Bees! - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Botnst · #16 07-11-2005, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boneheaddoctor

Bees activity does subside at night....and thats a better time than mid afternoon to tick them off.

I used to have a major alergy to wasp venum (Yellow jackets are wasps not bees) Have been to emergency room 4 times as I had SEVERE reaction.

Went through years of shots to get over that...

The ones swarming and ticked were the ones away from the nest when you sprayed it....another good reason to wait till night if you are able.

That's an excellent point, Boner.

Also, at night you can invite some friends over and drink a lot of whisky before you throw the cocktails. It's always a good idea to be stumbling drunk when handling explosives and combustibles.

#17 07-11-2005, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Botnst

Add the detergent to make the gasoline very viscuous. It spashes less and sticks to the target.

A foosbomb. STB gives the best results, gels quickly and helps produce on heck of a mushroom. Just remember ass to the blast.

Last week I was stung 5 times in 4 days by yellow jackets. I don't know why but in the last few years wasps and hornets have increased dramatically, some say that 2 warm winters in a row about 6 years ago caused the population to explode because the frost didn't kill any. Wasp killer was at a premium, the hardware store was rationing the spray, Home Depot was advertising that they would sell cases.

J. R. B. · #18 07-11-2005, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert W. Roe

Man, my grandfather never had liquid nitrogen on his farm

He probably didn't AI his cows or else he hired a professional breeder. Most guys around here do their own AI'ing.

H2O2 · #19 07-11-2005, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Botnst

There are two types of hymenopterans that folks call 'yellow-jackets". Paperwasps nest above ground in nests that are single-shelved. The wasps are about 3/4 inch to 1 inch long. They are banded with black and yrllow. Sometimes the colors fade so the banding is not bright. They are very slender for their length. When excited and just before they attack, they will walk agitatedly about the nest with their wings outstretched and vibrating. When they're calm, they move more slowly and keep their wings folded. The nest usually has a half-dozen to 20 insects. It starts with a queen and then her brood population expands until frost.

The other wasp called a yellow-jacket is also called a ground hornet (hornets are wasps, too). They billed assymetrical, multi-tiered paper nests underground. They like rotted roots or stumps or boards that have virtually disappeared, into which they dig. They are under a1/2 in in length and have some bristles on their abdomen. They are brightly colored with black and yellow bands. They are stout rather than slender.

Both kinds of wasps are omnivores. They hunt other live insects and will also eat carrion. They love pear, apple and fig trees where they hunt-down and sting little boys for the pure joy of inflicting agony (that last is from painful memory).

Add the detergent to make the gasoline very viscuous. It spashes less and sticks to the target.

When we lived out on the farm, those yellow-jackets (yes, I know the diff) used to inhabit field mouse burrows. I'd end up taping the shop-vac hose up to 10' of 1" PVC tube and set that up at the entrance to the burrow. I'd position it so it nabbed both those entering and exiting, then leave it running for about an hour--filled up nicely. Problem resolved without nasty chemicals or combustibles.

The paper wasps are eerie cuz you can tell they're watching you as you pass under their nests. They'll reposition their bodies relative to where you're standing--they really give me the creeps.

Johnhef · #20 07-11-2005, 11:13 PM

I believe you were correct in the paper wasp suggestion. Not quite as red as in the picture, but the nest was a dead on look-a-like.

So many good suggestions from botnst about drinking and blowing stuff up, I cherished each word

boneheaddoctor · #21 07-11-2005, 11:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnhef

I believe you were correct in the paper wasp suggestion. Not quite as red as in the picture, but the nest was a dead on look-a-like.

So many good suggestions from botnst about drinking and blowing stuff up, I cherished each word

I'm not a drinker...and I stopped blowing things up by the time I turned 16....but it was fun.

kknudson · #22 07-11-2005, 11:47 PM

Well I like our bee's/wasps, as long as they build their nest away from our general areas.

Had one last year in the catederal ceiling, when I'd spray the entrance we'd hear them from in the master bedroom. Finally tore the siding off the eve and got into the nest. Kinda wrecked the roofing where the stuff dripped down.

Had another years ago, about the size of a basketball (well at least a football), hanging at 5 foot, under a tree. I had just passed through there several times on the mower. Whea.
I went out after dark, and put a garbage bag around it and pulled it down.

Love to watch them go after the pears, we pick up the fallen pears into a bucket, when it's full we dump it. We'll see it covered with wasps, half are drunk on the fermented pears. Funny to watch, they do have problems.

But in general they do a good job keeping the other bugs under control so as long as the nest isn't around us, I leave them bee :-}

Botnst · #23 07-12-2005, 12:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnhef

I believe you were correct in the paper wasp suggestion. Not quite as red as in the picture, but the nest was a dead on look-a-like.

