Remove bugs and bees from my property

[Tim Offutt]

Johm,
Kind of off topic but you mentioned problems with varmits. Maybe this will help....

Red squirrels, piney squirels, chipmunks are everywhere on my place. In the last 12 months I have spent over $2,000 on vehicle repairs caused by the varmits chewing the wiring. Not to mention the damage to the interiors. They will get inside any vehicle. Even my car that I drive everyday.

I have had tail lights, head lights, fuel pumps (3 times), heated seats, 4-wheel drive actuators, starter, etc on four different vehicles, a backhoe and a tractor. On my F350 they get my fuel pump wires just where they enter the tank. The last time I got lucky and they left me a 1/4" length so I could solder back together and then cover them with metal flex conduit. I replaced it twice myself before I got smart and protected the wires. The pump costs over $300 and you have to pull the bed to get to it.

Someone told me about using 5 gallon buckets that are half filled with water and a 2x4 for a ramp. Sprinkle sunflower seeds on the surface of the water with a few on the ramp. The little demons run up, jump in to get the seeds and that is their end. If you soak the seeds in vegetable oil they will float longer. I have caught dozens plus quite a few mice. They are still around but I see less than before.

We tried live traps, rat traps and even a Rat Zapper that is supposed to electrocute them. Nothing worked as well as the bucket of water trap. We used to have a couple great cats that probably kept them in check but the exploding coyote population took them out.

I am not a person who likes to kill things, but enough was enough.

Tim

[Greg Portland]

John,
You need to eliminate the three things that the wasps are looking for:

1) Food
2) Shelter / nestable area
3) Moisture

It sounds like you've done pretty well with #1 (no fruits/berries on property, etc.). Are there any dead animal carcasses on your property (dead squirrel caught in a trap, etc.)? Protein is like candy to wasps.

I think you're popular because your property has 100s of pre-dug holes for nests (thanks to the rodent population). As Tim mentioned, a few good cats will take care of the rodent problem but foxes/coyotes will eat them (not sure how prevalent those species are in your area).

I have seen fake paper-mache nests that you can purchase. Wasps are supposedly territorial and won't build near existing nests. I'm not sure if this works at all but it may be worth trying @ $10?

[Mike Cutler]

John

I'm in Kewaunee Wisconsin right now, but if you still have the problem when I get back in, 2 weeks, PM me, and I'll see if I can't help you out. I have over 20 years of experience with Beekeeping.
The bald face hornets will have to be taken at nite when they all return, or you'll just have a bunch of confused agitated hornets on your hands. They also have to be carefully bagged and gassed, they are extremely agressive and are still active at note, and in sub freezing temps.
They yellow jackets need to be sprayed and that just requires me to put on my suit, bait traps are a better solution though.
Your long term solution is unfortunately a little more involved. Whatever attracted the little flying bugs in the first instance is now augmented with chemically released phermones that will continue to attract them.

[Zach England]

I actually think I am going to get beehives in my backyard. I just found out that they only have to be five feet from the property line, so I would be able to make room. I am excited. Then I'd be harvesting my own tree fruit, vegetables, eggs, the occasional chicken and honey all on my .09 acre (most of which is house).

[David Weaver]

I'd read the msds on things before i sprayed them. Sevin is bad news, I don't know about malathion, but none of them are probably very good in the long term.

Traps and sealing places where you find nests is probably a good idea, and perhaps the investment in some no-sting clothing (ask a beekeeper maybe) would be in order to help.

I understand your troubles - we have paper wasps all over the place - they love to build nests in the attic in the spring, but when it gets to be summer, it's too hot and they fall out of the attic steps like drunks, until they cool off and then they fly again. when it gets that hot, then i physically go remove their nests, they are alarmingly non-aggressive, but they have a very painful sting if you accidentally step on one, and their nature of exploring things (including people) at close range is alarming.

I have had more direct trouble with yellowjackets, which built an underground nest in my compost bin a few years ago (which isn't one of those tootie fruty plastic things they sell to suburbanites, but a large wooden bin that I turn from time to time). I found them by turning the compost, and then they found me in numbers. They don't hesitate to sting, and my pastor-neighbor makes it so that even when they're pounding the crap out of me, I have to bite my tongue when I run away. I gave them sevin.

