Every springtime I notice a few bees buzzing around my back yard. I
notice that they nest in the outside rafters. I have hosed them down
before to get rid of them. I don't know what kind they are. I thought
they were yellowjackets. I bought yellowjacket traps and it did
nothing..... until I changed the bait to tuna, then I caught a load of
them. The next year I baited with tuna.... and I caught nothing.
Doesn't make sense.

During the winter naturally there is not problem. We had a false
spring, a few hot days, and they were back in style. Now its raining
again and they aren't in sight. I am hoping to deal with them early
this year, since i know that they are coming.

Any suggestions in how to deal with them? Or somewhere where I can
tell what I have (bees, yellowjackets)?

"Rescate" wrote in message
news:1111980016.b210a85aa63ef8357871f7b12c3e3d03@b ubbanews...
Rescate wrote in
news:1111978663.b299522aa4510d41e1ff3e77acc46023@b ubbanews:

"Senin" wrote in
oups.com:

Every springtime I notice a few bees buzzing around my back yard. I
notice that they nest in the outside rafters. I have hosed them down
before to get rid of them. I don't know what kind they are. I thought
they were yellowjackets. I bought yellowjacket traps and it did
nothing..... until I changed the bait to tuna, then I caught a load of
them. The next year I baited with tuna.... and I caught nothing.
Doesn't make sense.

During the winter naturally there is not problem. We had a false
spring, a few hot days, and they were back in style. Now its raining
again and they aren't in sight. I am hoping to deal with them early
this year, since i know that they are coming.

Any suggestions in how to deal with them? Or somewhere where I can
tell what I have (bees, yellowjackets)?



Do you ever see any sawdust below where they get in or around the area?
They could be Carpenter Bees.


I found a good photo of a carpenter bee. If you have those kind, the large
males will hover around the entrance hole and act menacing. They can't do
anything because they don't have stingers. But they are huge bees and look
scary.
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/no...n/carp-bee.htm

This is Turtle.

I read the artical and it was very good explaining it but the left out one
thing. The Old timer in South Louisiana when they get taken over by Carperter
bees and used as a last resort. They paint the area Blue and the carpenter bees
will just leave. Now this is used as the last resort with the carpenter bees.

TURTLE

Blue, red, breen, brown, whatever.
They go for unpainted wood.

"TURTLE" wrote in message
. ..

"Rescate" wrote in message
news:1111980016.b210a85aa63ef8357871f7b12c3e3d03@b ubbanews...
Rescate wrote in
news:1111978663.b299522aa4510d41e1ff3e77acc46023@b ubbanews:

"Senin" wrote in
oups.com:

Every springtime I notice a few bees buzzing around my back yard. I
notice that they nest in the outside rafters. I have hosed them down
before to get rid of them. I don't know what kind they are. I thought
they were yellowjackets. I bought yellowjacket traps and it did
nothing..... until I changed the bait to tuna, then I caught a load of
them. The next year I baited with tuna.... and I caught nothing.
Doesn't make sense.

During the winter naturally there is not problem. We had a false
spring, a few hot days, and they were back in style. Now its raining
again and they aren't in sight. I am hoping to deal with them early
this year, since i know that they are coming.

Any suggestions in how to deal with them? Or somewhere where I can
tell what I have (bees, yellowjackets)?



Do you ever see any sawdust below where they get in or around the area?
They could be Carpenter Bees.


I found a good photo of a carpenter bee. If you have those kind, the
large
males will hover around the entrance hole and act menacing. They can't
do
anything because they don't have stingers. But they are huge bees and
look
scary.
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/no...n/carp-bee.htm

This is Turtle.

I read the artical and it was very good explaining it but the left out one
thing. The Old timer in South Louisiana when they get taken over by
Carperter
bees and used as a last resort. They paint the area Blue and the carpenter
bees
will just leave. Now this is used as the last resort with the carpenter
bees.

