I won! I won!

Remember a couple of weeks ago I reported about a yellow hornet nest in my spa on the back porch?  Well, after several battles, and a change in weapons, the smoke cleared and they are GONE!

Those things are nasty!  They are like pissed off creatures that are just looking for something to sting.  During that couple of weeks my back porch was a very scary place to be, and watering the plants on the front porch sort of near the nest was not an enjoyable chore.

I used the soapy water/light over the pan method for about a week then my boyfriend offered the use of his “bug zapper”.  I’ve never been a fan of bug zappers because they attract all sorts of beneficial bugs as well as the pesky ones like mosquitoes.  However, in this situation, the bug zapper seemed worth a try.

I was able to sit it right at the entrance of the nest so they had to fly around it to get into the hole–that fact alone caught lots of them.  I didn’t really notice many other bugs in the ashes and debris–probably because they wouldn’t want to come near the hornets’ nest either.

This is what I found the day I removed the zapper from the area:

Originally the zapper was sitting directly on the porch but one of the hornets caught on fire one night so I placed it on an upside-down pot for fire protection.  (I could actually smell the smoke from the bug on fire).  Notice the pile of pieces and parts.

I had to unplug the zapper 3 times during that two weeks to take it to the shop to blow out all the hornet carcasses so the unit wouldn’t short out.

The soapy water worked and would probably have eventually wiped out the nest, but the zapper made it a little more interesting because I could actually hear the bugs frying 🙂   Now the dogs and I have all our porches back–oh and the spa too, just gotta get that pump changed out.

 

I’m in a killing mood (trapping Yellow Hornets)

I often get in these moods when getting overrun in the garden by Mexican bean beetles, Japanese beetles, cabbage worms, harlequin cabbage bugs, or other creepy crawly invaders that NONE of the local insect population cares to eat.

A couple of days ago I began noticing those big yellow hornets flying around my back porch–my “woodworking shop” if you will.  I was very excited because I had just made a deal with a beekeeping buddy to purchase 4 nucs from him.  My goal is to get the apiary up to 10 hives this year and I’ve built up to 4 with the help of my beekeeping mentor, but the possibility of getting 4 more all at once is so exciting!

So, I went to the back porch/woodworking shop to fetch pieces and parts of hives to take over to his house and that’s when I saw them.  Too many hornets to just be fluttering around checking out the place, but actually coming and going from the access panel of my Hot Springs Spa.  Great 😦

Now here is what you DON’T do when you spot a bunch of hornets.  Go get the fly swatter.  Dumb idea.  Hornets can travel extremely fast when pissed and I have lots of hair.  One headed straight for my head and got caught in my hair right on top near the forehead.  I’m not sure how many times it stung me before I was able to get it untangled, but it felt like someone had hit me in the head with a hammer.  I treated it with a homeopathic remedy called Apis mellifera, an ice pack, a couple of Tylenol, and a splash of wine (lol).  I think the wine and ice worked better than the other stuff.

Last bee meeting we specifically covered how to make a yellow hornet trap because yellow hornets love to eat honey bees.  It seemed almost like the hornets were building up their population to be able to handle 8 hives.  So, I began gathering supplies for the trap–a 2 liter soda bottle….hmmmmm I haven’t had one of those around for years.  A cup of vinegar–oh great, there’s a cup left in the gallon just so I just used the vinegar jug instead.  A cup of sugar, and a banana peel.  I usually eat a banana in my yogurt every single morning but ran out of them about 3 days ago, wouldn’t you know it?

I don’t throw any plant material in the garbage, including things like banana peels that the chickens won’t eat.  I toss them out the back door into the yard.  So, I walked out into my aerial compost area and found the most recent banana peel.  Maybe it has enough stink left in it to do the job.

All these ingredients were shaken up, then I cut the top third of the jug off and turned it upside down and put it inside the bottom part to make a funnel so the hornets fall in but can’t fly back out.  I set it out and waited–30 minutes and they fly right by–1 hour, and nothing.

So I “became the hornet”–they like meat, so I got a piece of raw ground venison and threw that in the jug.  Hours passed and one tripped and fell into the jug, but it wasn’t a gratifying experience at all.

Another trap we discussed at the bee meeting was a light placed right over a pan of soapy water.  I took a stainless steel chafing pan and put about 2 inches of soapy water in it, and plugged the light in at dark.  This morning I was somewhat pleased but not overly excited–maybe 30 or 40 hornets had taking the sudsy plunge…..

I guess I’ll just have to have some patience to get them all–maybe I’ll get the bb gun out and practice, or the shotgun with bird shot…….