taking care of wasps ona sunday

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got a phone call,, at 7 am this morn. From the sherriff dept,, they got my name from the county extenstion. I had given it to them,, in case they got a call for a swarm,, figured free bees. So,, the police gave me the number to call,, I called it,, was just a few miles away, so I thought ,, why not. I asked,, "are you sure its bees?",, OH YES. I gathered by equipment,, and drove on over,,,luckily I brought my suit and veil. Turned out to be the biggest nest of yellow jackets I have ever saw. I told them it wasnt bees,, and showed them so. After explaining the differance between wasps and honey bees,, and why people to keep wasps around for honey,, they thought you could. I told them to get some wasps spray and kill it,, turns out,, the wife is chemical sensitive, so that was out of the question. Burning it out wasnt an option either,, it was in the attic / crawl space. They asked if there was anything I could do. Said sure,, for a price,, and the use of the large fire extingisher I saw in the garage. Dad showed me a long time ago,, to freeze a wasps nest,, use a can of freon,, makes the cluster up, and you have time to do what you need,, but since freon isnt accessable as it once was,, I figured Co2 would work just as good. Sparyed it down real good,, and got to work, half hoour later,, I was done,, had the nest in a garbage bag,, and was taking off the suit,, when the man camew to pay me,, and asked what I was going to do with the nest. I told him,, take it home and burn it,, turns out,, he wanted it , for the larvae, cause he like to fish with them. I have no idea why he didnt do the job himself. Hope I dont get alot of the calls. Hope everyone else has a better sunday

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), June 03, 2001

Answers

Well, at least you didn't get stung! Plus you got some money that you didn't have this morning! I hope you charged enough to make it worth your while. Since you did such a good job, start up your own business -Stan's Bee Removal! (As if you probably aren't busy enough!)

-- Michael W. Smith in North-West Pennsylvania (kirklbb@penn.com), June 03, 2001.

Stan,

Since you've already got the suit and vail maybe you should buy a few old CO2 extinguishers and get yourself listed as a yellow jacket removal specialist. At least here in the South you could pick up some nice pocket money. Might could even sell the nests to the local bait shops for extra change. Plenty of folks won't cross a nest of yellow jackets but a knowledgeable man could make out alright.

Never had to take one out of a building but I've killed a few in the ground - usually after discovering them in the traditional manner of running a mower over the nest opening!

The larvae do make damn nice fish bait though. Same with wasps nests.

={(Oak)-

-- Live Oak (oneliveoak@yahoo.com), June 04, 2001.


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