Turf War

[Robert]

It's always about turf.

They started it. They invaded my territory. But I didn't know it. Like the Sharks vs the Jets.

They took over the wood pile by the fire pit tunneling into a large log. I was going to stack the wood differently to make room for some bricks I took out and store there. All of a sudden I was surrounded and under attack. I retreated but it was too late. I suffered a sting inside my right arm near the bicep. They had won that battle and inflicted a serious wound.

Like Mc Arthur ... I vowed "I shall return".

I did... armed with two bee killer spray cans. I knocked them down left and right but they still tried to defend their homestead. I could not allow it being so near the fire pit so I continued to drench the wood. I was finally able to begin to take apart the pile and look for the nest.

I found it inside a large log. They had burrowed out a cavern the size of two softballs. I drenched that too. Dead bees lay all over the place as returning bees came bringing back food and honey to the queen who I hoped was dead by now. For the last two days they have been hovering around the pile making me think that there is another nest. Charging at me defending what they think is theirs.

I go now to re arm myself... make another assault... and try not to get stung again...

It's "MY" turf... it's always about turf.

[Duncan Edwards]

Leave an eight hour citronella bucket burning all night next to them. It won't kill them but it'll make them think twice about coming back.

or...

A can of WD-40 and a cigarette lighter. Make sure your fire insurance is paid up.

Give 'em hell.

[Boppinabe]

GUMOUT Carburetor Cleaner Spray always was terribly efficient against gypsy moths. AND it's nonpersistant! Still pretty toxic, though...

[schlamm]

*

[KavenBach]

Every year I get stung at least once. This year? Four times in one day, and it could've been MUCH worse. I was standing in a wasp's nest in semi-trampled grasses, cutting cedar logs into pickets. By some miracle the little beasts couldn't get through my sweatpants and tanktop... or more likely, just couldn't sting me because the fabric wasn't close enough to my skin. I crushed off at least a dozen of them!

Actually, three stings right there; one to my calf --- rubber boots protected the lower leg --- and two to my wrist, as one got into my glove. Then half an hour later, a fourth sting right into the lower joint of my thumb... as I disturbed ANOTHER nest 200 feet away.

A few years ago I got stung in the face. I'd moved out a piece of farm machinery --- a baler --- and cleaned it out for use. That was in the evening. I returned the next morning and looked inside again to grease the chains. The little bastards had STARTED BUILDING A NEST SINCE THE NIGHT BEFORE. Needless to say, I did exactly as has been suggested: a can of WD-40 and a lighter. Nothing but metal, no worries of fire. Wasps are about the only creatures I will have no mercy for.

I think it was the year before that I got stung trying to hitch up another piece of machinery. Yup, nest inside. But it was parked right next to a pile of hay bales. I ended up torching that horde, too... but only after donning a rain coat, rubber gloves, and a skidoo helmet to hitch up the machine and pull it to a safer location. Little beasts tried to sting but merely perished instead. TAKE THAT you flying pests!

I also make it a habit to drive over nests I find with the tractor and grind them into the ground by turning the wheel over the nest. The tractor with an airtight Air Conditioned cab.

Good luck!!!

[Mynock]

GUMOUT Carburetor Cleaner Spray always was terribly efficient against gypsy moths. AND it's nonpersistant! Still pretty toxic, though...

Works even better when combined with a lighter. Just don't use that method on anything you don't like seeing in flames.
Robert--I had some experience with this over the summer. If you drenched the nest, you most likely killed the queen, and the nest is dead. The drones will take a while to disperse but for all intents and purposes they're gone for good.

[nachtjaeger]

Honeybees? They're getting rare in our part of the world. I would go out of my way to protect a hive of those clever little pollinators. No bees pretty soon means no apples, no squash, no peas, no beans, etc. etc.

Now, wasps, hornets, yellowjackets (aka "sweat bees") and all those sorts of non-endangered, non-pollinating vicious critters I kill without mercy. Same goes for the Brown Recluse spider, and any other "H-K" (hunter-killer) spider that gets too close for comfort (except in the garden.) Web-spinners can catch all the bugs they want.

[Chimerix]

Amongst the many, many things I do not miss about living in the Deep South are the flying stinging things. As a motorcycle rider, I'd get stung several times each summer. Riding along, minding my own business, and feel a THWACK in the torso. Probably a piece of gravel. Then about 2 seconds later, the fire starts to spread. Actually for one of the fuckers inside my helmet once... that was entertaining!

As a person with a yard, I'd get stung as well. Never could tell what would get me next, or from where. And I was about as cautious as a fella could be and still set food out-of-doors. But they are everywhere, and they are pissy about territory. Red wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, bees... we had 'em all!

I did battle with a massive colony of red wasps one time. They had built in (or more accurately, filled) the interior of my Coleman camp stove. WHich was in the old lean-to barn. On a shelf. In the very back. Wedged between other crap. I used a rake handle to GENTLY stick thru the stove's carrying handle. With a deep breath, I spent about a minute GENTLY lifting the stove then backing out of the barn. Even managed to GENTLY set it on the ground without anyone inside getting nervous. A couple of them were flying around the outside, apparently enjoying the show. Now, when was all buttoned up, there were only 2 holes in that stove. I took 2 cans of wasp spray, put a nozzle to each opening, and fired. MAN, did that stove buzz! I just squirted and squirted, then ran like hell. While I did kill all of them, the stove wasn't salvageable. It was literally FULL of nest, and they'd plugged up the fuel ling and most of the burner holes too. Sad.

[nachtjaeger]

We used to have a section of cast-iron pipe stuck in the ground we used to tie the dog to. One day while I was mowing the lawn, I came to the pipe, and like always caught the back wheel of the mower on the pipe so I could make a quick spin around it to save trimming. All of a sudden a whole cloud of wasps boiled out of the pipe!!! Discretion being the better part of valor, I ran. Snuck back a few minutes later and used a broom handle to shut the mower off.
Once they calmed down a bit, I used the broom to drag the mower out of the way, which stirred up the nest again. Then I took a can of good old WD-40, put the red extension wand on it, and held a lighter in front of it. While I respect all of nature's creatures, it was fun watching those buggers spiral to the ground in flames! Just like an old WWII movie- or to be more accurate, the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_ ... ippine_Sea

[Duncan Edwards]

A favorite trick was putting a can of Aquanet hair spray and a lit candle next to a hornet's nest. Stand back and hit the thing with a .22 and BLOOIE! Instant fuel-air munition. Aquanet was the kind of serious aerosol hair glue that ladies used to sculpt massive hair with when I was a kid. Mom always wondered where the half empty cans went.