Mama vs. the Yellow Jackets- Part I

(Note: I would have loved to added some pictures to this post, but after reading this I hope you will understand why I don’t want pictures of them on my blog.  🙂 )

The last few weeks I have noticed a lot of yellow jackets buzzing around our yard- especially by our gate- right where the boys like to play construction.

I knew I should have hung up the yellow jacket traps that we have this spring, to catch the queens, but it seemed to slip my mind. Now we are paying the price.  Yellow jackets are scavengers and fly close to the ground, looking for food.  They can also be aggressive, and unlike honey bees who only sting when they feel very threatened and die, yellow jackets can sting multiple times and they live.  That doesn’t work when you have two little boys, who aren’t scavengers, but do like to sit down on the ground when they are playing.

Last week while hanging up laundry on my clothesline, I noticed tons of yellow jackets flying into a small hole near the fence.  Yellow jackets build their nests underground.  Evidently we have a nest under there.  We bought some yellow jacket killer spray (usually I am not a big fan of insect sprays, but…) and according to the directions, we were to wait until it was dusk or dark, when the yellow jackets are less active, and then point the can nozzle into the hole, and spray away.  The directions said the spray was powerful enough to kill any other yellow jackets that were away from the nest, but who would return.  Then it said to wait 24 hours, and then you could safely remove the nest.

After spraying the nest, I didn’t see any yellow jackets for the next few days.  Yay- problem solved!  So yesterday in a moment of genius stupidity, I decided after lunch to go remove the nest…just like the directions on the can said.  Nevermind it was the heat of day, when yellow jackets are the most active, and I was in a tank top and shorts. 

I started digging with the shovel and didn’t see anything.  I wasn’t exactly sure what I was looking for- I suppose I thought I would see something that looked like a wasp’s nest.  All of a sudden I hit yellow jacket oil!  A swarm of them came up from the ground, and started flying right at me.  I did the only thing I could do- I screamed, batted them away with shovel, and ran my a** back to the house.  

Fortunately I did not get stung, but I was freaked out for hours.  I watched safety from the window, and cursed out the company that put those idiotic directions on their can of yellow jacket spray.  I saw the swarm eventually settle back into their nest, after they figured out the dumb lady with the shovel was gone.    Round 2- yellow jackets. 

I called Joe, and interrupted the class he was teaching and told him I needed him to bring home ammunition- Raid yellow jacket spray (the best I am told) and several more of the Rescue yellow jacket traps.  Spare no expense, I told him-this was war. 

Like any good general preparing to launch a battle,  I read up on yellow jackets on the Internet, and to my horror discovered they can have very complex and big nests underground.  Some can be several, several feet.  One picture I saw the nest was over six feet long.  It also said if the queens don’t die, and the nests aren’t destroyed, the pregnant ones stay dormant for the winter and can survive the cold winters, to emerge in the same nest year, after year, expanding the nest.

We have always had yellow jackets- a few years ago Joe got stung horribly by several yellowjackets in the front yard while mowing the lawn.  This was about six feet away from where I sprayed, so I just know, we probably have one of those huge six feet nests underground. 

Later in the day, my dad stopped by and I told him what was happening. We went back outside, and from a safe distance saw yellow jackets again, going in and out of their nest now, in two different spots, plus we saw countless ones flying by our big tree in the front yard, where Joe had gotten stung. 

We observed the enemy and formulated a plan- Clearly, I had underestimated the yellow jackets.  This was going to be much harder and more complicated than just spraying yellow jacket killer spray in one of the many entrances to their nest…

Stay tuned for Part II