# Yellow Jackets in my hay feeders



## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

I've never seen this before. I have 4' x 4' plastic hay feeders (retired grape harvesting bins) in my half acre field, which at present is mostly dry dirt. I feed orchard grass hay free choice. Suddenly this week those hay feeders are full of yellow jackets aka ground wasps or meat bees, busily doing something. It's a new hay delivery so although the hay looks just like last week's hay, it is apparently different. Higher sugar? 

The horses carefully eat around them ... no stings yet. I have no idea where the nest is, but it can't be extremely close, because neither the horses nor the dogs nor I have been attacked in the field (they defend a perimeter around their nest). 

August and September, the end of the dry season here, is the time of year that yellow jackets get really really cranky. They die off as soon as the temperatures drop and the rain starts, so this is their last hurrah. If you are going to get stung, it is probably going to be about now. 

I put out some yellow jacket traps in the trees at the edge of the field -- they were instantly popular. But of course this is not going to solve the problem, only finding and destroying the nest or nests would really help with that. 

I dumped out the hay on the ground, so at least the horses wouldn't have to put their heads into a box with swarming wasps. I can't think of anything else except waiting for the weather to change! 

Ideas?????


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

Yellow jackets by me live in the ground and swarm out of it...nasty pests they are.
You say the dirt is dry and they are searching for moisture.
Under that hay cover and protected from drying sun those pests are thriving.
Evening, dusk or later is the best time to relocate your hay bale and spray {I poured kerosene and burned them in the ground hole. I also poured chemical to kill the hives deep in the ground...
Be very careful if they sting you or your horses..they can give very nasty reactions and they really, really hurt!!
Wasps, depending upon the kind they are can be deadly if more than one or two sting you...same for horses.
You need to do something and quickly....
Exterminator may be needed...not wanting to spend $ but truly needed it can be that serious for all breathing human, equine, dog or cat stung...

*Please be very careful!
:runninghorse2:...
*_jmo...
_


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

I had a bee infestation in a horse stall 2 years ago. One day they were just "there" it had been particularly dry - they never bothered my gelding even though he ate and slept by them - but my walking in and out of the stall to clean it and feed him seemed to agitate them. So I called an exterminator - who told me that because the ground was a little softer and worked up they bees thought it was the best place to build an easy nest. 

Hope no one gets stung and the little ******s go elsewhere


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

They are not nesting there. I dumped my feeders over, nothing there. They are foraging for something on the hay. If they were nesting they would have stung the bejeezus out of the horses. 

Believe me, I know the habits of these evil little dudes. Every late summer I have to deal with them. Small nests can be located and then bombed with wasp spray at night; big nests, I've found, can only be eliminated with bigger ammo. One right by our house we had to go with the cowboy way and pour kerosene down the multiple entrances. When we dug it up it turned out to be a maze about six feet in length. 

That's why when I say I've never seen this, I mean I've seen way too much of these guys (they nearly killed one of my dogs once), and this is a new one on me. 

Most other wasps are unaggressive -- I've had a colony of paper wasps on the inside of the door to my garden shed for years without any problems (I don't slam the door!). Yellow jackets though. I am a total live and let live kind of girl, and I hate them.


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## elkdog (Nov 28, 2016)

The bears around here love those yellow jackets and dig them up every chance they get. GOOD BEARS!!!!


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

elkdog said:


> The bears around here love those yellow jackets and dig them up every chance they get. GOOD BEARS!!!!


Why, there's my solution, why didn't I think of that?


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## KLJcowgirl (Oct 13, 2015)

:eek_color: I... I didn't know they lived underground too...


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

Yellow Jackets do get in hay, from what I have read. 

Since they seemed to show up when the new hay arrived, do you think their nest is really at the hay guy's place and the ones you are seeing happened to be in the bales he delivered to you?

Here's a link to Mother Earth on using a type of mint to get rid of them but you would need to find their gathering spot first.

An Effective and Non-Toxic Solution for Getting Rid of Yellow Jackets? Nests

Also, your six foot underground maze gave me the willies. Years ago I was mowing the back yard after the weather turned cold in an area I knew they had an under ground nest. I had a decent sized garden tractor and still almost lost the back wheel when it fell into their empty nest. They are a destructive lot in more ways than one.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

The mega nest wasn't six feet underground. It was six feet long. It was less than a foot under the soil surface. They may be evil but they're not crazy!


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