A couple of weeks ago I was watering the front yard with a hose and notice “bees” flying in and out of a small hole in our house. So, I did what any red-blooded guy would do, squirt water into the hole to make them go away. As soon as water hit the hole, many “bees” exited the hole and flew towards me. One got me and stung me on my neck. The “bees” didn’t leave.
Last Saturday I went out the front door to get the newspaper and after taking two steps outside some “bees” came toward me and one stung me on my arm. I ran back inside and called a bee mover guy. Tuesday the bee guy came and said these were aggressive “bees”. He put on his anti-sting suit and plugged the outside hole. In the house the drywall had a small hole caused by the hive. He flooded the hole with bug killer gas and waited about 10 minutes to kill them all. He made an opening in the drywall about 6″x8″ and found a hive of,
YELLOWJACKETS!!!
They resemble bees but fly faster, are more aggressive and don’t make honey! That’s important because there is no hive moving and no honey mess to clean up, and much cheaper!!! Now, no more “bees” or Yellowjackets! But my arm STILL itches!!!
All wasps will defend their nests, but the Yellow Jackets and hornets are the most aggressive. They can be distinguished from bees by their thin “waists.” Bees are thick-waisted. They fold their wings lengthwise when at rest. Like all wasps, yellow jackets prey on a variety of insects and other arthropods. Yellow jackets will also forage on foods that people eat, especially sweets and meats.
They are considered beneficial insects, eating other insects. The yellow jacket colony will remain active for only one summer, after which the queens will fly away to start more colonies. The remaining ones, die at the end of the summer, the nest is not reused.[more]
August 7th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Nice bright set up.
If he was a bee mover why would he kill the bee’s? Which of course turned out to be yellow jackets. Something I’m familiar with. They hurt.
We’ve had mud dauber wasps ever year but I have started removing their nests until they start choosing better locations. lol
August 7th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Hi Bonnie,
Since they were Yellowjackets, killing them was the only option. The bee guy would have relocated bees if we had them..
August 11th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Oh I hate yellowjackets! They made a nasty little nest in one of the recessed lights under our front porch last year. Thankfully they’re not back this year. Mean little buggers.
August 12th, 2008 at 9:17 am
I’ve had tonnes of wasp’s nests in and around my home previously!!
but they were easy to get rid off, because we got rid of them before the hatching phase.. I’d get out the bamboo stick and bash up the cement-like hive, and close the windows for about 4 hours.. it was a good thing we lived 13 floors up, we didn’t have to face them wasps when we walked out the doors…
August 17th, 2008 at 10:52 am
sorry to hear ya got stung, twice!
i would’ve done the same thing… take the hose and spray the nest.