Yellow Jackets in April?

[Joe Pelonio]

We had a very wet winter with lots of snow, and just ended close to a week of unusually dry and warm weather (60s-70). The rain is back today.

Normally we don't see yellow jackets until mid-late summer, but yesterday I had to deal with two big fat ones - in the house! I have not seen any outside. This has never happened before, but thinking it through and watching the second one before he met his demise, I think I determined the source. In the kitchen and pantry we have a total of 8 recessed light cans, and used to have the large floodlights in them. Last fall I replaced them with the compact fluorescent type, which are smaller diameter and leave about 3/8" of space around the edges. I'm predicting that they are in the attic crawl space area, and manage to get down through available wire/pipe spaces into the wall and down to the area between the first floor ceiling and second floor joists, then into those cans and into the kitchen. They must have gotten in through a hole in a soffit or gable vent, but if I seal it off they'll have no way out but into the house.

I'd hate to seal the cans up, because the ventilation helps keep them cool. If I go up and find the nests, I could hit them with those 25' spray cans, but that stuff is highly flammable. Do those mist bug-bombs kill them in their nests? Any other suggestions?

[Michael Poller]

I live in a modular construction raised ranch built in 1988. It was built cheaply and the soffits are not well sealed.

Due to this there are wasps that have nested in the soffits. Thankfully they haven't gotten so bad that they come in the house but they congregate mostly along the soffets on our deck so it makes it uncomfortable to hang outside in the nice weather.

I had a local exterminator come last year and spray the exterior of the house with a chemical that the wasps take back to their nest and it kills the others also.

It worked well and lasted all summer. I have them coming to spray again tomorrow for this summers season. They have already started showing up around the deck.

I know the right solution is removal of the nests but I don't want to hack at the soffits to remove them and I am also unable to enter the attic due to the cheap modular construction resulting in an attic crawl space that won't support the weight of a person without serious risk to falling through the ceiling or heavy cracking of the drywalled ceiling below the attic.

One day when we re-side the house and get new soffits we'll resolve the problem permanently. Until then we get the house sprayed once a year and it keeps them away.

[Joe Pelonio]

I can get up there and repair the vents/remove nests but not likely to do it until next winter when the nasty guys are dormant!

[David G Baker]

Joe,
I have 9 foot ceilings in my old farm house and there is a suspended ceiling in the living room. Yellow jackets or wasps find a way to get in the space above the suspended ceiling and once in a while come down into the living room to visit. I use a product made by Raid it is called Fumigator, it is a dry fog type fumigating fogger. You take the container out of the box, it comes in two parts, one is a can and the other is a plastic container that you add a little bit of water to, then you set the can in the water dish and this activates the fogger. It fills the area with what looks like smoke and it goes everywhere in the ceiling space. I have used this product for years and it has never failed me.
Every few years I put three of these in my shop that are spaced evenly through out and it kills every critter in the shop and it gets into areas where the moist foggers can't get to and there is no mess to clean up.
If you find the yellow jacket's nest, there is a product called Drione. It is a white powder that is applied to the nest by a duster specifically designed for the product. Drione kills stinging critters instantly. It is expensive and the duster costs a little under $20 but it is worth every penny if you have critter problems. If interested there is a seller on Flea Bay that sells it or there are a few other products sold on the Bay that are similar.

[Lee Schierer]

Those big fat ones are the queens looking for a place to start a new colony. They have over wintered in warm spots they crawled into last fall. Now that the weather is warm they will start their own colonies.

[Joe Pelonio]

Those big fat ones are the queens looking for a place to start a new colony. They have over wintered in warm spots they crawled into last fall. Now that the weather is warm they will start their own colonies.
In that case, 2 less queens = 2 less colonies! :rolleyes:

[Joe Pelonio]

Joe,
I use a product made by Raid it is called Fumigator, it is a dry fog type fumigating fogger. You take the container out of the box, it comes in two parts, one is a can and the other is a plastic container that you add a little bit of water to, then you set the can in the water dish and this activates the fogger. It fills the area with what looks like smoke and it goes everywhere in the ceiling space. I have used this product for years and it has never failed me.

That's what I need, thanks. I can go up the little opening and set one off without even having to climb up. The opening is just about in the center of the house. Thanks.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,

Do those mist bug-bombs kill them in their nests?
Yes/no.

We used to close up our house once a month an "bomb" it for fleas.
In order to work, we had to use nearly four times the amount they indicate on the cans.
So - yes it will work if you use enough and seal things up tight enough.

Keep in mind that everything you buy these days in the form of pesticide is biodegradable. It begins to degrade as soon as it contacts the atmosphere, so in essence, it's simply a short lived contact poison.

The mist will settle pretty quick - within a couple of hours - and reduce the "bomb" to a surface poison.
Bottom line, the mist in itself isn't all that deadly. It's the poison the critters pick up that's settled that does them in.

I did a short stint with the national pest control outfit that starts with "O" and remember a lot more than I care to about pesticides and their uses.
(honestly - if you can find some dust to use around the entrance, it will work worlds better than the "bombs". Ficam W for instance.)
Bees - except for honey bees - are pretty tough.

Which brings me to - make double and triple sure the bumbles you plan to get rid of aren't protected.

With last years honey bee colony collapse, a lot of places in the country are going to extremes to make sure any colony (and not only honey bee) is preserved.

Many species of bee are on the protected list.

Fines are very heavy. - We're talking 5 figure heavy - so it pays to make sure first.