Yellow Jackets?

[Willow]

I really didn't want to hijack Tim's (Sherry's) thread, but depending upon what part of the U.S. one is in, a yellow jacket is either a longer wasp like creature or a stubby bee like creature.

When I was growing up in Oklahoma, we had black and yellow wasps that built paper type hanging nests.  When I was in south Georgia, it seems what they called yellow jackets were more bee like in appearance and I think would sometimes nest in the ground?

Which was it that got Sherry, Tim?  What is a yellow jacket to the rest of us?

[Fudd]

When I was growing up in Oklahoma, we had black and yellow wasps that built paper type hanging nests. 

It sounds like you are describing a "hornet."

[hubcapsc]

In South Carolina we call the yellow bees that come out of the ground with a vengeance
yellow jackets...



I roused up a bunch of them with the bush hog not long ago, but didn't get stung.

Seems like, as little kids, one of us would always step in a nest in the fall while we were hunting
muscadines in the woods, and they'd chase us... a long way... all the way back home...
like Sherry... I remember looking over my shoulder and seeing Walter Robinson running
behind me with a cloud of yellow jackets around his head...

I used to have to avoid a big nest at a creek crossing in the woods when mountain bike
riding, one day I got there and some critter had dug up the nest and I guess ate them...
we need more of those critters!

-Mike

[fudgie]

Are yellow jackets and hornets the same thing? We got ones that make the paper nests and call them yj's. Ones that nest in the ground we call ground hornets. They seem to be a hair fatter then the yj's.

Years ago we had a nest in the ceiling of the chicken coop. G-pa went out and sprayed them at night but stood under the nest while doing it. He was wearing bibs. 

[Jabba]

I agree with Hubcap.  What he shows is my opinion of a yellow jacket.  They nest in the ground.  Are a lot more aggressive than regular old paper wasps, but not as contankerous as a white faced hornet, which makes the big, hanging paper nests.

For the record... an LP tank and a roofing torch work well on either type, as you can engulf their WHOLE world in a ball of fire too intense for them to get out of to attack.  I have done it a few times successfully, but they have to be all home when you launch the strike. 

Jabba

[Bonzo]

There are two types of yellow jackets around here, one that is ground dwelling or in tree hollows and a less aggressive nesting type. I believe one is a European import. We also got those Black and White Bald face Wasp's around here. I was trimming hedges last year and they "bump me" twice, for some reason I backed up and stopped trimming. Lucky me! Two were hovering right over a HUGE nest in the junipers.

[Grumpy]

Yellow jackets
Size:
   1/2 inch in size.
Type:
   Social Wasp
Population:
   Up to 5,000 members per nest. Nests have multiple layers.
US Region:
   Yellow Jackets are popular in the north east, mid east and south east regions.

Often mistaken for honeybees, yellow jackets are a bit smaller in size, and are also brighter yellow as to the more orange color of honeybees. Yellow jackets may have a rapid side to side flight pattern prior to landing. They are scavengers eating meats and sweets and often found in parks or disrupting parties, picnics or other park events. Yellow jackets are sometimes called meat wasps, meat bees, or hornets. They have a stinger without barbs and can sting repeatedly without dying. Yellow jacket stings most often cause a swelling reaction followed by itching for a couple days. They are very aggressive defenders and are generally found nesting in holes in the ground; though occasionally nest in wall voids and attics. Seasonally, yellow jacket colony’s reach a size of 4,000 and 5,000 workers and a nest of 10,000 and 15,000 cells in August and early September. Like all wasps, yellow jackets abandoned their nest by late autumn. It’s generally considered unwise to try to remove a yellow jackets nest yourself.

Occasionally yellow jackets can end up in the house in large numbers. This is usually preceded by a slow growing wet spot on the ceiling, caused from liquid dripping from the established nest onto the drywall day after day. Every so often, a curious homeowner will poke or push their finger right through the deteriorated ceiling and end up with an unfortunate surprise.

