A reliable indicator of the change from spring to summer…my traps have the last of the queens and first of the drones. It’s been productive this year; >100 queens since I hung my traps in late April. Hopefully thinned out the local population 
Yellowjacket equinox
- Thread starter troutpocket
- Start date
Same here out in Buckley. I usually put up three WHY traps in May to try to catch the queens but all three traps so far are empty. I wonder if the cold snap this winter really hammered the local population. I'm definitely not complaining through.
And yes the paper wasps sure are docile, you can paint right over them sitting on a nest and they usually won't do anything. But I found that they do have a threshold where they lose their temper; I got complacent around them and was trying to eradicate some that made a nest in the side view mirror of my truck, I was puffing some Drione dust into the crevice and several boiled out and stung me a few times in the hand. So I had to suit up and get the chemical spray to shoot at it from a distance. Rascals.
They posed for me
Bald-faced hornets are the worst! After I sprayed the nest, and ran, they attacked a ceramic mask we had hanging outside (that one of the kids had made) and new it looked like a person that sprayed their nest, me....
FinLuver
Native Oregonian…1846
Same here.
I even have the fill water to the one type traps…not a one trapped yet. And I know those work really well too. Camping one time and the bees were circling like jets at O’Hare to get in.
My traps were empty in May, a few queens killed in June. Then in early July some worker Yellowjackets started showing up in my front yard trap. This morning I discovered the new nest entrance in my front lawn. It looked pretty active already with dozens coming and going. I put a clear glass bowl over the nest so I could do yard work around it. Not good!
Ground nests be gone!
This is what I use. Poor a cup or so in the entrance at night.
This is what I use. Poor a cup or so in the entrance at night.
Has anyone tried the foaming spray (Spectracide I think)? I have a ground nest in my yard that is kind of hard to access and to get away from in the dark, so I was thinking I'd douse them with the foam, then follow up with Seven. It looks like a pretty decent sized colony based on the in and out traffic.
The trick with Sevin is getting the workers to track it into the nest. If you can’t access the entrance, that’s a challenge. Maybe Shad Chunks laced with permethrin would be more appropriate?
From someone who had honey bees on my property... THANK YOUA reliable indicator of the change from spring to summer…my traps have the last of the queens and first of the drones. It’s been productive this year; >100 queens since I hung my traps in late April. Hopefully thinned out the local population
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Right now the workers are busily digging a new exit...they will find a way out glass bowl or not, after a while even the light trick will wear thin, and the will to forage again will kick in..and then theyre coming after you...they know who you are, they know what you did...and they will have their vengeance.
Without a local nest this year, so traps remain empty. Hate the bastards ever since getting swarmed a few years back while in shorts and t-shirt, digging close to an underground nest hidden by low bushes. Didn't know I could still run that fast. Slammed down two Benadryl once in the house to counter the stings.
Recently viewed an interesting video...professional in protective gear set up a shop vac with the suction tube right at the entrance to the nest he had been called on, began thumping the ground above the nest, sucked up over a thousand worker bees as they exited into the tube, last to go a couple of queens. After sucking them all up he shoveled the top off the nest to reveal a comb the size of a basketball, loaded with pupa.
Yellow jackets, living proof that nature doesn't always get it right
Recently viewed an interesting video...professional in protective gear set up a shop vac with the suction tube right at the entrance to the nest he had been called on, began thumping the ground above the nest, sucked up over a thousand worker bees as they exited into the tube, last to go a couple of queens. After sucking them all up he shoveled the top off the nest to reveal a comb the size of a basketball, loaded with pupa.
Yellow jackets, living proof that nature doesn't always get it right