So many good suggestions from botnst about drinking and blowing stuff up, I cherished each word

There are several species of paper wasps. There is one particularly agressive, mean, venomous group called, "red wasps". They are 2-3 times the body mass of the "yellow jacket" (we call the yellow jacket-paper wasp, "guinea wasps" around here). Their nests can be as large as a pie pan, honest to god. And covered with 20-40 mad mofos if you shake them up. In nature they like palmettos, hollow trees, spanish moss, and buttonbushes (a shrub that grows on the edge of swamps). They love old hay barns and let me tell you, it is amazing how fast boys can empty a hay barn when red wasps call.

I am not allergic, but I hate getting stung. The dang things give me the willies when I happen across them. I'll run like crzy and beat myself to death on catbriers, window sills, and junked cars trying to avoid the stings.

It's kind of funny. I have no fear of any snakes or spiders. Bees don't especially uspet me. But wasps, oooo--aaahhh!!! Run away!!!

Bot

Johnhef · #24 07-12-2005, 01:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Botnst

I am not allergic, but I hate getting stung. The dang things give me the willies when I happen across them. I'll run like crzy and beat myself to death on catbriers, window sills, and junked cars trying to avoid the stings.

you hit the nail on the head, thats exactly the way I am.

I remember seeing some freaking huge wasp looking ones in the past, about the size of the carpenter bees if not slightly larger. Close to 2 inches in size. I avoid those at all costs, their stinger had to be as big as a doctors needle (but would hurt much more!)

Robert W. Roe · #25 07-12-2005, 01:14 AM

I've been told that yellow jackets are "territorial."

This gives me a somewhat uneasy feeling, especially when they're building a nest directly under my deck, or when they fly into the rearview mirror housing or the gap between the door and the front fender of the SD....

Botnst · #26 07-12-2005, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnhef

you hit the nail on the head, thats exactly the way I am.

I remember seeing some freaking huge wasp looking ones in the past, about the size of the carpenter bees if not slightly larger. Close to 2 inches in size. I avoid those at all costs, their stinger had to be as big as a doctors needle (but would hurt much more!)

Did it look like a yellow-jacket on steroids, but with a down-curved abdomen? That BMF may have been a cicada-killer.

Check the photo at the bottom of the page, link below. Aaaaaahhhhhh!!!

http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~hollidac/cicadakillerhome.html

boneheaddoctor · #27 07-12-2005, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Botnst

Did it look like a yellow-jacket on steroids, but with a down-curved abdomen? That BMF may have been a cicada-killer.

Check the photo at the bottom of the page, link below. Aaaaaahhhhhh!!!

http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~hollidac/cicadakillerhome.html

I saw one of those the first time a couple weeks ago.....my god those are huge....I did a double take when I saw it.

stayalert · #28 07-12-2005, 10:00 AM

every few weeks or so I monitor/inspect my house and outbuildings for bees nests. In the evvening when I get home from work I take a hockey stick and knock down the hives and stomp them with my feet. I rarely encounter a nest greater than a walnut using this frequency.

I have no known allergies to stings but firnly believe that I am lucky to be alive. When I was an infant my whole family was picking eldeberries. My older sister stepped on a large ground hornet's nest. The baby sitter who was holding me dropped me and ran away with the rest of the family (through the overgrowth back to the road/car) My mother realized waht happened and ran back in, picked me up and ran out while brushing the hundreds of hornets off of me. She siad I was completely covered with them. That was in ~1966, I still have a slight grudge against eldeberries.

Zeus · #29 07-12-2005, 10:23 AM

Ah, paper wasps, yellowjackets...just be happy you don't have these flying around...

http://www.olympus.co.jp/en/magazine/pursuit/feature_article/jan2003/index.cfm

Check out the videos. I still get nightmares about these guys.

I hate wasps/hornets. Bees I don't mind. Every spring I patrol my property like a paranoid sentry, looking under eaves, deck, etc. You can usually get a jump on them by killing a queen as she tries to start building her nest, esp. with bald faced hornets. Ba$tards all of them!

The worst is in the fall, when they feed on fermenting fruit and become drunk! Anyone else ever notice how wasps/hornets act 'stupid' in the later summer/early fall? When I used to do roofing, I'd hate the late summer for this very reason. Nothing like hanging on the edge of a steep roof and being swarmed by clouds of drunk, stinging wasps.

BenzOnline · #30 07-12-2005, 10:33 AM

Whats that type of wasp called...the one that is pretty big and has the stinger in the back that keeps moving up and down when its resting on something?

I get the shakes from fright when I see one of these or any giant wasp!

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