"Yellowjackets account for about half of all human insect stings. Unlike honeybees, their stinger is not barbed, and they can sting many times in succession. They can be especially aggressive in defense of the nest. Stinging and injured yellowjackets release a chemical alarm pheromone that attracts other guard workers."
Well, I guess that would explain why they got really, really mad when I was pounding a nail in the deck, about 6 inches from their nest. I had no idea at the time that they even had a nest, and that my pounding would cause such a problem. I ended up being chased into the house by a couple of these guys, one of which burrowed into my hair and stung me on my scalp. OUCH (*#^!%*^) I was the only one at home at the time, so I ran down to a neighbor's house (gotta love having an EMT close by!) holding an ice cube to my head. Heather checked and found no stinger, just a bump ... I took my melted ice cube and went home, my scalp stinging like crazy for the rest of the evening.
This past weekend I asked the hubster to take a look out on the deck, because I had discovered to my horror, that a suspicious noise was coming from a support column on the deck, in the area where we had noticed the bees. The yellowjackets had been quite busy - most likely thousands of them - working their way into the cracks around the hollow column. When I put my ear up to the siding, I could hear the sound of yellowjackets "clicking" around and bumping into the sides of the column inside. Very creepy. Just picture a hollow rectangular column, about 10" X 12" in size, with the interior filled with angry yellowjackets. **shudder**
First thing Monday I called a pest control company and we set an appointment for Wednesday morning. Two female technicians showed up in a pick-up truck filled with pest-killing goodies. They came back to the deck and nodded knowingly as they sized up the situation, laughing (sympathetically) when I told them about pounding in the nail. They discussed their game plan and headed back to the truck to put on white Tyvek coveralls, gloves and hats. I watched from afar as they mixed up some chemical dust and filled a very loooong wand that would allow them to stay about 8 feet away while injecting the dust into the column. 
I hovered by the back door and peeked out every few minutes to see what was happening. I could see dozens of angry yellowjackets buzzing around, and "poofs" of dust as they injected the column with the dust. (That blue glass ball is the item I was hanging up two weeks ago, when this whole saga began.) After about 15 minutes they declared the process finished, saying that most of the yellowjackets were probably dead, and over the next week those remaining would track through the dust and die off. Now that's good news! I can go out and water my flowers without fear of being stung again. Once a season is enough! I'd be really interested in seeing the inside of that column one day - if Chris every gets serious about tearing down the deck and building a new one, I guess we'll see what's left of the nest.
On a happier note, I did see a happy little goldfinch riding on top of my black-eyed susans while the yellowjackets were being "dusted."
No comments:
Post a Comment