TURTLE

In article .com,
says...
Every springtime I notice a few bees buzzing around my back yard. I
notice that they nest in the outside rafters. I have hosed them down
before to get rid of them. I don't know what kind they are. I thought
they were yellowjackets. I bought yellowjacket traps and it did
nothing..... until I changed the bait to tuna, then I caught a load of
them. The next year I baited with tuna.... and I caught nothing.
Doesn't make sense.


With your Yellow Jacket traps, in early to late Summer they feed on meat
rather than liquid sweets, so you had luck changing to tuna fish. The
next year you may of placed the traps later in the season when they had
changed their diets to sweets. If it is the inverted umbrella type
nests it is paper wasps http://www.arrow-pestcontrol.com/paperwasp.JPG ,
which usually is of no concern. Others that might build around the
rafters would be carpenter bees that drill a nest in the wood or it
could be yellow jackets, paper wasps or honey bees, building nests in
the wall voids. You can see different pictures here...
http://www.ipconetwork.org/pests/bscview.mv
--
Lar

to email....get rid of the BUGS

Thanks for the great replies.

I think that these could be carpenter bees because I have noticed some
wood in the area. However they don't look a lot like the pictures.
They do look like yellowjackets, and I did catch some at one point. So
would that make since that they are yellow jackets and my baiting may
have just been badly timed. Hey, if they are, what do I bait with in
early spring (like now). I put tuna out there and got nothing.

They definitely are not paper wasps.

In article .com,
says...
I think that these could be carpenter bees because I have noticed some
wood in the area. However they don't look a lot like the pictures.

Carpenter bees will be easily distinguished from yellow jackets..they
are a large bee closely looking like a bumblebee.

They do look like yellowjackets, and I did catch some at one point. So
would that make since that they are yellow jackets and my baiting may
have just been badly timed. Hey, if they are, what do I bait with in
early spring (like now). I put tuna out there and got nothing.

Early Spring is the emergence of the queens starting new nests. Sweets
will work and after they start to lay eggs meats should attract them
too. The traps are a numbers game, in the late Summer there will be
thousands of insects per acre in which the traps may catch hundreds. In
the Spring you may be dealing with just a fraction of the Summer
numbers, so traps aren't always going to attract the wasps.

--
Lar

to email....get rid of the BUGS

"Senin" wrote in news:1111978043.110702.155480
@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com:

Any suggestions in how to deal with them? Or somewhere where I can
tell what I have (bees, yellowjackets)?

How about fogging them? We had a similar problem with yellowjackets
getting in through our rafter-tails, which led to them coming in to the
house via a gap in a light fixture.

Anyway, after waking up on Christmas morning (we are in California, year
round problem) to literally hundreds of yellowjackets in the room my
wife stored the gifts(!), I called an exterminator. After inspecting, he
went to his truck, pulled out a little can of fogger, and sprayed it in
the gap in our fixture. The problem has been solved for over a year,
with no reinfestation. The exterminator charged me 10 bucks.

As a note, a charactaristic of yellow jackets is that they are
supposedly quite aggressive when outside in their natural habitat (which
I didn't notice) and are very docile when inside a house (which I did
notice. You could literally shove them around with the flyswatter and
they wouldn't fly away.)

The Chairman

I don't know about mine, whether they are carpenter or yellow jackets.
They seem about medium sized. Not huge, if that is what carpenters
are. So you think I should dump the tune for something sweet right
now?

Hey, what kind of fogger did they use? Tell me and I will buy some.

Senin wrote:
Thanks for the great replies.

I think that these could be carpenter bees because I have noticed some
wood in the area. However they don't look a lot like the pictures.
They do look like yellowjackets, and I did catch some at one point.
So would that make since that they are yellow jackets and my baiting
may have just been badly timed. Hey, if they are, what do I bait
with in early spring (like now). I put tuna out there and got
nothing.

They definitely are not paper wasps.

I suggest you may want to contact some local sources like your country
extension office. Insect problems and solutions are not always the same
from area to area and the best treatment may be different.

--
Joseph Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

"Michael Baugh" wrote in message
. ..
Blue, red, breen, brown, whatever.
They go for unpainted wood.


