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[TowerTalk] Yellow Jackets

To: "TOWERTALK@contesting.com" <TOWERTALK@contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Yellow Jackets
From: "Roger (K8RI)" <K8RI-on-TowerTalk@tm.net>
Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2010 19:20:18 -0400
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
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thus:  I waited until dark when the Yellow Jackets were no longer active 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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