If you have trees, you'll always have bees in the spring, because they'll pollinate the trees before other sources of pollen are available. But they shouldn't be around your level much when they're doing that.

(I've also had the experience of getting stung in the top lip by a bumble bee - when I was 4 at the zoo, because I didn't want to share a sno-cone with the bee and attempted to get in a contest to see who could eat the sno-cone faster. My dad always told me to look at a bumble bee's face, and if it had a white dot, no sting, and if no white dot, it was capable of stinging. I don't know if that's true or not.).

[Matt Meiser]

The pheromone bait for those traps is pretty useless but the overall design isn't bad. The keys to getting them to work is filling them with either cider vinegar or apple juice, sugar and decaying insects. I had a real problem with those big, nasty European Hornets destroying my Lilac bushes last year and was having a hard time nabbing them. Once I switched to cider and sugar I found that the more dead Yellowjackets there were in the traps, the more Hornets I got. Disgusting picture here but with the right bait, they work pretty well.

I put several of them up last week and got a pretty big one. Hopefully it's a queen.


Attachment 230219

Peter, you da man! We've been using apple cider vinegar for a little over a month. Ours look about like yours in terms of quantity but we are also getting a lot of flies. We are seeing very few wasps/horents/yellowjackets but lots of bees around some perennials. And I've seen exactly one fly in the house so far knock on wood. I'm thinking of buying another trap or two. And I forgot about the sugar so we'll have to add that too.

[Jerry Thompson]

You can scare the bees. Just say "Boo Bee."

[ray hampton]

You can scare the bees. Just say "Boo Bee."

who will translate your language to bee lanuage

[Jeff Nicol]

Bugs were hear before us and what they have to use for protection, foraging and eating are just a part of their world and we are allowed to share it with them. Non of us want anyone to get sick or God forbid die from any sort of stinging insect or many of the nasty spiders that lurk in many dark and hidden places. So just like what has already been said the best defense is a good offense or if it is too much trouble to live with all the biting critters your options are few. One would build a dome with a self contained atmosphere or move out of the country into a condo somewhere where the hired help keep the riff raff and the critters under control.

I am not sure how many thousands or perhaps millions of nasty bugs are out there, but the only way to get rid of them is to destroy the earth, and if we wait long enough it looks like it is on its way.

Life is full of inconvienences,

Stay unstung,

Jeff

[Van Huskey]

I had forgotten about this thread but when it was resurrected I thought of the new "pest" we have in our neighborhood... a gator. They have been around from time to time but this one has decided to set up shop. Guess it is time to call Troy Landry (Swamp People) and get him to "choot it".

[Matt Meiser]

who will translate your language to bee lanuage

Bzz Bzzz Bz Bz Bzzzz

[Jim Koepke]

There are many things to do that will help to minimize the problems associated with many insect pests.

There are many plants that attract certain species and just as many that will repel different species.

I have wiped out a few hives by using the hornet sprays available at the Borg stores.

Follow directions and do this as late in the day as can be done. I usually buy two cans just in case.

For regular honey bees, plants like feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) are disliked and avoided by bees. Tanacetum pyrethrum is actually used to make insecticides and is not harmful to most animals.

Also search for wasp repellant plants or bee repellant plants.

jtk

[Peter Kelly]

Peter, you da man! We've been using apple cider vinegar for a little over a month. Ours look about like yours in terms of quantity but we are also getting a lot of flies. We are seeing very few wasps/horents/yellowjackets but lots of bees around some perennials. And I've seen exactly one fly in the house so far knock on wood. I'm thinking of buying another trap or two. And I forgot about the sugar so we'll have to add that too.

