OT Bumblebees

[JohnC IND]

The new 3-lb. puppy found a previously unknown bumblebee nest on her very first foray into my yard yesterday. She got stung at least once and that critter chased me carrying the pup into the car. It even got behind my glasses. Later I stood about twenty feet from where the incident happened and watched the bees going into the grass in the lawn. I went to town and picked up 3 gallons of ammonia, which I heard is effective for killing off ground-nesting insects. Last night after dark I poured a gallon of ammonia out of a bucket (fast) into the openings and then flipped a 24" diameter galvanized feed pan onto the spot and weighed it down with a brick to concentrate the fumes.
I call them bumblebees, but maybe they aren't, they fly pretty fast and accurately. They're black with sorta yellow vests, sorta stout, and work the flowers all over the garden, and are really LOUD fliers.
I'll know of the ammonia worked when I get home from work tonight.

 

[R Geiger]

sounds more like yellow jackets to me.

 

[chevdud97]

Im not sure what they are called either. we call em ground bees. Ive come across them while bush hogging a field for a customer. Waited an hour and went back with a gallon of gas. took care of em in 5 minutes. went back to bush hoggin.Its pretty bad i heard them over the noise of the tractor and bushhog.

 

[Leemo]

Yep, yellowjackets most likely.

 

[Brian Bell]

Definitely sounds like yellow jackets. Gas and Kero both work well, but EPA says that they are off limits....I remember years ago seeing an old farmer douse the ground with some kero and taking a grab rake and digging out a hive the size of a dinner plate.

 

[JohnC IND]

Absolutely not Yellowjackets. I have done battle with them in the lawn as well, and know what those are.
Fat black bees wearing yellowish fuzzy 'vests'.NO stripes whatsoever.
Very LOUD fliers. They work the flowers in the yard like my honeybees do. They almost look like an undersized Carpenter Bee.
I'll try to get a photo this evening if there are any carcasses.

 

[R Geiger]

did a bit of research, found that there are more types of ground bees than i knew depending on where you live. I never knew the bumble bees that we have here in Oregon to be aggressive at all. What about burrower bees? Any way they sound like good polinators and I would be prone to leave them be, unless it is a real problem..
Hope you can get some pictures.

 

[Devious]

Bees /wasps and yellowjackets here in the south are sometimes fatal to very young children and some adults who are allergic to their stings. I have very young grandchildren in my yard and we have wasps and honey bees and african bees and bumble bees and they have no pollination duties around the city here that require them to nest up here in the eve of my roof as they do each year so they face extinction here rather than stinging my little ones as they have done in the past. Lots of hives out in the country around here but none within miles of here so no need for them to hang here. I have seen one of my grandboys eyes swollen shut from wasp stings and it ain t a good deal yu betcha. We took turns holding him throughout two days and nights because he was blind from the swelling. Don t wish that on any grand parents kids. Devious

 

[Zion Ute]

Do they look like this?
Both of these are Bumblebee pictures taken from Wikipedia.

 

[Plane Bart]

Here is a Yellow Jackets nest that I amost stepped in the when I went to look a Framall Super C this week end tractor is to far gone now.
the hole is bigger than my fist.
I have always used boiling hot soapy water to exterminate Yellow Jackets nest, hit once and done the grass grows back no harmful chemicals either.

 

[Bob Harvey]

Some type of 'wild' bee, not a bumbler, they can get downright nasty. Years ago my kids happened upon a nest while they were playing in the backyard. Luckily they were both wearing 'sweats'. I heard the hollering and grabbed both of them, swept the (MANY) bees off them and got them in the house, I only got stung 30+ times (t-shirt & shorts = OUCH).

 

[jon]

[b:e66c61e228]Here's a site[/b:e66c61e228] with probably more than you wanted to know about bees. They have a few good ID pics.

 

[JohnC IND]

Well, the bees appear to be bombus impatiens per the bumblebee.org website under North American species. They were still here yesterday, no apparent dent in the population, so I went and got liquid Sevin concentrate at Menard's on the way home. At 4:00 am today I mixed and dumped 2 gallons into the nest site which happens to be lower than the lawn in that area. maybe that'll do it, let's hope, as it's on the way to the wife's clothesline.

 

[jon]

I have always used boiling hot soapy water to exterminate Yellow Jackets nest,

It's amazing how quick just plain ol soapy water will kill em. Add a little Lye & you've really got a killer.
Plain Purple Power kills them quicker than the Raid Hornet spray I bought.
I wish I could figure out how to re-fill the Hornet spray cans (with soap) to get that 20 plus feet stream