| Author | Message | ||
     Stingaroo |
Bees have invaded my parents property!!! Yesterday while mowing grass, I found an underground yellowjacket nest near bush outfront. Then while weedwacking I found another one near a pole in the front yard! This morning I started mixing concrete for the new carport Dad had just erected. I walked out to pick up another 75lb bag of the mix, when bam, not 2 feet from the skid i had stacked yesterday, there is another underground nest! So I decided to run to the store and get some kind of powder to sprinkle tonite. I walked over to where I had the Buell parked to run to the store and found about 10 or so bees sitting on it! I backed up and saw a nest right by the wall where we usualy park our bikes throughout the day! So I jumped on Dad's Road Glide which was parked in the shop and went to Agway. they gave me a bag of Sevin-5 and told me to sprinkle it around the nest. An old farmer in there said to put a 5 gallon bucket of sugar water out front and wathc them drown. Another fella said to pour gas down the hole and lite it! So my question to you is, what is the best course of action when dealing with underground bees? We are trying to take care of it ourselves and call up the expensive termainator as a last resort! I will have to wait till tonite to reclaim my Cyclone! Thanks! | ||
| 98s1lightning |
Its easy, WD40 and a match, point, spray and light. | ||
| Spiderman |
gas and a match! FIRE, FIRE, FIIIRE!  | ||
| Mikej |
A guy here at the office buys old cannister type vacuums with a hose, puts the hose near the nest hole, turns it on and leaves it run overnight and all day. Every so often he sprays bug killer down the hole, and inside he puts a bug killer saturated rag before turning it on. I've trapped honey bees out of a hollow tree before by putting a screen-funnel over the opening and putting an empty beehive box next to it, honey bees can fly out but have a hard time figuring out how to get back in so they just move into the new box for later relocation. Yellowjackets are different though. You can try a daily bug spraying at the opening until they decide to find a happier place to live. | ||
| Xb9ser |
wait till after dark so they will all be there and not active.I pour in about cup of gas and cover the hole, the fumes kill them. No need to lite it, it is alot safer close to house or bike!! | ||
| Spiderman |
Go WWII on their asses!  | ||
| Mm128 |
BE CAREFULL with gas down a HOLE !!! Dont ask how I know... but if you pour TOOO MUCH... well it makes for a VERY interesting time. But... It WILL WORK... Matt. (LEO SOUTH GA.) | ||
| Tx05xb12s |
I was just over at some land my dad and I purchased this past weekend and we came across the same problem. There was a beehive in the ground under an old rotten stump with about three entrances, so we dumped gas into all the entranceways and left them alone for awhile. Later in the day, we could still see some bees flying around, so we went back with about 1/2 gallon of gas in a large coffee can. He poured and I hit it with the pyrotechnics. No more bees. We consider it a job well done.  | ||
| Alchemy |
Anyone try waiting until evening and then pouring boiling water down the hole? With well water, pouring gas into the soil seems risky to the water supply. | ||
| Court |
Try finding positive alternatives. . . . think "outside the hive".  | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
I use a 50/50 mix of gas & diesel, pour it in, leave for half an hour, then light using a long stick! | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
C'mon Court. We know you've been out of the "country" for a while, but you have to remember what yellow jackets are like. Evil little bastards! I parked a running mower over the hole. The vibration made them angry. The blades removed the anger. Problem solved. | ||
| Davegess |
Bees, I leave them alone, we have a hive somewhere in the front lawn and see a ton of bees in the spring but after the ground warms up they are no where to be seen. Very docile. Yellow jackets, which are wasps, are a different matter. Those suckers are nasty and need to be handled with care. If you stir up a nest watch out! I would approach the nest wearing with heavy long sleeve shirt and pants to reduce your exposure just in case. Be sure to have an exit strategy, a place to run to just in case. | ||
| Stingaroo |
Thanks guys! Ok, I am all stocked up with every method you guys have suggested (minus flamethrower which I wish I had. Maybe I could build one!). Tonite will be game on! I have so far discovered 6 hives, they have all appeared in the past week. Lets make this a science experiment. I will try straight gas down the one in the bank, the Sevin-5 powder near the wall where my bike is parked (after I move it), the Shopvac at the post out front, hot water with soapfor the one at the corner of the house, make a home made trap for the suspected hole, and gas/diesel mix with pyro for the one under Mom' favorite bush!!! LETS GET IT ON!! or just do all the methods on every hole, claiming Total War on their inconsiderate ways! I am gong to wait till things come down a little bit, take some pics before it gets dark, take a few more during the experiment, and post results tommorrow. All I would really like to free my bike from their clutches now, and be able to finish the concrete job tommorrow. I guess I am going to spend the rest of the day cleaning up the shop, and working on the WLA... anyone familiar with M88 Linkert carbs? It was rebuilt last month but still needs tuned in. PS I talked to the local beekeeper down on Glenville Rd, he doesn't want anything to do with them since they would have to be dug up. | ||
| Nocompromise |
Here's a great thread on one man's battle with bees: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?th readid=2243176 | ||
| Bartimus |
LOL, Nocompromise, that was excellent! Ya gotta love their determination in resolving the issue in a childlike manner! The pictures and the story were great! | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
