bees...part 2

[Deb&Al]

ok. i thought they left, the hundreds and hundreds of what i believe to be yellow jackets that a few weeks ago kept hanging around the side of our house and patio. they were exhibiting the same behavior as the ladybug infestatins we get, where they fly all around one side of our house. DH said it was because the siding was yellow and the warmpth of the sun attracted them.

i thought they had all gone. today i'm on my front porch, and there were a lot of bees as i was watering my hanging baskets. i became aware of a low-pitched hummmmmm noise. about 25 feet from our house is a massive red maple. my husband and i would not be able to put our arms around it, we would need a third person. we've had the tree topped down in the past and it's a lovely shade tree.

we know that one of the "arms" of the tree is bad and it seems that that's wher the bees are. when i went to get the mail and walked past the tree...our mailbox is on the other side of the road...i was "buzzed" several times.

i googled bees and looked at pictures. there was a dead one in the windowsill and i think it's a yellow jacket. yellow and black bands around the body, no fur. i can't be sure the dead one in the window is what's in the tree.

anyway, i've learend that the colony will die with the first hard frost and that the nest might not be used next spring. new colonies will form from newly mated queens that will hibernate over the winter.

sooo, my questions are, in the meantime, until the first hard freeze and these little buggers are dead, how wide of a berth should i give this tree? i have flower beds that i want to clean up and herbs i'm planning to harvest soon, all within 5 to 50 feet of this tree.

and is it just me, or do yellow jackets seem to get much more nasty as fall is coming on?
deb

[Batt]

do yellow jackets seem to get much more nasty as fall is coming on?

Yes as their food supplied dry up they become more aggressive trying to find food. Yellow Jackets can sting multiple times per attack, and their sting is worse than a honey bee sting (I keep bees). If it were me personally, I would not do anything to rile them up. Wait to clean the flower beds until after frost. Plug the hole up this winter.

[Steely]

Yes they are really nasty in the fall.Plus when they sting,it really hurts.Stay away until they have died out.

[OkieDavid]

I'm beginning to think they might actually be honeybees and not wasps. The humming sound could be them evaporating nectar (converting to honey). The tree as you describe it certainly sounds large enough to have a hollow center and with the topping it would be easy for a dead limb to fall off creating an entry point.
Do some internet research and be sure you can identify a honey bee from a yellow jacket......Whack one of the flying buggers and get it close enough positively identify.
Good news- If it is honey bees, you will have access to some fresh "home grown" honey next year.....but you'll have to earn it
Bad news- If it is honey bees, they won't die off at the first frost and stand a decent chance of making it through the winter.
Good Luck,
David

[watcher]

You can try an old trick. Take a pan of soapy water and hang a piece of meat so it hangs just over the top of the water. Sit this out near the nest. The YJ's will stuff themselves on the meat and when they try to fly off they fall into the water and drown. Some say fish works best but any meat seems to work well enough.

You can also make a trap out of a 2L soda bottle but its more work and I have never had as much luck with them.

[auctioneer]

What size are these insects? That could go a long way in telling what you actually have.

As one who got 7 yellow jacket stings, one in the ear canal, about a month ago...that ain't somethin' you want to do.

You don't want to do this either: Man Burns House While Trying To Kill Yellow Jackets
http://www.wxii12.com/news/14242451/detail.html