Yellow jackets attached to the house will not survive through winter. However, the queens abandon the nest and will hibernate until early spring, with 95% of them hibernating in attics. If you have yellow jackets in your attic, one thing you can do to discourage them returning next year is to put up some chemical cards labeled for yellowjackets like "hot shot," perhaps one to every 3 studs / bays. Yellow jacks tend to choose either the eave or the foundation of the house, and occasionally where the chimney and the wall meet.

http://www.adkinsbeeremoval.com/wasp-identification.php

[RedValk]

In South Carolina we call the yellow bees that come out of the ground with a vengeance
yellow jackets...



I roused up a bunch of them with the bush hog not long ago, but didn't get stung.

Seems like, as little kids, one of us would always step in a nest in the fall while we were hunting
muscadines in the woods, and they'd chase us... a long way... all the way back home...
like Sherry... I remember looking over my shoulder and seeing Walter Robinson running
behind me with a cloud of yellow jackets around his head...

I used to have to avoid a big nest at a creek crossing in the woods when mountain bike
riding, one day I got there and some critter had dug up the nest and I guess ate them...
we need more of those critters!

-Mike

it's these....and....i just got a call from the hosptal....she's back in....high blood pressure...severe swelling....seems she's not out of the woods yet. i need to go.........so i'm off.......

[FLAVALK]

Those nasty critters are usually found underground. My little brother (10-yo at the time) stepped in a hole full of em. They ate his ass up.....

Hope your wife gets better quick!!

[Warlock]

Are yellow jackets and hornets the same thing? We got ones that make the paper nests and call them yj's. Ones that nest in the ground we call ground hornets. They seem to be a hair fatter then the yj's.

Years ago we had a nest in the ceiling of the chicken coop. G-pa went out and sprayed them at night but stood under the nest while doing it. He was wearing bibs. 

Nope. Down here we yellow jackets that makes it's home in the ground. Then we have Jennie(sp) wasp that makes a nest that hangs down. Then you have hornets that makes like a big nest
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ranger146.com/hornet_nest.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.ranger146.com/images.html&h=1280&w=960&sz=585&tbnid=HOuRl25YzgIsJM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=68&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhornet%2Bnest%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=hornet+nest&usg=__wO9iDemqULGZDn0ELGeKhSVAJzo=&sa=X&ei=d-4dTofGGsXJsQLdvtD9Bw&ved=0CC4Q9QEwBA&dur=4232
David

[Fudd]

+1 on Warlock's descriptions

Except Jennie's?  That must be what we call "guinea wasps" or "Ginnie's."

Whatever, they all hurt like hell.

[Jess Tolbirt]

the ones I call yellow jackets look like the picture above but they build nest that hang down,, usually under the eves of the house or under the dash of your boat,,,the little bastards are mean as hell and will nail you 3 or 4 times each...you can  die from them,,,the first sting feels like a cigarette burn and if you swat him then you will have the rest of the colony getting you,,,i have no clue how Noah got them on the boat but he should have left them behind,,,

[Stanley Steamer]

I'm only allergic to the PAIN......I was cutting down some Pine trees a few months back while at work and had some come out of the ground and sting me 12 or so times on the back of my hands through the cotton gloves with rubber dipped fronts......pissed me off and my hands itched for a while.....I had my boss bring me some Bee sting capsules since our first aid kit was devoid of them.....somebody had used the old ones and never replaced them.....

The Wasp and Hornet killer you can buy at the store will flat knock the yellow jackets down fast.....gas and other flammable liquids are frowned upon in my line of work even though they are effective too....kills a lot more than just the bees.....

You guys should watch some of the shows about the "Killer Bees".....I think those are Africanized bees that are very aggressive and have been making their way North colonizing with honey bees to make super aggressive bees....Y'all keep them out YONDER please!!.....

[Psychotic Bovine]

For added nightmares, google Japanese Giant Hornet.  They supposedly call them sparrow hornets due to them being nearly the size of sparrows.  I wish I were making that up!

[hubcapsc]

OK, I googled the wiki page for the japanese hornet...

  Being stung is extremely painful and requires hospital treatment.



-Mike "I wonder if that guy is dead..."

