, just incase!! Luckily, I'm not allergic, as I was at camp, far from a hospital.

I wasn't thinking or prepared for yellow jackets when I started discing. Just a friendly reminder, that you might want to have Benedryl or something handy, just in case....

[Lawdwaz]

Glad your OK.  Could certainly be a life threatening deal for some.

I always wondered about some of the guys working for the DOT and local government mowing ditches and such, how often do they run into a swarm of them bastids??

[nyslowhand]

Okay, I'm stupid - explain something!

Tried never to disturb them, but I always thought they were ground bees.

Are they actually yellow jackets or can both build (dig?) hives in the ground????

Aren't yellow jackets a sub-species of wasps?

Oh yeah, glad you're okay.

Must have been really exciting when they were chasing you! LOL  ???

[fasteddie]

Glad you are okay . Bees can be down right nasty . Are you sure they were Yellow Jackets ? I thought Hornets were the only bees that nested in the ground but ........ I was wrong once before .  :

[G-Man]

ground bees are different ,yellow jackets are a type of wasp, yes they build papernests (hives) in the ground. they usually exploit a dry crack or mouse burrow to start out. yes getting stung hurts like a son of a bitch!!

[catskillkid]

Fever,

I feel your pain, a few years back I was clearing an old brushy field with my backhoe to prepare for a new food plot, I unknowingly dug up a yellow jacket nest. A swarm came in the cab and stung the heck out of me. I jumped off the machine and ran for my quad as they were still stinging me. Raced back to the house about 500 yards and they still followed in a swarm. Those little buggers were on me all the way into the door!

My wife and I found 40 stings and stopped counting. Those bees  were in my shirt, pants, ears, hair and nose. Thank god you and I are not allergic to them.

I guess they thought my big old yellow Case backhoe was another big bee attacking them 

[Cabin Fever]

Well, don't believe everything you read! I saw that the safest time was when it was cool, as the bees would be inactive and lethargic. I went out and started discing again as soon as it was light enough for me so see. They sure woke up in a hurry, as they stung me 3 more times, before I could haul ass outta there!! Little Bastards!!

I still hurt like hell from the stings that I got yesterday! Usually, I'm good to go after ~5min. I killed a couple and saved, incase I need to go to the doc, so I can show him exactly what kind they are. I showed the neighbor, who has an apple orchard, and he said they were yellow jackets also.

I checked on the spot before I left. There were ~1000 or so, hovering just above ground level. I think they were trying to find their entrance again. Spray would do nothing as they were so dispersed. I was thinking about torching the area, as it's right in the middle of the plot and I have it disced up all around? OR waiting a couple days to see if they found the entrance, see where they are coming and going from, then spray like hell down the hole? OR maybe trying to disc again sometime when it's raining, as I don't think they would come out in the rain?? (OR, have nyslowhand stop over and disc for me, while I sit safely in the truck?)

I "have" to get out and finish discing and planting that plot.

[Cabin Fever]

Just looked it up. They are ground nesting yellow jackets.

http://www.masterbeekeeper.org/stinging/groundyellowjacket.htm

[Culvercreek hunt club]

do you think you caved the entrance in and they can't get back in? Any possibility you could finish discing at night?

This is gonna sound odd but try this on your stings....cut an onion in half and rub the cut side all over the sting for about a minute

[nyslowhand]

No discing for me, thanx anyways... :

I've taken care of them before; early morning with gas & a match.

Wasps or bees - they were history!

[G-Man]

a good fogger thown into those 1000 or so will do them in.. so will gas and a thrown torch. Must be a pretty good hive!  Best stuff to use if you can find it is powdered sevin(fruit tree spray) kill bees/jackets from inside the nest one carries it in to the hive via being attached to the micro hairs on its body and the whole thing will be dead in a day!

[nyslowhand]

Dig up the nest with a shovel & beat them when they begin to exit nest.

Let me know when you're going to do this, I want to watch. LOL

FYI - gas mixed witrh some waste oil added for a longer burn works great!

[cboy18]

antiperspirant deodorant for the wounds and some gas and a match for the ground dwellers.  I got hit brushhogging this summer. don't know where it,  or they came from. Think it may have been a nest in a pine.  Been staying out of that area.

[Cabin Fever]

As much as I would like to burn the little bastards and make them suffer, I think I'll sprinkle G-Mans sevin all over the area where they were hovering. That way surely, some of them will get coated and carry it underground into the nest to kill those too. If I gotta take one for the team and get stung a few more times in the process, then so be it!! I've heard several people talk about Sevin and how great it works for about all insects.

Still gonna be crappin' my pants though when the time comes that I need to try discing again!

[erussell]

Ran into a nest of them in the ground tonight in my yrd. while I was minding my own business mowing the grass. Have no idea how I didn't even get stung once, I had a cloud of the suckers around me. I waited till they settled down and poked a hole down into there nest and ran like crazy. Waited till it got dark and poured half a gallon of gas on them and lit it. Took a while to burn out but they were toast.

[Cabin Fever]

I bought a container of powered sevin yesterday and paid the yellow jackets a visit! Since I disced, and tore up their hole, they have found it and re-opened it. There must have been a 1000 around there! I slowly walked up to the hole and sprinkled the whole container over the hole and in a 2-3' diameter area around it. Those yellow jackets were "white" as they flew in and out and landed around the hole! LOL HOPEFULLY, they'll be dead along with those in the nest by the weekend! I REALLY need to finish up the plots!!

I think I'll check on them later today and see if I see any change in activity around the hole. If not, I think I'll get a fogger, tape it to the end of a long stick so I can stand back, and shove it into the hole.

[Cabin Fever]

The GOOD news.... So there were ~1000 yellow jackets using that nest and swarming. I went back 24hrs after applying Sevin and saw ~10 bees left!! I went back 48hrs after applying the Sevin and there were no yellow jackets left!! I was cautious, but hopped on the tractor and started discing again. I watched behind me, expecting them to come shooting out of the hole at any minute, but NOTHING! The Sevin completely wiped them out in 48hrs!!

The BAD news....... I found ANOTHER yellow jackets nest on the other end of the plot!!! OUCH!!! Little Bastards!! They chased me for ~200 yards!! I stopped at the store and got another container of Sevin on my way home! Hope they have their entrance opened back up by tomorrow morning, as they are gonna get a good dose of Sevin!!

I want to get these plots done before the rain this weekend!!

[erussell]

Man hearing your storie I dont know how i didn't get stung. Probably because I just ran over it and didn't dig it up.

[Cabin Fever]

I brushhogged other fields last Friday and hit 2 more yellow jackets nests! Got stung several more times!! I've been planting and mowing these fields for 12 years now and have never had a problem! Now this year, I came across 4 different yellow jacket ground nests and have been stung ~25x in the past 10 days!