I built an outbuilding several years ago and never got around to it. No
carpenter bees. Finally got around to cleaning it, priming it, and painting
it. Must have gotten about 6 carpenter bees in a certain 10 foot section.
They never went for the wood until it was painted.

Same thing happened to some facsia boards on my house.


"TURTLE" wrote in message
. ..

"Rescate" wrote in message
news:1111980016.b210a85aa63ef8357871f7b12c3e3d03@b ubbanews...
Rescate wrote in
news:1111978663.b299522aa4510d41e1ff3e77acc46023@b ubbanews:

"Senin" wrote in
oups.com:

Every springtime I notice a few bees buzzing around my back yard. I
notice that they nest in the outside rafters. I have hosed them down
before to get rid of them. I don't know what kind they are. I
thought
they were yellowjackets. I bought yellowjacket traps and it did
nothing..... until I changed the bait to tuna, then I caught a load
of
them. The next year I baited with tuna.... and I caught nothing.
Doesn't make sense.

During the winter naturally there is not problem. We had a false
spring, a few hot days, and they were back in style. Now its
raining
again and they aren't in sight. I am hoping to deal with them early
this year, since i know that they are coming.

Any suggestions in how to deal with them? Or somewhere where I can
tell what I have (bees, yellowjackets)?



Do you ever see any sawdust below where they get in or around the
area?
They could be Carpenter Bees.


I found a good photo of a carpenter bee. If you have those kind, the
large
males will hover around the entrance hole and act menacing. They
can't
do
anything because they don't have stingers. But they are huge bees and
look
scary.
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/no...n/carp-bee.htm

This is Turtle.

I read the artical and it was very good explaining it but the left out
one
thing. The Old timer in South Louisiana when they get taken over by
Carperter
bees and used as a last resort. They paint the area Blue and the
carpenter
bees
will just leave. Now this is used as the last resort with the carpenter
bees.

TURTLE

"HeatMan" wrote in message
. ..

"Michael Baugh" wrote in message
. ..
Blue, red, breen, brown, whatever.
They go for unpainted wood.


I built an outbuilding several years ago and never got around to it. No
carpenter bees. Finally got around to cleaning it, priming it, and painting
it. Must have gotten about 6 carpenter bees in a certain 10 foot section.
They never went for the wood until it was painted.

Same thing happened to some facsia boards on my house.



This is Turtle.

The old timers tell me that there is something about blue that they don't like.
Sometimes them old timers have things figured out from way back and just know
it. Now one old timer did tell me that he thought that the blue was messing them
up because of the ski is blue and they get up and down mixed up. Now this was
just his thoughts on it and no facts.

So blue !

TURTLE

"Senin" wrote in message
oups.com...
I don't know about mine, whether they are carpenter or yellow jackets.
They seem about medium sized. Not huge, if that is what carpenters
are. So you think I should dump the tune for something sweet right
now?

Hey, what kind of fogger did they use? Tell me and I will buy some.


This is Turtle.

A Carpenter bee will be black & about 3 times as big as a regular honey bee and
a yellow jacket will be close to the size of a regular honey bee or smaller.

TURTLE

Foggers are typically used when nests are in the construction of the
house.... a crack between two soffet boards, or between a window casing
and the siding, for instance. The point here is that you never know
exactly where or how big the nest is. The fog covers a large area and,
since it's typically powdery, any pests that were out at the time of
fogging will come in and track the powder to the nest.

My thinking is to kill them. Early morning, before it starts to warm. A
fairly chilly morning is great. The best stuff I've found is the brand
name TAT -- you can find it at either MAB or Sherwin-Williams [I forget
which right now]. The stream will shoot a good distance. Other brands
say "one shot" but this one really is.

Yeah, my experience is that they aren't particular when it comes to
painted/nonpainted.

On Tue, 29 Mar 2005 19:02:00 -0600, "TURTLE"
wrote:


"Senin" wrote in message
roups.com...
I don't know about mine, whether they are carpenter or yellow jackets.
They seem about medium sized. Not huge, if that is what carpenters
are. So you think I should dump the tune for something sweet right
now?