[Psychotic Bovine]

I guess they only attack if they feel threatened.  Don't know about you, but I really don't want to wait for it to tell me that it feels threatened.  I will just avoid them at all costs, and we can both go about our business.

[Quicksilver]

Ran onto a nest of bumble bees out cutting hay with a team of horses, thank goodness they were well trained, I'm sure they got stung. I jumped off the mower and got about 100 feet away, still got stung on my hand and it was swollen like a baseball in a matter of minutes. The horses didn't move until I told them to move ahead well away from the bees. Putting in fencing near the swamp my Dad was nailing a strand of Barbed wire to a dead tree and the bumblebees swarmed out. I can still see him trying to get away from them swatting away with his straw hat and they chased him for half a mile, he started out running towards me, I yelled at him to run the other way, I didn't want them after me too. The straw hat was toast when he was done. I saw him jump to the ground off a load of loose hay when I was a kid, getting away from a bee. For him it's a phobia I guess. We thought it was very funny then. Someone told me when I was a kid that you wouldn't get stung if you didn't move, (they lied), a bunch of us were in an old barn and somebody knocked a nest down, well everybody took off running but me, I stood still, and got stung 5 or 6 times for my trouble. My uncle Elmer knew something about bees and wasps, he had me remove a nest from a tractor. He had me wait for a rainy day. I took an oat bag, walked right up to the nest, put the bag over it and broke off where it was attached, tied the top of the bag with some twine. Threw it into the creek. They sure made a lot of noise busing when I was carrying it to the creek. I didn't get stung though, they were all in the nest.

[Thunderbolt]

Yellow Jackets build nests underneath overhangs.  Hornets usually around here either build a BIG nest in a tree or in the ground.
Guy at work told me that all you need to get rid of the ones that have the nest underneath an overhang is some soapy water.  I tried it and it seemed to work.  Couldn't beleive it.

[Devl]

OK, I googled the wiki page for the japanese hornet...

  Being stung is extremely painful and requires hospital treatment.



-Mike "I wonder if that guy is dead..."

O.K.   THAT IS A BIG FRICKEN INSECT.  They can keep them in Japan!!!

[fudgie]

We got cicada killers around here. Talk about big wasps.

[rainman]

Like jabba said around here we call them yellow jackets they build a paper nest like pancakes and their nest can get very large.  Just about a year ago I was brush hogging my field and was just about done when I ran over a nest of these little B!!!!!! and didn’t know it has was going down the other side of the strip that I was brush hogging  something got me on top of my head didn’t think anything about and just kept on going.  Will has I turned the tractor to start back down the other side witching as I always do the grass was no longer green.  The grass had turned yellow  knowing that I was in trouble I gave the tractor a hard turn to the right but I guess the brush hog ran back over the nest and It was over you can bet that I was doing a dance and it wasn’t for rain.  The two ladies that turned around to help me said that I was really doing a high step like they had never seen before and all they could see was a yellow cloud all over me.
Later that night I sent these little devils back to hell where they belong.  I always go after them after nigh fall because most of them are back in the nest.  I put gas in nest hole take a shovel brake the ground up around the nest and use some old motor oil and tossed match on them and said by-by DEMON’S.
This nest was the biggest one I have seen for a long time the paper nest was in the ground about 18” down and about 14” across there was 34 of these pancake paper nest I got stung just about everywhere in mouth, between my fingers in my ears , noise, eye lids under my arms my arms up my pant legs maybe would have been easier to tell where I didn’t get stung I hurt like hell for the rest of that day and night and the following day.  And I bet you this won’t be the last time

[FryeVRCCDS0067]

Are yellow jackets and hornets the same thing? We got ones that make the paper nests and call them yj's. Ones that nest in the ground we call ground hornets. They seem to be a hair fatter then the yj's.

Years ago we had a nest in the ceiling of the chicken coop. G-pa went out and sprayed them at night but stood under the nest while doing it. He was wearing bibs. 

