Lucky you.
We have had a serious decline in honey bees around here. I try to avoid adding to that decline.
I also don’t do too much paper wasp killing unless they are nesting close by.
Even though I have killed hundreds of hornets, I am not winning.
We won’t be able to enjoy our RR soon, or sit outside.
Our wasp invasion has made the news around here. The parks are almost empty of people.
The bucket keeps most of them off in the corner for now. Yesterday they ate a whole chicken breast!
Ken Brunt said:
(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/kenbrunt/swarm02.jpg)
Maybe you should poke them with a stick and see what happens 
Vincent D’Agostino said:
Maybe you should poke them with a stick and see what happens
AH don’t think so…
Had them nesting like that in the back treeline… they’d pick a place, and just pile on… over a weeks time, they moved from one tree to another, almost daily…
John Bouck said:
We have had a serious decline in honey bees around here. I try to avoid adding to that decline. I also don’t do too much paper wasp killing unless they are nesting close by. Even though I have killed hundreds of hornets, I am not winning. We won’t be able to enjoy our RR soon, or sit outside. Our wasp invasion has made the news around here. The parks are almost empty of people. The bucket keeps most of them off in the corner for now. Yesterday they ate a whole chicken breast!
I usually set out some traps in the early spring to get some of the queens wasps, but didn’t this year, to see what would happen. We can’t enjoy a meal out door because of that oversight, where in prior years it wasn’t much of a problem. We even have wasps setting up shop inside some of our buildings on the layout!
I used to think that the Bee Colony Collapse Disorder was due primarily to s virus, and it may still be that, but over use of pesticides like neonicotinoids, pyrethroids and organophosphates play a huge part, too. Our cherry tree has been humming with them the last two years in the spring, so that is hopeful.
Thanks for the thread guys, I have really enjoyed this all. I had hornets take up residence in a shrub out front a couple years back. Didn’t know about it till I was trimming said shrub with my electric trimmers. I think you can figure out the next part of the story. It all ends with me having expended six cans of my preferred aerosol-fired chemical weapons with nothing to show for it. I ended up having to purchase and use a can of Sevin powder… nasty stuff. Ended up killing half the shrub.
I love watching the bug(ger)s do their thing. I just wish someone could come up with something like an ultrasonic transducer that would drive them away for a distance. The bad part is that they have a function in the ecosystem and casual extermination of the hive, while somewhat satisfying, can have strange consequences. Ex: the year i got the hornet hive in my shrub, I had gone the extra mile to eradicate the paper wasps that spring. After that, I just fight the wasps as they show up during the summer, and the hornets haven’t been back. (Full disclosure: they may have been actual yellowjackets rather than hornets, but I didn’t ask them for ID before declaring war)
Steve,
I took out about a dozen queens this spring. Hoping that would keep them from nesting on my property.
That didn’t work.
Wanting to see if there was any nest close by, I will watch the bait and try to follow them with my eye–but they are too fast-------unless they have a wad of chicken in their mouth. Then they are slower. The ones my eye followed went up high and flew off into the distance. So who knows where the nest is. I also noticed three different hives, because they go S, E and W when they leave.
Even with the bait buckets, my wife can’t harvest her garden safely because they are all over in that area as well. By next month, we will not be able to go out at all.
I hope we have a killing winter this year, or next summer will be worse.
John Bouck said:
Steve,
I took out about a dozen queens this spring. Hoping that would keep them from nesting on my property.
That didn’t work.
Wanting to see if there was any nest close by, I will watch the bait and try to follow them with my eye–but they are too fast-------unless they have a wad of chicken in their mouth. Then they are slower. The ones my eye followed went up high and flew off into the distance. So who knows where the nest is. I also noticed three different hives, because they go S, E and W when they leave.
Even with the bait buckets, my wife can’t harvest her garden safely because they are all over in that area as well. By next month, we will not be able to go out at all.
I hope we have a killing winter this year, or next summer will be worse.
John, my thoughts exactly.
If we have another mild winter, I plan to set out your bait bucket(s) early (say mid February) to catch the queens, and then leave them out all summer.
Unlimited war!
**Interesting paper** on wasps and hornets by Peter J. Landolt and Arthur L. Antonelli of Washington State University.
Maybe it the fact I stepped on a Cicada Killer nest when I was about 6 years old that made me immune to these Hornets /Wasp. I well remember it. They chased my butt for almost a mile before giving up. I ended up being stung about a dozen times. The welts were gigantic and they itched something fierce. So, I get home and my mother gives me an alcohol bath and some anti allergy medicine. By the next morning, you would never have known I was ever stung. Anyway, I love Hornets and wasp and Bees. I am fascinated no end by them. Everything from how they fly to how they sting! Ouch!!! I rarely run, but I must confess, I have never ever encountered a swarm of Killer Africanized Bees. Now these guys make Hornets look like nothing. When they chase your butt, they mean to kill you no end. As one fellow found out when he tried to outrun, outflank and basically get away from a nest he happened upon. They chased his butt non stop until he was killed. One man even tried to get into a lake. They actually went after him in the water. Finally after being stung many times, they figured he was dead. Anyway, he went to the hospital and nearly ended up in a coma. He lived. Guess what his occupation is? He is a Bee keeper. LOL I mean really. You cannot make this stuff up. Hornets, generally speaking are docile and friendly so long as you leave them alone. If you step on or interfere with their nesting activities, expect to be stung, but they cannot kill unless you have a specific allergy to them and go into anaphylactic shock requiring immediate medical (911) attention.
I like the bucket idea, but personally, if killer bees show up, even the Hornets have sense enough to know to leave the neighborhood…LOL
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