Getting Stung

[madhat]

Got stung for the third time, from Yellow jackets. All have been at home, I've killed six nest, plus one in the Neighbors yard. I use Sevin Dust on the nest entrance so they will track it under ground. Tried the Traps, only caught a few. Thankfully I'm not allergic, at least not yet.

[Pascone10]

You should see me at work. I go around on the hunt when im on a maintenance. Try to take care of them so if we end up there for service work most of them will be gone. Then I silicone up the holes so they cant make nests in disconnect boxes Etc. I hate bees. Have not been stung in the 5 years or so ive been in the trade lol.

When I am doing a service call on a roof I usually always have wasp killer with me and remove and open panels carefully on them RTU's. Don't want any surprises!

[Senior Tech]

For what it's worth...

I was in my storage building one day and one kept flying around the door...one shot with Brake-Kleen and he hit the dirt like a missile.

None of the flying insect or wasp killer ever worked that good!

[martyinlincoln]

Without a doubt the worst I was hit happened to be at a church. They had a nice little patch of purple cone flowers next to the AC with an underground bumble bee nest 20' away. They didn't bother me untill the vacuum pump started then it was holy crap attack mode.

[rojacman]

Without a doubt the worst I was hit happened to be at a church. They had a nice little patch of purple cone flowers next to the AC with an underground bumble bee nest 20' away. They didn't bother me untill the vacuum pump started then it was holy crap attack mode.my wife was working in our yard and grabbed some branches of a bush and woke up an underground nest & got stung about 18 times....i walked in a few minutesl later and went right to the phone for 911.....they were here in 5 minutes with all kinds of monitors , etc on her. it was a close call as she is allergic to bee venom . she now carries an epipen for an emergency antidote shot....If you're allergic to bee stings you can be in trouble....get some help immediatly.....:eek2::callpro:

[Catpower]

In a pinch leak detector in a spray bottle (soap) will ground them, they can't fly with soap on their wings, then use your foot for the final ending


Lorsban works very good to kill them also

[flip2cho]

:payattention:

[Tool-Slinger]

When I was a kid, I used to go out to the barn with a piece of furring strip, [wood 3/4x 2"?] about 4 feet long. I would swat yellow jackets with it. Mid-air. I was actually pretty good at it, sort of a Samurai wasp killer. The total barn might have 3 or 500 targets at my best estimate. Of course now I have an Xbox so that seems pretty lame. Nowadays I keep a can of wasp spray handy, you can hit the nest from 15 or 20 feet away with little effort. For the lone bandit, you can swat them with your hand [baseball cap if you wear one]. They won't sting you if you hit them with you hand, you might have to finish the job with your boot though. I have done that a hundred times, never been stung that way.

[Stamas]

Don't know about wasps but in skeeter heaven where I have a get away place we keep a good spray bottle with alcohol in it. Knocks the blood sucking #%!@ out of the air. Wife likes it cause it doesn't mark anything.

Yellow Jackets, my idiot step brother and his friends once dumped black powder down the nest. One of them thought it was a good time to light up a smoke.:eek2:

[kevink1955]

Spent 3 days on a compressor replacment on an RTU, found a nest when I pulled the access panel off. Ran across the roof like a little girl. This unit and the 5 others around it had multiple wasp nests in them.

Got real good taking them out in mid air with the wasp spray. did not get stung while on the roof for 3 days, went to toss some garbage in the dumpster and got stung.

[PortaChill]

Toss a can of spray glue in your bucket. Works great, nice wide pattern(and good for duct linear too).

[wgrr]

For what it's worth...

I was in my storage building one day and one kept flying around the door...one shot with Brake-Kleen and he hit the dirt like a missile.

None of the flying insect or wasp killer ever worked that good!

I carry some wasp killer that instantly freezes whatever wasp or bee it hits. Most of the time they are still on their nest in the same position they were in right before they died.

[RayD8630]

Yeah I've had a few wasps, blue jackets, deer flies, horse flies, mosquito's, and black flies come at me. Usually I let the biters bite. It saves time as opposed to swinging at them like you're half retarded.

[midhvac]

Been seeing a new type around here this season - much longer and skinny.
What the heck are those things?

[BigDog91]

I myself am highly allergic to five different species of bees. I carry epi-pens in all of my vehicles and tool bags. Almost died the first time I was stung, was in a coma for two days.

About 15 years ago I was on a job with one of my service technicians. We were talking about being allergic to bees. He told me that he was allergic. I asked him if he carried an epi-pen, and he did not even know what they were. Long story short, that weekend he was stung by a nest yellow jackets, went into anaphylactic shock and died about two weeks later.

If you are allergic always keep an epi-pen handy. It will save your life.

[madhat]

Back in the mid 90's one of our guys was working on a roof and got stung, he kept on working as he wasn't allergic. He straighten up from installing a transformer, and that was the last thing he remembered. There was a guy from another company that saw him approaching, and collapsed. He spent over a week in ICU. Came back to work after a couple months. He quit the next summer, couldn't handle the heat anymore, because of the damage done. Two of use went up on the roof the next day, found a paper nest in a four inch piece of pipe. The Wasp was the size of a humming bird, killed it after watching the nest, then three more showed up. Closest thing we could find that matched was a Japenese Honey Bee Killer wasp. A body was given to Nova, they tried to tell use it was a Cicada Killer, but they live under ground by themselves.

The kid next door knew where all the yellow jacket nest where, I've Sevined close to a dozen nest. He also wanted to show me a weird ant, that he played with, I finally saw it. I was like Holy Crap it's a Velvet ant. Thought they only lived in parts of Texas, OK, NM and AZ. Told him and his Dad about it's sting. I'm out of Sevin, would like to capture it and give it to Maryland Entomology.