That matches our definitions in my part of Indiana too. They are both bad a$$ bees. Son Andy stepped on and collapsed a nest of ground hornets while posting a target a few years ago and was covered in the stinging critters. He ran 1/2 mile to my inlaws and they were able to wipe many of the still stinging critters off his back. He's not allergic to bees in any way but he was swollen, shaking, sweating and sick afterwards.

We went back a few days latter when his swelling went down, drove up to the nest and threw a can of foaming wasp and hornet spray on it. Then we drove 250 yards away and he shot the can with his 308. He had a very satisfied look on his face when the can blew up. There were so many of the things flying around then it made the vegetation look like it was shimmering through our scopes. They were all dead when we went back the next day.

Hope Sherry heals quick. Those are scary critters. Andy had his car there when he stepped into the nest but the windows were down and they were so thick inside, even appearing to be stinging the dash and seats that he elected to just run.

[Daniel Meyer]

What we call yellowjackets here are really a paper wasp, yellow and black...and extremely aggressive. They build the big paper nests, can hang from an eave or be under a house, and even in the ground. As with all social wasps, piss one off and they all go for you.

We also have a large variety of hornets and other wasps...often hornet or wasp is an interchangeable term. Pretty much anything red is called a hornet though most are wasps...

But, basically, if it stings, and it's not a honey bee, it's all out chemical warfare baby!

[T-Bird]

We got cicada killers around here. Talk about big wasps.

They probably can't stand the noise of the Cicadas

[3fan4life]

Want to know just how tough those little boogers are?





Here are a couple of them eating on a dead Copperhead.

Took this PIC a couple of years ago while out riding some National Forest roads,  

[B]

Unbelievable
http://www.firerescue1.com/fire-products/cafs/articles/1077825-Semi-wreck-spilling-14M-honeybees-draws-Idaho-firefighters/

[Kidd]

In Arizona , we've mostly paper wasp , not aggressive .
Soapy water   suffocates them , make sure there's enough  soap in the solution.

Lots of scorpions and spiders here .
I work in pest control  and treat these pest often .

[sheets]

Yellow Jacket... in my neck of the woods. Aggressive mean spirited little boogers. I mow a portion of my place with a string-trimmer on wheels. I've run over their nest a few times over the years. That machine really pisses them off.... Unfortunately I'm usually wearing shorts when I'm mowing in the summer. I get nailed three or four times before I can take evasive action. No time to kill the motor on the mower. Just cut and run. I've got scars on my legs from where they've got me. Stings hurt like the dickens... and itch for a long time. The Wasp spray foam works good. Shoots a straight stream from a safe distance. 

[hubcapsc]

      ...I roused up a bunch of them with the bush hog not long ago, but didn't get stung...

      ...I used to have to avoid a big nest at a creek crossing in the woods when mountain bike
         riding, one day I got there and some critter had dug up the nest and I guess ate them...
         we need more of those critters!...

Well, ask and ye shall receive... I noticed this morning that some critter had dug
up the nest I disturbed with the bush hog a few weeks ago... I wish I knew what kind of
critter could withstand bees pouring into its face like water under pressure shooting out
of a four inch pipe... maybe I should google it...

This isn't the answer, but is kind of on topic:

    To the bafflement of insect experts, gigantic yellow jacket nests have started turning up in old barns,
     unoccupied houses, cars and underground cavities across the southern two-thirds of Alabama.

Someone else says coons and skunks and bears will dig out yellow jackets at night.

I think I'd rather have yellow jackets than bears... 

Other posters are talking about using soapy water on them... another trick is to cover the hole to their
nest with a clear bowl or something. They work on instinct and if there's still light coming in, they
don't think to dig out under the edge of the bowl. If you cover them with dirt or something they just
dig out...

-Mike

[RedValk]

      ...I roused up a bunch of them with the bush hog not long ago, but didn't get stung...

      ...I used to have to avoid a big nest at a creek crossing in the woods when mountain bike
         riding, one day I got there and some critter had dug up the nest and I guess ate them...
         we need more of those critters!...