That's awesome! Like I said, apple juice works pretty well too. I've also made some carpenter bee traps, caught around 30 of 'em so far. Simple but works amazingly well.

bee_trap.jpg

[Mike Holbrook]

I did not read every post in this thread. I see, however, that there is considerable confusion regarding a couple very different species of insects. I have been a bee keeper for some 20-30 years and during that time I don't think I have been stung by a bee other than while I was pulling a hive apart. I get stung regularly by yellow jackets and wasps, when I unwittingly disturb their nests. I run a dog park on 12 acres and have to deal with these guys throughout the warmer seasons. The worst time is the fall when yellow jackets build under ground nests and the cooler weather starts killing off the supply of other insects they normally feed on just at the time they have their largest nests. Run over one of those nests on a mower or just walk to close to it and there is a high probability of getting stung. When I have dangerous nests, I pore a oil & diesel fuel mix down the hole, then I throw a match on it. I wait to do this until just before or at dark when all the little rascals are in their nest instead of flying around looking for trouble. If you burn or poison a nest during the day when most the little guys are out of the nest you will be attacked by returning insects and guards and miss the larger part of the colony. The oil slows them down long enough for me to set the nest on fire. Of course this may not be a safe procedure for many people in many localities and I do not recommend it for most people. I have to get rid of them before they get to dogs or people who walk our trails every day.

Yellow Jackets
Most of the insects that sting people are either wasps or yellow jackets. Yellow Jackets are nasty little suckers who live in nests in the ground and will defend the area of their nest with considerable enthusiasm. Just walk in the general area and you may find a sizable number trying to punish you for infringement. They are also attracted to disturbed ground and food & drinks. Late in the fall when their natural food of other insects grows thin and they are trying to put away food for the winter they will show up in great numbers at picnics or anywhere the ground has been disturbed.... revealing other insects for them to feast on. These creatures look like bees to many but they are much more aggressive and I would guess they are responsible for 9 out of 10 stings people attribute to bees.

Wasps-Hornets
Are also largely predatory species. Some species which build smaller nests in hidden areas will defend the area similarly to yellow jackets. These guys can build a paper or mud nest in a a hurry, often in a place frequented by humans. Some wasps, hornets, yellow jackets will build larger hanging nests in low hanging branches of trees. They will defend the nest and the whole area vigorously. Unfortunately many people do not see the nest that they got too close to.

Bees
Bees are constantly raised and selected for calmness by commercial and hobby bee keepers, who at this point due to the many diseases, mites...plaguing bees, are the major contributors to the "wild' population. You have to step on most bees or really irritate the hive to get them to sting you. They live off nectar from flowers where wasps and yellow jackets are more often predatory insects. You don't see most of the bees around most of the time because they harvest nectar from trees higher up in foliage. Clover and other lower flowering plants, like black berries, do attract them when they are in mass bloom and the most abundant flowers in an area. Many have heard of "Killer Bees" or "Africanized Bees which is a hybrid bee created from an african bee that is very aggressive. Many years ago some were predicting that they would be all over the US and very dangerous. This has not happened as many though it might, the few reports of problems with these bees, thus far, have been restricted to the deep south. It is a naturally warm weather bee. There are many agriculturist who fear for many flowering crops which have come to depend on bees for pollination. There are some doom sayers who even believe the whole eco system could be negatively influenced. Bees tend to work the most prevalent blooming tree or plant at any given season of the year, this habit has made them very adaptable to pollinating large commercial and natural populations of plants. Actually there were no bees in North America until Europeans "discovered" America and brought their bees with them. The native indians use to call them "white man's flies". Still, bees are a significant contributing part of todays echo system that often gets blamed for other insects transgressions.

I just made another post to a friend who was asking about a swarm of bees near their farm. Swarms may be scary looking but they are generally quite harmless. Swarming has to do with reproducing colonies not some aggressive act. Swarms are large groups of bees leaving an existing colony that has grown too large. The swarm usually leaves with an old queen. The original colony having produced themselves a new queen. The swarm is always close to the preexisting hive. The swarm leaves the colony with their queen and hangs from some object near the hive until scout bees find a location for a new hive, which can be an hour or less or a few days. Swarming bees gouge themselves with so much honey before they leave the hive they can barely fly much less sting someone.

If you do not have flowering plants or a good place for bees to make a hive near/in your house you want see them.

[ray hampton]

[QUOTE=Mike Holbrook;1934271]I did not read every post in this thread. I see, however, that there is considerable confusion regarding a couple very different species of insects. I have been a bee keeper for some 20-30 years and during that time I don't think I have been stung by a bee other than while I was pulling a hive apart. I get stung regularly by yellow jackets and wasps, when I unwittingly disturb their nests.


how often do paper wasps build their nests in your car or truck ? I found a small nest in my car door opening