Rob Goes Chemical on a Yellow Jacket Nest

First, the back story. I was mowing the lawn Sunday afternoon when I got stung by one, then two bees. I realized I had hit a piece of bark that was laying on the ground that came off the big tree that we felled last year. Well, I turned around and saw a swarm gathering behind me. I must have looked like 5-year-old palsy  kid as I hopped and yipped across the yard. I ended up getting stung about 5 times, as a few of the little suckers had flown or crawled up my shirt and jeans.

It didn’t take long after a little Googling to figure out what I had uncovered, and how to deal with it.

I waited for a cool, rainy night when the bees were less active. The first task was to find the hole the wasps were using to crawl in and out of their nest. I read that it can be as small as a soda straw. I set about the task with a rake and a light touch. There was a lot of bark in the pile and each time I pulled a piece away I winced and braced for a swarm. Piece after piece came away until I hit the honeypot.

The bees whipped up into a small angry cloud and I high stepped it, chucking the rake and running for the can of RAID Wasp and Hornet Killer spray. I shot volley after volley at the little swarm and saw them sputter and drop. Then I saw it, that last piece of bark was covering the top of the nest. The exposed portion looked like a buried volleyball. Oh, this was gonna be sweet.

The Raid spray was the initial knockdown, and there were wasps crawling around, but the hammer was the insecticide powder I dumped on the hive. The stuff is called SEVIN-5 made by Garden Tech, the active ingredient is 5% Carbaryl, and it was $10 for a 5 lb. bag. The one-two punch of the spray and powder ended the fight in minutes, although I suspect the darkness and dampness were contributing factors.

An overhead view of the hive. Notice that it’s partly out of the ground. The bees had dug the nest in under some sheets of bark and must have thought that was good enough cover. The white stuff is the insecticide powder I dumped on it after hitting it with the spray.

For the coupe de gras, I waited about 5 minutes and then broke open the top of the nest to see the body count.

The writhing mass of yellow jackets in the throes of death.

The honeycomb with wriggling larve.

Lastly, a photo of what I’m guessing is the queen. It was about three times the size of the other wasps and crawling away…slowly, so slowly. Heh. Revenge.