Squatters

[Todd Rahm]

Jim when I first saw that contraption, I said "That's Looney Toon hammer straight from ACME!" Then I read it. 

[Hawks Feather]

So, have you finished off your problem or have they finished you off?

[FinsnFur]

Well...I definitely did not finish them off. Unless there are a lot of stragglers and guards running loose yet.
We finally got rain after a 5 month drought which forced me to mow and they did not like me out there mowing around the wood stack.
I never got stung but they definitely let me know they were there. Zooming out of the cracks and gaps in the stack as I went by.
I read that flailing around wildly and frantic swatting etc, turns you into a threat or culprit so I drive by on the mower as calmly and slowly as I can. And I am telling you its nerve racking as hell cause the whole side of the stack comes to life with each pass.
I now stay several feet away. Let that shit grow next to the wood stack, I dont care.

We got rain a few days after I loaded the hive with Sevin Dust, and the rain forced me to pull the tarp back up over the stack. Which I did around 9:00 one night in the dark lol
But now the hive is protected from the weather again....IF there is anything in it.

I've been hauling, cutting and stacking the last few weeks to refill the opposite side with next years wood.



....but I've been doing it after supper when the sun is going down and the temps are dropping. They seem to be a lot more tolerant.
I have 4x4's layed out on the ground as you can see to keep the firewood off the ground as it dries etc. I'm pulling those up and sprinkling Sevin Dust down and putting them back before I start stacking each row this year. Hopefully that helps to prevent this again.

Last weekend I had the wood splitter down on the empty side of the stack and I was splitting and stacking next years wood and the bees were one notch from OVERWHELMING. I mean they were coming out of the stacked wood in clouds. They crawled on my sweatshirt like flies, they were up under my glasses. It was insane. I never got stung but it was more then I wanted to deal with. I doused my hat and shirt with DEET, but it never phased them.

In all honesty, they seemed to have dwindled in numbers. I mean there is still MANY of them owning that stack but not compared to what it was like.
I'm kind of wondering if the Sevin Dust did it's job and whats bothering me out there now are stragglers or worker bees that were hatched after the Dusting. I dont know.
I DO know that I cant wait to see that hive up close when I get to that section of wood this winter. I hope it's 40 below when I do get there though. Cause I want to tear it apart and see what makes it tick. I'm being told it should be empty by then. Lets freakin hope so. 

[Okanagan]

It's all interesting.  I wonder how they survive a winter that gets -40?

I got stung by a wasp or hornet on Sunday afternoon, through my fleece glove as I walked through the woods after a deer calling stand.  It really HURT, and kept hurting.  Today, Wednesday, it still has a dull ach over my whole thumb and hand, and itches more than hurts.  There was a trace of swelling the next day but nothing visible indicating exactly where he stung me.  I swatted him off as I felt the pain rising on my thumb and looked down.  It was a fairly small yellow and black banded wasp looking thing, about the size of a honey bee and similar build rather than one of the skinny waisted type.

[FinsnFur]

It's all interesting.  I wonder how they survive a winter that gets -40?

I'm no expert.....yet..lol. But I always thought (in those temps) the guards just set on their post until they freeze by going into a deep stage of hibernation. I say that because I HAVE brought wood in the house over the years that had a bee or two tucked into a crevice. If I see them I simply enjoy the extra BTU's. If I dont see them, I find him fluttering in the window behind the blinds when I get home.

But with that said, The experts say that the workers die off after being exposed to cold temps for 5 to 7 days straight. The queen burrows down into the ground and emerges in the spring. But they dont reuse old nests.
I can say they definitely will not be reusing THIS nest anyway

[Hawks Feather]

Thanks for the update. I like most bees, but those flying SOB (son of bees) yellow jackets are the ones that I can not stand. It doesn't help that I am allergic to them and rather than moving slow I tend to start moving faster which I know is wrong. Usually there are only a couple of them that stop to visit while I am washing the car or truck and I get my (no longer charged) bug swatter and play tennis with them. Usually when I kill one I find the body and just wait because any others will show up there pretty quickly.

Good luck with the wood stack and hopefully you will have a rip-roaring fire when you toss the nest in. 🐝 🔥

[FinsnFur]

Well I got to the tail end of the first row yesterday and I found this peaking through the next row.
Sumbitch is bigger then I originally thought because THIS isnt even the corporate headquarters. This is like the South Wing.
Headquarters is behind the row this thing is peaking through.
Dead (or frozen) bees everywhere.




I wonder if there's a wood split encapsulated in the middle of that bitch. I shoulda checked. I cant imagine a empty space that big in the stack but 
I never touched it cause I want to try and preserve it's structure as I get closer to the corporate headquarters so I can see/show it's over all size.

[FinsnFur]

Finally reached the Yellow Jacket empire this weekend.
I feel like this was the main part. There's still corridors of nest running through the splits.

[Hawks Feather]

   Looks like you have some great starter material. Just take the inside and let it get warm and see if anything comes out to say Hello! 🐝

[Okanagan]

Wow!  That is a HUGE and extensive yellow jacket nest.  I've never seen wasps or yellow jackets build anything near that big.  Honey bee hives can get huge as they extend through big old hollow trees over many years, but you must have some kind of uber yellow jackets in your country!

[FinsnFur]

  Looks like you have some great starter material. Just take the inside and let it get warm and see if anything comes out to say Hello! 🐝

Hard pass right there Jerry 

[FinsnFur]

Wow!  That is a HUGE and extensive yellow jacket nest.  I've never seen wasps or yellow jackets build anything near that big.  Honey bee hives can get huge as they extend through big old hollow trees over many years, but you must have some kind of uber yellow jackets in your country!

They owned that wood stack most of the summer

[msmith]

WOW! That definitely wasn't coming out of there until winter.

[nastygunz]

They was dug in there like a bunch of illegal aliens in a free New York City hotel room

[pitw]

So did ya get stung?

I was pushing straw around in a large cattle shelter with a little open air tractor at around -6F.  I hit the wall and be dambed if a whole host of honey bees came out looking for a fight.
Old man had us take down the wall and remove them as well as the honey.  Well we got a slab of cone 5' x 6' that we put on a sheet of plywood.  Dad had us place it on 2 barrels in the shop. Man you wouldn't believe how much of a mess that made.  

[FinsnFur]

I didnt get stung..but I left them well alone until we had freezing temps.
You actually had bees moving at -6? I'm assuming Celsius? So 21 degrees fahrenheit?
Good god...They shoulda been like little M&M's at that temp.