[Mr Chesapeake]

:worthless:

[monkeyspanners]

Heres a short vid of a unit i worked on this monday for no cooling...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5xobceVgKw

Luckily all the wasps were out for the day :D

Jon

[midhvac]

Sent a chill up my spine.
I would've video'd the one I saw the other day, but it wouldn't have been too good with me running in circles.

[madhat]

That's what's left of a Hornets nest. Had a call 25+ years ago, they'd turned their AC off for vacation. When they returned, turned it back on, made a weird noise and it quit. The unit was a flat top York with the fan underneath, the nest actually bent the fan blade, then stalled the motor. They wanted me to do something, couldn't even go past the backyard gate, told them to get an exterminator, and to tell them the nest broke open. Then we'd be back.

[dave91169]

It ain't EPA approved but - - -
take care of yellow jacket nests in the ground with half-a-cup of gasoline and a funnel. Ease up to the hole just about dark, drop the funnel in the hole, pour the gas in, and you're done! Nothing ever comes out.
Dave E

[wgrr]

Been seeing a new type around here this season - much longer and skinny.
What the heck are those things?

Are they bigger despite being skinny. I saw some a few years ago. they were coming up out of the ground. I have no clue what they were. They were not aggressive.

Ground dwelling yellow jackets are rare here. Ground dwelling bumble bees aren't. I used to love bush hogging on the farm. Never knew an old International diesel tractor could go that fast.

[busterweaver]

Has anyone noticed yellow jackets seem to aim for you face and ears? The worst is roof top units that have been vacant or broke for a while. I started up 14 package units in a strip mall we had installed the spring before, just about all the inducer wheels were stuck, had to break them free and run, all were packed with yellow jackets. Pulled a "fireman" sliding down my extension ladder on the first big one i hit.

[mobowhntr]

Pulled the panel off an RTU last week and got hit 5 times on the wrist by red wasps before I could even move. Sore and swollen for 3 days:nopity:.

[edward301]

Think you are right about yellow jackets going for the face. I walked in
a back yard to check a unit, and immediately a yellow jacket hit me
in the face. Luckly I was wearing sun glases and the darn thing hit
my glasses, then went to its nest. I keep a can of spray, and fixed
the whole nest.

[midhvac]

Are they bigger despite being skinny. I saw some a few years ago. they were coming up out of the ground. I have no clue what they were. They were not aggressive.

Ground dwelling yellow jackets are rare here. Ground dwelling bumble bees aren't. I used to love bush hogging on the farm. Never knew an old International diesel tractor could go that fast.

They were close to 2" long. The bodies were kinda thin. About the size you'd get gluing 2 hornets together in series. 2 of them were sitting side by side on the top of an AC when I arrived. They didn't come after me, and actually watched me for a while before flying away.

[garya505]

I got stung on my forehead while riding my bicycle the day before my wedding. I had to use some of my wife's makeup to cover it up for the photos.

[wgrr]

They were close to 2" long. The bodies were kinda thin. About the size you'd get gluing 2 hornets together in series. 2 of them were sitting side by side on the top of an AC when I arrived. They didn't come after me, and actually watched me for a while before flying away.

Weird, I am pretty sure what I saw were cicada killers. They nested in the loose dry sandy red clay at a job site I worked at several years ago. They were huge and looked like yellow jackets.

The worst wasp around here is the red wasp. Very aggressive. They post look outs that will attack if you get too close.

I was doing a pm on a Ruud unit, the one you pull the large "L" shaped panel off the back to access the compressor and controls. It had been a very warm Spring but a cold snap had bought the highs down to about 65* F. I pulled the panel and the entire available space was a mass of shimmering red and purple. It was the biggest red wasp nest I had ever seen, but it was too cold for them to attack. If it had been warmer I would have been toast.

[9hats1van]

Here in Florida they grow everything big! Bees, wasps, mosquitoes, palmetto bugs. They make one hell of a sound as they commit suicide on your windshield, and don't even think about smiling if you're on a motorcycle. As for being stung. Only once by wasps when I was cutting my grass in my yard and I accidentally hit my fence with my riding lawn mover and disturbed their nest. I think it was payback for the windshield pizza.

[midhvac]

When my brother was a kid, riding the bus to school, he stuck his head out the window, and a dozen or so hornets landed on his face and stung him. He was ALL MESSED UP. Lucky for him, that's the only thing in the world he wasn't allergic to.

[tipsrfine]

Weird, I am pretty sure what I saw were cicada killers. They nested in the loose dry sandy red clay at a job site I worked at several years ago. They were huge and looked like yellow jackets.

The worst wasp around here is the red wasp. Very aggressive. They post look outs that will attack if you get too close.

I was doing a pm on a Ruud unit, the one you pull the large "L" shaped panel off the back to access the compressor and controls. It had been a very warm Spring but a cold snap had bought the highs down to about 65* F. I pulled the panel and the entire available space was a mass of shimmering red and purple. It was the biggest red wasp nest I had ever seen, but it was too cold for them to attack. If it had been warmer I would have been toast.

I'll be seeing that in my dreams/nightmares tonight. Thanks. I already can't get it out of my head.

[joey791]

I'm sitting here hurting right now debating if I should go to the ER or not. Something hit me in the back right behind my heart about 100 yards from the house(I was in my work truck driving with my window down, do not know how something could get in between my seat and back and me not feel it) and unfortunately I'm one of those people that either swell for a bit and it goes down or I have a reaction to it, I hate frickin wasps.

[meh70087]

recently a guy in my area was stung by a wasp in the lip and sadly died from the sting! it swole up and cut off circulation and couldnt breath