I came home from work one day about 12 years ago and entered the front door like I always do. I heard a faint buzzing noise and turned around. I saw a HUGE clump of bees on the inside of the front door. Apparently they came in through the mail slot, and decided to swarm and mass in my hallway. I called the city beekeeper. Yes there is a NYC beekeeper, but he was on vacation. I had to do something. There were three doors in the hallway - one to my apartment, one to the upstairs apartment, and one to the basement. I had a plan. I went to the basement and got a bic lighter and a can of ether. I was going to roast the living hell out of them. I had closed the other doors and left my apartment door open. I began the assault. Very bad idea. I aimed the ether and hit the button while simultaneously firing up the Bic lighter. A few dozen bees from the first "layer" fell, but apparently this pissed of the other 25,000 or so. They began their attack. I knew I couldn't hold them off so I dove into my apartment and slammed the door. The swarm sounded like a bunch of 2-stroke scooters racing around in my hallway. I was trapped in my apartment. I had another plan. I climbed out my window to the sidewalk below, much to the puzzlement of passersby. I ran to the nearest corner store and got me a bug bomb. I entered the house through the basement and carefully and quickly cracked the door to the hallway and tossed the grenade. Fire in the hole! About 1/2 hour later I heard no more angry 2-strokes in the hallway, and peeked in to see piles of dead bees. I had to shovel them out, and weeks later I was still finding dead bees in odd places. The next day I came home and found a similar clump of bees on the eaves of the house. It was too high for one of those aerosol wasp killer cans. So I got the garden hose and blasted them while simultaneously feeding wasp killer into the stream. Again they bugged out and I inflicted numerous casualties. Fast forward to day 3. Now a huge clump had formed on the sycamore tree and was hanging over the sidewalk. This time enough people called the city, that they dispatched NYC's Bravest, the NYFD, who arrived with a cherry picker, chainsaw and giant cardboard box. They drew straws to see who would saw, and who would hold the box. Needless to say they got the clump into the box with a few stings and that was the last we saw of them. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
I about peed my pants. That bee pictorial display was hilarious. Rarely does one have photographic evidence of "Hey Bubba, watch this!" Brilliant! The comments were classic. | ||
| Rotzaruck |
I sure hope someone is (or was) there with a camera when Stingeroo makes his attack. In fairness to the bees and viewing public it really should be done in the daytime though. It's going to take a pretty good show to out do Nocomp's bee killers though. GO STINGEROO!!!!! Stingerood? Stungerood? Rotzaruck!!! | ||
| Blake |
Alchemy nailed it. Forget all the nasty stuff, just wait until night and pour a large pot of boiling water down the hole. Done it plenty of times. It always works. One large nest required a repeat the following evening. Pouring gasoline into the ground is not a good thing. For one, it's unfriendly to the environment and for two, it will destroy vegetation including grass/lawn in the area for a long time. | ||
| Nocompromise |
I hadn't read that thread I posted for quite a while. I just reread it and it made me LOL all over again - 2 QUARTS OF 87 OCTANE GASOLINE REPORTING FOR DUTY SIR! | ||
| Stingaroo |
Good news! Bees almost extinct! I got my bike back in the shop as soon as nite would mask my movements. Last nite, Dad forbid me from utilizing gasoline or Diesel full. He still recalls the time when He asked me and Prior to clean out the grass behind our house to put in a patio about 7 years ago. After digging for about 10 minutes and not getting anywhere Prior and I had taken diesel fuel dumped in on the grass and burned it out. a little bit of scorched landscaping timbers, and a little warped siding... So I stayed away from too much pyro. Dad works nite shift, so I had to go at this alone (Mom would not come out and take pics) each hole I utilized boiling Hot water with some left over chemicals my Neighbor Phil the Farmer gave me. He mixed it up, gave me a measuring cup, and said put thuis much per 5 gallons of water. Next I took a shop vac to one hole near the post, but only sucked up mud and debris. Must be worn out. Then I put Sevin-5 in each hole, and around it. Your supposed to mix one pound per 1,000Sq ft when using on crops, I instead used one pound per 5-10 inches. I then used a shovel handle to shove it down the hole, and sprinkled more around it incase any tried crawling out. This morning I found another entrance to one on the bank near a rock, so I took an empty concrete bag I had, lit it, and shoved it in the hole. I put it out with a garden hose, and wathced for about 10 minutes. Nothing came out, so I stuffed it with rocks, and will concrete over it in a spell haha!     | ||
| Stingaroo |
Sorry I could not match the Bubba way of doing things, but hey the job is done! I might have to take Blakes advise and dump some more hot water down a hole or two tonite, but the air traffic around here has slowed down considerably! Oh yeah, the bike is safe!  | ||
| Stingaroo |
Any one wanna swing by Hanover PA to help with some concrete? About half way done...  PS thel ast picture of the nest on the bank is right outside the entrance to the carport. (Message edited by stingaroo on August 15, 2007) | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
"Smells like....Victory!"  | ||
| Microchop |
Mulitple little nests... sounds like paperwasps. They look like yellow jeckets, but uglier, and I hear their sting is really painful. We're talking paper-like nests, colonies of less than 50. My parents seem to have continuous problem with them, whenever it gets warm. we spray "golden jet" on them, but they just keep coming back, a few days later. | ||
| Coal400 |
Here's a little tip if you get stung. Meat tenderizer - no joke. Enzymaticly destroys the venom in the sting. Just make a thick past with a little water and rub it in - leave a nice coating. Trust me, it really works... oh, and keep some benadryl around in case you're allergic. Might give you some time to get to the ER... | ||
| U4euh |
Looks like a frog in the last pic with the powder stuff(I know it is roots of some sort, but still looks like something got flattened!) |