Hey, what kind of fogger did they use? Tell me and I will buy some.


This is Turtle.

A Carpenter bee will be black & about 3 times as big as a regular honey bee and
a yellow jacket will be close to the size of a regular honey bee or smaller.

TURTLE



Turtle good points visually.

Now another thing I've noticed, if you tresspass on their area, a
carpenter bee will 'bump' into you. No real harm down.

A yellow jacket is different, he will sting and bite, and call on 50
of his buds to help kick your butt.

So, becareful everyone. No need to find out for the first time you
are alergic to stings, at the top of a 20 foot ladder.

tom

Okay, guys, based on everything that I have read so far, it seems that
these are yellow jackets. Its sunny here again so they are coming out.
Since it is early spring should I put something sweet in the trap like
Pepsi? I think I will also go to Home Depot and get some of that 20'
spray. Any other suggestions?


The Real Tom wrote:
On Tue, 29 Mar 2005 19:02:00 -0600, "TURTLE"
wrote:


"Senin" wrote in message
roups.com...
I don't know about mine, whether they are carpenter or yellow
jackets.
They seem about medium sized. Not huge, if that is what
carpenters
are. So you think I should dump the tune for something sweet
right
now?

Hey, what kind of fogger did they use? Tell me and I will buy
some.


This is Turtle.

A Carpenter bee will be black & about 3 times as big as a regular
honey bee and
a yellow jacket will be close to the size of a regular honey bee or
smaller.

TURTLE



Turtle good points visually.

Now another thing I've noticed, if you tresspass on their area, a
carpenter bee will 'bump' into you. No real harm down.

A yellow jacket is different, he will sting and bite, and call on 50
of his buds to help kick your butt.

So, becareful everyone. No need to find out for the first time you
are alergic to stings, at the top of a 20 foot ladder.

tom

Ive killed 10 nests or so with Ortho 7 powder and liquid form in the
lawn spray bottle I tried once. The powder gets on their wings and they
bring it into the nest and it kills the rest fast. I use a meat baister
and spray in the powder you can do it when they are asleep, I don`t.
The liquid should work the same but im not sure, but you need it in the
nest. Sprays, traps, I have no luck with. Ortho 7 is easiest to use on
inground nests.

I'm telling ya, the best spray is TAT.

Foggers are typically used when nests are in the construction of the
house.... a crack between two soffet boards, or between a window casing
and the siding, for instance. The point here is that you never know
exactly where or how big the nest is. The fog covers a large area and,
since it's typically powdery, any pests that were out at the time of
fogging will come in and track the powder to the nest.

My thinking is to kill them. Early morning, before it starts to warm. A
fairly chilly morning is great. The best stuff I've found is the brand
name TAT -- you can find it at either MAB or Sherwin-Williams [I forget
which right now]. The stream will shoot a good distance. Other brands
say "one shot" but this one really is.


A swarm of honey bees arrived at my house this morning. They found a gap in
the soffit and began nesting. The local bee guy is swamped, and it could have
cost me up to $300 to have them removed.

I sprayed water under and into the soffit gap from about 15'. Did that until
the traffic coming in and out of the soffit stopped. Then I got on a ladder
and sealed the hole with Henry's Roof Patch. This was just a temporary fix
but...

I think the gas from the tar killed them. Not a peep from the bees trapped up
there. The bees that were buzzing around outside all split after about an
hour.

This was right over my front door, so...I'll remove the starter board in a few
days and see what happened.

DF

The only problem with trapping them is that they could find another way
out. Hopefully they won't find their way into your house.

In article ,
says...
I sprayed water under and into the soffit gap from about 15'. Did that until
the traffic coming in and out of the soffit stopped. Then I got on a ladder
and sealed the hole with Henry's Roof Patch. This was just a temporary fix
but...


Depending on how large a gap they were using, it could be a problem
getting much water inside the soffit area. If it is "press board"
getting much water on the untreated side may cause warping/deterioration
along with possible soggy insulation in the wall.
--
Lar

to email....get rid of the BUGS