Yellow jackets will win the ACC this year! Go Yellow Jackets!
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From: "Roger (K8RI)" <K8RI-on-TowerTalk@tm.net>
Sender: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com
Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2010 19:20:18
To: TOWERTALK@contesting.com<TOWERTALK@contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Yellow Jackets
A day or so ago I responded in a private e-mail about having the bees
and Yellow Jackets related to the "Adolph's" and "flying critters thread(s)
I thought this part might be pertinent along with some caveats I didn't
put in the other reply.
Yellow jackets are something else. They managed to get under the floor
in our garage. For some strange reason I could walk right through where
they were coming in and going out without them bothering me, but I saw
them chase several people right down the driveway.
Last fall, (DO NOT DO THIS IN WARM WEATHER WHEN THEY ARE ACTIVE! ) I
took several cans of the soft, expandable foam and really filled up the
cracks, so that even if they did get into the cracks there was nothing
but foam on the other side. We didn't have a single one this year. I
pushed the tube on the can as far back in as I could and just let the
foam go in until it started coming back out. In one place where the
small hole opened into a cavity under the garage floor, I stuck a small
piece of Tygon Tubing about 2' to 3' long over the tube on the can of
foam. I then slide the tube back in as far as I could get it and put in
a full can of foam. I filled every crack in the concrete floor and
between the concrete blocks in the foundation.
THE REASON for not doing this in warm weather when they are active is
thus: I waited until dark when the Yellow Jackets were no longer active
and then sealed up the holes. The next morning, my wife woke around
8:00 to ask me to take a look in the garage. Each of the lights was a
MASS of Yellow Jackets, The North garage window was covered with
them...So I carefully eased my self into the garage and slowly walked
over to the East man door which I slowly opened and then went back into
the kitchen. None of those very unhappy Yellow Jackets paid any
attention to me, or it appeared that way. A half hour later the only
ones left in the garage were the ones hanging on the NW light fixture
and the North window, which I dispatched with one of those cans of "bee
killer" that shoots a solid stream close to 20'. I opened up the one
hole to the outside that night and did no further sealing until fall!
<:-)) The moral of the story is that if you miss a way out they won't
and it may not be in a place to your liking. I began to worry they'd
show up in the basement!
BTW when shooting bees with that "bee killer" ALWAYS have a way out if
you miss some. A second can for backup can sometimes be handy too. I
found that out when I tried to get all the ones in the range vent on the
roof. I used almost two full cans and ended up with a pile of Wasps
about a foot and a half across and several inches deep. I was getting
worried toward the end of that second can, but fortunately I ran out of
bees before I ran out of spray....but it was close! <:-)) Close enough
to be exciting as I was standing near the top of a tall step ladder at
the time.
5 or 6 years ago we had Wasps, boy did we have wasps. I've forgotten
how many nests I removed but it was well into several digits. They were
behind the shutters, behind the siding, in the trees, over garage doors.
While I was in the shop they built one in the top corner of the man door
on the hinge side and it was already the size of a lemon. When I opened
the door, the nest went into the space between the door and door jam.
When I closed the door (not knowing the nest was there) the door
squashed it. Two of them got me right between the shoulders. It felt
like I'd been hit with a hammer. Fortunately I had gotten over my
allergy to them by then. Unfortunately I could not reach between my
shoulder blades so all I could do with those was let them hurt, but
there was very little swelling, probably less than normal and it quit
hurting within an hour or so.
In one day they built one nest bigger than a football over the 16' wide
garage door on the shop. They also built one behind the siding on the
South end of the house that was large enough to pop the siding off up by
the peak. The darn things were even building nests in the doors and side
view mirrors on the cars. Working on the tower would find them buzzing
around my head but they didn't go after me. I think they did have a
home inside the mast above the rotator though. This time all the
masting has caps welded on to seal them. That way I don't have to *try*
to paint the inside to prevent rust.
73
Roger (K8RI)
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