maxine in ri wrote:
> Andy wrote:
> > OmManiPadmeOmelet said...
> >
> > > <cough>
> > >
> > > Insects are not protected by animal control laws...
> > > At least not where _I_live! :-)
> >
> > I had yellow jackets that hived underground by the front steps. I know
> > the county animal control guys and they said I couldn't gas and burn them
> > out because they were protected. I forget how I got rid of them.
>
> Yellow Jackets protected?? Those are the guys that our local extension
> says to wait until sundown, and spray the living daylights out of the
> nest.

Wasp spray is extremely toxic and persistant. Avoid using it if
possible.
You can empty a nest of bees or wasps pretty quickly with a wet/dry
vacuum cleaner. Suck up a half gallon of soapy water and then keep the
nozzle a few inches from the nest's entrance. You can kill hundreds of
wasps this way without harmful chemicals and very little risk of
getting stung. Blow some diatomaceous earth into the nest after you are
done to prevent any survivors from reusing the hole. It's not toxic and
readily available, it's commonly sold as ant powder.

Cam

On 2006-10-23, Leonard Blaisdell > wrote:

> yard. A grandkid on a hot day in midsummer in the wrong place isn't
> something I wish to experience.

Been there, got that t-shirt. At about the age of four, I was
attacked by a hot nest of wasps. Stung over 20 times. Boy, howdy!

nb

Andy wrote:

>
>
> The yellow jackets hiving underground were at my home in Pennsylvania.
>
> The Mt. Diablo bee story was an unrelated "colorful" incident.

Those yellow jackets are just plain nasty. I occasionally find nests of them
on my property. When I first moved here we had a pool about 200 feet behind
the house. I was out moving the lawn in the spring, ran over a nest in the
ground and the little *******s came up and stung me. I poured some gas in
their hole and burned them out. The next time I mowed that section of lawn I
was really careful around that hole in case they had returned. The hadn't.
They had moved about 20 feet. I didn't see the new hole, ran over it and the
*******s came after me and got me again. Once again I got the gas can and
burned them out. The moved again, and the third time they got me again.
the third hornet nest arson got rid of them.

Last year and the year before I found yellow jacket nests in a different
section of lawn. The first time I was cutting the far back section on with
my new lawn tractor. I was carefully manoeuvring between two small trees
when a cloud of hornets flew up. I slammed the tractor into reverse and that
was when I discovered a safety <?> feature, a kill switch which is activated
when you out the machine in reverse while the mower is engaged.. Luckily,
the hornets were more interested in the machine than the person driving it.
I managed to escape without getting stung.

I came out at sundown and sprayed the next with wasp and hornet killer. When
activity around the hole died down I got a shovel and dug it out. The
chamber was about 1 foot long, 6 inches wide and 6 inches across and was a
mass of nest. I was doused in gasoline and lit ignited. Two weeks later, a
I came across another one about 15 feet from that. Same treatment.
On the weekend I was in the back yard and checking out the leaf situation.
One of the maple trees has dropped enough leaves to expose a huge wasp
nest. As soon as it gets a little cooler I will take the extending branch
pruners and cut that down and deposit it in the burn barrel.

In article >,
Dave Smith > wrote:

> OmManiPadmeOmelet wrote:
>
> >
> > I actually leave yellow jackets (mud daubers and paper wasps) alone for
> > the most part, unless the nests are near a doorway or in a location
> > where I get attacked.
>
> Your putting them in brackets seems to indicate that you are talking about a
> different sort of critter. Mud Daubers and Paper Wasps are wasps, which are
> relatively benign creatures who stick only when threatened. Yellow Jackets
> are
> hornets, nasty little buggers who will attack and sting for new reason. Their
> sting
> is very painful and then very itchy.

Ah, okay.

But they are yellow and black so we've always called them yellow
jackets. :-)
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

OmManiPadmeOmelet wrote:

>
> I actually leave yellow jackets (mud daubers and paper wasps) alone for
> the most part, unless the nests are near a doorway or in a location
> where I get attacked.

Your putting them in brackets seems to indicate that you are talking about a
different sort of critter. Mud Daubers and Paper Wasps are wasps, which are
relatively benign creatures who stick only when threatened. Yellow Jackets are
hornets, nasty little buggers who will attack and sting for new reason. Their sting
is very painful and then very itchy.

Oh, my god, every year you guys ( someone on here) has the same problem.
Never heard of this problem, and hope I never do. Will ask around, see
if any of my friends have a solution. Gheese. Love you guys but you
have the most alful problems. Hope I never do.