yellow jacket eradication

[mithesaint]

Any pest control experts out there? Ever since I moved into this house three years ago, I've had trouble with yellow jackets. Up until this year, the nests have been away from the house. Now, unfortunately, they're under the siding and I'm not having much luck getting rid of them.

In the attached picture, the nest is somewhere to the left of the front door in that area behind the light. I first noticed them coming and going where the white trim meets the j-channel on the sheltered part of the door opening. I blew a bunch of permethrin dust into that open, and all was quiet for a few days. Then, I noticed them coming and going from under the soffit above the door. Same thing, I dusted them and there was nothing.

Now, they're entering and exiting where the siding meets the corner post, above and to the left of the light. I'm starting to get a bit nervous here. This is hard to describe, but that area to the left of the door is hollow. I can't readily access it, but I think it's probably a 2x2 open space, the height of the first floor. My house was cheaply built (don't blame me!) and there is no exterior OSB sheathing. Just a bit of blueboard insulation. I'm worried the jackets have chewed through the insulation and have a nest inside that hollow spot.

I'm almost ready to call an extirminator, but was trying to save $200. Just want to get them killed before they find a hole into the house.

 

[Retired Guy]

In my experience the dust is the best solution. I'd just keep up with the dust or call an exterminator. If anyone in the house has bee sting allergies I'd call the exterminator first.

 

[ewdudley]

I asked the guy at the local Ace hardware and he equipped me with a Carbaryl (1-naphthyl methylcarbamate) (Sevin) dust applicator that had a small clear flexible plastic tube that could be used to force a little bit of powder into cracks and orifices. I suppose the powder must get them coming and going because a day or two later they were gone from wherever I used the powder. (Be sure to study precautions against self-contamination!)

 

[Hearth Mistress]

Not to be mean but are you sure they are yellow jackets? There are a lot if different species of hornets and wasps as we found out and they have different treatments. I bought a bottle of spray, killed one, put it in a jar and looked on the internet until I matched it with a species. There is a good PDF here to ID your bee (broken link removed to http://www.thebeehunter.com/index.html)

If they are indeed yellow jackets, We had a similar problem. We tried those traps with bit of meat and pepsi, diatemaceous earth, etc but after much trial and error,there are two pesticides that work better than others: Cypermethrin and Talstar. Both of these products are synthetic pyrethrins that are safer than other harsher products. If you can't find these products in your local area, this is where we bought the Talstar here http://store.doyourownpestcontrol.com

However, if you think that hive could be that big, you may want to consider a professional as a hive can have thousands of bees and if you aren't exactly sure what you're getting at, all the dust and spray in the world may not penetrate the area enough to make a difference from access points in your siding channel.

Good Luck!

 

[semipro]

We had yellow jackets in the side of our house and drove them away with persistent spraying of soapy water to those entering/exiting the hole.
I agree with Hearth Mistress on identification. If they're honey bees you may have local beekeepers that are willing to relocate the hive for free.
Bees are relatively easy to discern from wasps if you have one to look at closely.

 

[ScotO]

Sounds to me like you have paper wasps or hybrid wasps.....and they rarely have really big nests. I've had them behind my vinyl shutters before, inside the vinyl siding corners, etc... Go in at night and soak 'em down with some wasp spray, do it at night because usually most of the wasps are on the nest at night. I just took care of two ground wasp (yellow jacket) nests at the back of my house last evening. It was nice and cool out, they never knew what hit them.

 

[mithesaint]

Definately yellow jackets. Dealt with them before, but never had them in the house. Not as aggressive as I remember them in the past, but the color pattern is pretty unmistakable. I like Bumblebees and honeybees. I have a ton of landscaping and a big vegetable garden and have honey bees all over the place.

I guess I'll keep dusting through the weekend, and potentially call in a pro on Monday. Maybe I'll pull off a piece of siding tonight. Supposed to be 54 degrees, so they should be pretty sedate at that temp, right? With them coming out of so many different exit spots, I wonder what it will take to find the nest, and how many stings I'll get in the process...