Well, ask and ye shall receive... I noticed this morning that some critter had dug
up the nest I disturbed with the bush hog a few weeks ago... I wish I knew what kind of
critter could withstand bees pouring into its face like water under pressure shooting out
of a four inch pipe... maybe I should google it...

This isn't the answer, but is kind of on topic:

     To the bafflement of insect experts, gigantic yellow jacket nests have started turning up in old barns,
     unoccupied houses, cars and underground cavities across the southern two-thirds of Alabama.

Someone else says coons and skunks and bears will dig out yellow jackets at night.

I think I'd rather have yellow jackets than bears...  

Other posters are talking about using soapy water on them... another trick is to cover the hole to their
nest with a clear bowl or something. They work on instinct and if there's still light coming in, they
don't think to dig out under the edge of the bowl. If you cover them with dirt or something they just
dig out...

-Mike

I live in the southern two thirds of Bama....and...they were in the barn between hay bales...and we have NEVER seen that happen before. We've been putting hay bales in that barn since we built it in 1994...and we've seen fire ants in hay bales...but NEVER yellow jackets. And the nest was HUGE!

[0leman]

I have lived in serveral western states and Minnesota in the last 40 years.  All of them had Yellow Jackets.  All of them little guys lived in the ground and didn't like being disturbed.   So it looks like they are all over the country.   

[czuch]

Carb spray after twilight for the nest. Anytime you water here in Tucson they show up.
Had one in the house and the wife freaked out bigtime.
I opened a window and he went up against the screen where he got introduced to Berryman's finest.

[fudgie]

Anyone have problems with them africanized bees? I remember years ago in school they said they would be bad and taken over most of the US. Havent heard much out of them.

[f-Stop]

Anyone have problems with them africanized bees?

There have been a few documented cases of africanized bee attacks here in Central Texas.  Some have resulted in hospital stays for the victims.   

[YoungPUP]

Was under the house early last summer replacing a few bad floor joists, and One of the guys from the FD that was helping crawled off to the other end of the crawlspace, ( its 24" in the big parts) and then proceeds to ask if me or the other guy are allergic to bees. We both kinda mumble no, and then he says ok I just found a big nest and i'm gonna poke it and see if theres anything inside. ( HOLY CRAP!!!!!! )  Thankfully just spiders but still a waste of a good pair of shorts.......

[FryeVRCCDS0067]

Was under the house early last summer replacing a few bad floor joists, and One of the guys from the FD that was helping crawled off to the other end of the crawlspace, ( its 24" in the big parts) and then proceeds to ask if me or the other guy are allergic to bees. We both kinda mumble no, and then he says ok I just found a big nest and i'm gonna poke it and see if theres anything inside. ( HOLY CRAP!!!!!! )  Thankfully just spiders but still a waste of a good pair of shorts.......

Now that's funny.

[ComradBlack]

Was under the house early last summer replacing a few bad floor joists, and One of the guys from the FD that was helping crawled off to the other end of the crawlspace, ( its 24" in the big parts) and then proceeds to ask if me or the other guy are allergic to bees. We both kinda mumble no, and then he says ok I just found a big nest and i'm gonna poke it and see if theres anything inside. ( HOLY CRAP!!!!!! )  Thankfully just spiders but still a waste of a good pair of shorts.......

Now that's funny.

I have a little trick for taking care of those hangin wasp hives.

Take a propane torch ( a small one for plumbing not the big tiger torch type)
Aim and hold it by the hole at the bottom
They get mad and as they come out, thier wings get burnt off and they fall to the ground.

[YoungPUP]

Ok that'll take their wings off but what about the part where the torch takes MY house off of their house?????

[KW]

Get a common quart size spray bottle from any Dollar Store. Fill it 1/3 full with any type of dish soap, then fill it up with water. It WILL knock the little buggers from the sky, without fail! On a side note; buy a can of wasp spray to have on hand and/or carry in your saddlebags or glove box in a non-carry State. The stuff is more effective than most any legal mace in terms of blinding a bad guy and causing pain AND it will spray much farther, more accurately. It’s just too expensive when compared to dish soap for knocking down wasp and bees.