Bee helpful, don't bee cruel

[KJQ6945]

Need some bee expert advice. I have a nest of yellow jackets that need to go. They enter and leave above a bay window, but I don't really know where the nest is. I've tried all kinds of bug sprays, but just spraying the entrance only makes for a big traffic jam of irrated bees. The best thing I've come up with so far is the shop-vac. It sucks them up by the hundreds.

If I could reverse the motor in the vac, could make a nice bee machine gun.

Any ideas ???

 

[femurphy77]

Flamethrower.

Collateral damage is a ***** though.

 

[mrjarrell]

Call Orkin. If it's a bother get a real pest control person with the right chemicals and tools to deal with the job.

 

[eldirector]

Hundreds of yellow jackets living in your wall? I'd call a pro.

I've sprayed the entrance to the hive (heavily) and then plugged it. Seems to work pretty well, and only took a couple of repeats.

Even if you kill 'em, you'll have a nest full of rotten bees in your wall. I'd figure out how to get in there in clean them all out.

 

[KJQ6945]

Hundreds of yellow jackets living in your wall? I'd call a pro.

I've sprayed the entrance to the hive (heavily) and then plugged it. Seems to work pretty well, and only took a couple of repeats.

Even if you kill 'em, you'll have a nest full of rotten bees in your wall. I'd figure out how to get in there in clean them all out.

The pro is probably the best bet. Thousands of rotting bees can't smell good.

 

[IndyGunworks]

we had this problem in the log cabin i grew up in. once we found how they were getting in the house we put powdered 777 in a "puffer bottle" and filled the void up as much as possible. then we would make sure there was fresh 777 in there everyday for a few weeks. once we stopped hearing the buzzing we cauked it off from both sides. never did smell anything.

we only had one large nest though, not "hundreds" if you indeed have that many, its probably better to call a pro.

 

[singlestacksig]

seven dust, blow in at night...

 

[GustavHalbach]

If you have a hand sprayer, a good dose of Malathion applied into the hole at night will take care of the problem. Just make sure you do it at night....yellowjackets can get nasty in a hurry. Don't ask me how I know. Ouch!

-G

 

[CountryBoy19]

First of all, yellow jackets are not bees. "Bees" typically refers to nectar gathering and/or pollinating insects. Wasps/yellow jackets are scavengers for other insects/protein. They may appear the same because they both sting, but they are very different.

Second, are you certain they are yellow jackets and not honey bees? The severity of your problem (how many "bees" you refer to being present) indicates to me that it may be a colony of honey bees. Is there a continuous stream of "bees" going in and out during daylight times? That indicates honeybees. Yellow jackets, even large nests of them, do not even come close to a colony of honeybees in shear numbers and/or entrance traffic.

Also, you mentioned spraying them does nothing but cause a backup at the entrance. This seems like honeybees too. A lot of more docile honeybees will continue to go about their business even after being sprayed. Yellow jackets OTOH, go into attack mode and they all exit and attack. A good continuous or pulsed spray into the entrance should demolish a yellow jacket nest because all or nearly all of the adults in there will try to come out when you spray so if you keep spraying as they keep coming out, you will kill them off. Honeybees don't respond this way, and there are bees inside the hive that aren't "field bees" so they don't come and go. Therefore, it will take multiple sprayings over a matter of several weeks to kill enough field bees to weaken the hive to the point that it will die off.

Since you've already tried to spray/kill them, even if they are honeybees you probably won't find a beekeeper willing to take them so you may as well kill them off anyways now. If it's honeybees you will likely have to call in an exterminator to fumigate the entire wall-void that they are occupying.

 

[ocsdor]

If they are bees, and you live near Benton County, then call Don Moyars (Fowler PD). He's into bees.

Fowler, Indiana Official Website - Committees & Departments

 

[KJQ6945]

These aren't honey bees, just yellow jackets.

 

[Rookie]

Nuke them from orbit.

 

[FatsMcKay]

holy ****

 

[BGDave]

The wet vac with a long piece of pipe on it works pretty good. You're bound to run out of hornets some time. BTW they get very irritated by the noise of the vac. Be prepared to make a strategic retreat. Might not want to plug the hole til they are gone. They might find a way into your house. I think these guys winter in the ground so they will leave on their own shortly.

 

[KJQ6945]

holy ****

^^^^this

Shop vac, then spray with bleach. Opening the shop vac is the fun part!

 

[KJQ6945]

The wet vac with a long piece of pipe on it works pretty good. You're bound to run out of hornets some time. BTW they get very irritated by the noise of the vac. Be prepared to make a strategic retreat. Might not want to plug the hole til they are gone. They might find a way into your house. I think these guys winter in the ground so they will leave on their own shortly.

Definitely not sealing until it gets cold. There's only about a 1/2 inch of drywall between it being my house or theirs. If I wake up to a couple thousand of those I'm moving!

 

[KJQ6945]

 

[spencer rifle]

Only mated queens survive the winter - all others die. They will overwinter alone in wood piles, under bark, in rotting trees, etc. And they will chew their way through drywall if they can't get out any other way. You think you have it bad? Try New Zealand:

 

[CountryBoy19]

These aren't honey bees, just yellow jackets.

Wow!!! That is a serious bunch of yellow jackets...

 

[GBuck]

Holy !!!

I've never seen that many yellow jackets in my life.

I'm afraid of two things in this world, spiders and stinging insects. I would already have to move.

Call a pro.. Eff that stuff.