 

[Retired Guy]

We had a yellow jacket infestation in our kitchen soffit. They entered through a hole drilled on the outside by the cable TV installer. I ,stupidly, user the wasp/hornet spray on the entrance hole. After we found countless yellow jackets in our recessed kitchen lights we called an exterminator. He sprayed about 3 puffs of pyrethrin based powder into each fixture and used blue painters tape to seal around the lights. He said that all my spray did was kill enough to block the entrance/exit hole with dead yellow jackets. This forced those remaining in the nest to seek a second exit. We waited about a week removed the tape and vacuumed out the dead and remaining powder. The dust attaches to the bees and they take it back to the nest and eventually kill them all.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Use fire.
OK, maybe not fire.

 

[tekguy]

I had them in the sofit and under the siding in my house, luckily they where using the one spot to go in and out

i started a smoky fire in the pit - the wind with luck was blowing right to the area, then i filled my duster with seven dust and attached a hose to the end shoved it in th hole and got as much in there as I could, I then dusted everything around it.. they where mighty pissed off goin in and out but the smoke helped and I wanted them going in and out to bring the dust to the nest

no more bees since (or any other insects in that area I bet)

 

[mithesaint]

Use fire.
OK, maybe not fire.

I like this idea. I'll light a match inside, drop it, and come back in a few hours. Problem solved. Well, except for the fact that my insurance company will probably read this posting, and then I'll have to post from jail for insurance fraud. Crap.

 

[maverick06]

Had the same problem last year, actually had 2 seperate nests.

I tired filling the cracks with spray foam (bad idea) they ate through it, but they also can get frustrated and come inside, or so i read.

I tried the spray poison, failed.

I tried mounting the shopvac to a ladder and letting it run for hours, it got hundreds of them, like a gallon of wasp bodies, a week later it was pretty much at full activity.

What worked was dust. I had delta dust on hand and I used that. One hive I was able to just shoot it into the enterange. The other hive was too high. I was able to get the duster tip about a foot away and spray. It got enough in to take care of it. i think i re-applied the stuff one more time, took about a week and they were done.

Now if I could only get rid of these carpenter ants................

 

[Mrs. Krabappel]

soapy water as mentioned.

 

[fbelec]

not cheap. brake clean. dead in mid air.

 

[seige101]

Carb cleaner kills them dead instantly.

 

[maverick06]

I used these two items, delta dust and the duster. no affiliation with the product nor thee site, but thats where i got them.

http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/delta-dust-insecticide-p-44.html

http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/bellow-hand-duster-p-106.html

 

[mywaynow]

Wet vac set up at the hole. Run it for a half hour and smack the siding. Run. Repeat as neccasary. Do not open vac for 4 days.

 

[Ashful]

Wet vac set up at the hole. Run it for a half hour and smack the siding. Run. Repeat as neccasary. Do not open vac for 4 days.

Rilly?

I prefer gasoline when they're in the ground, doesn't take much to suffocate them bastages, but some folks around here get mighty upset about that. Wouldn't use that on the house, though!

 

[MasterMech]

Carb cleaner kills them dead instantly.

Especially when combined with a Bic.

 

[Highbeam]

Poison. Kill them dead. I have no interest in saving the bees.

Just last night I mixed up a batch of diazanon to spray a ground hive full of bald faced hornets, the black ones with some white stripes. Those buggers were wide awake at night! So don't assume they are sleepy.

 

[Ashful]

Poison. Kill them dead. I have no interest in saving the bees.

Hornets, wasps, yellow jackets... I want them all dead, if located somewhere around the house, where I'm going to encounter them. I do try to leave the honey bees and bumble bees alone, though. They're beneficial, endangered, and usually friendly/harmless.

Anyone who doesn't know how to ID the basic families owes it to themselves to spend a few minutes on Wikipedia.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I absolutely love sitting in the garden and watching the bees work. I get pretty darned close- they don't care.

 

[mithesaint]

I dusted and dusted and sprayed and sprayed, and couldn't get them eradicated.

The pest control specialist came today. They were starting to get a bit aggressive, and it was time to make them go away.

 

[maverick06]

big difference between honey bees and the wasp/yellow jacket/etc...... the former are very nice and docile, the latter are beyond terrible.

 

[Mrs. Krabappel]

Wasps and hornets are important predators of plant eating insects. They can be rough if you threaten a nest, but otherwise will just go about their business.