A Yellow Jacket
The interview with Papa about the HUGE wasp's nest he found.
By Daisy May
Papa and Daisy May
So Papa, tell us your story ... when did you first know there was a yellow jacket nest in our front yard?
Papa: I was trimming the little trees in the circle and suddenly a yellow jacket stung me on the arm - I yelled "Yeow!" and ran away real fast.
DM: what happened next?
Papa: I was standing on the driveway and I saw ANOTHER bee on my pants and he was trying to sting me through my pants. So I smacked him off and he was dead.
Then I ran over to Meme so she could see if there were any more yellow jackets on me and we found one more on my belly trying to get through my shirt to sting me more.
DM: WOW! That was terrible. Were you scared? Did they hurt?
Papa: Yes, I was stung once and it hurt a lot and I didn't want to be stung again.
DM: Then what happened?
Papa: I had to find the nest and mark it with a dab of spray paint, the orange can from my truck.
I wanted to mark it so I could find it after dark.
DM: That was a good idea, why did you want to mark it, what were you going to do with it after dark?
Papa: All the yellow jackets return to their nest after dark. And I wanted to get em all.
So, when it got dark that night, I very quietly walked up to the nest and poured GASOLINE on the whole nest.
DM:Why did you use gasoline?
Papa: Cause gasoline kills em all ... FAST. And I didn't want to get stung again.
DM: Did it work?
Papa: Yes, they are all dead.
DM: Here are some pictures Meme took the next day, can you tell us about them?
Our woods
Papa: I was trimming the little trees in the circle and suddenly a yellow jacket stung me on the arm - I yelled "Yeow!" and ran away real fast.
DM: what happened next?
Papa: I was standing on the driveway and I saw ANOTHER bee on my pants and he was trying to sting me through my pants. So I smacked him off and he was dead.
Then I ran over to Meme so she could see if there were any more yellow jackets on me and we found one more on my belly trying to get through my shirt to sting me more.
DM: WOW! That was terrible. Were you scared? Did they hurt?
Papa: Yes, I was stung once and it hurt a lot and I didn't want to be stung again.
DM: Then what happened?
Papa: I had to find the nest and mark it with a dab of spray paint, the orange can from my truck.
I wanted to mark it so I could find it after dark.
DM: That was a good idea, why did you want to mark it, what were you going to do with it after dark?
Papa: All the yellow jackets return to their nest after dark. And I wanted to get em all.
So, when it got dark that night, I very quietly walked up to the nest and poured GASOLINE on the whole nest.
DM:Why did you use gasoline?
Papa: Cause gasoline kills em all ... FAST. And I didn't want to get stung again.
DM: Did it work?
Papa: Yes, they are all dead.
DM: Here are some pictures Meme took the next day, can you tell us about them?
Our woods
DM:What are you doing here Papa?
Papa: Right here, I am using a shovel to uncover the nest to see how big it is.
DM:What is it you are pointing to?
Papa: This is the hole where the yellow jackets fly in and out of the nest.
Papa: This is the hole where the yellow jackets fly in and out of the nest.
DM: Can you tell us anything about this diagram of the underground nest?
Papa: It's amazing, yes, that's what it looked liked. My nest was 6 layers deep, and had over 5,000 cells for developing yellow jackets.
DM: Here is the acutal nest you found, one of the biggest middle layers. Tell us about the white things and about the size.
Papa: The white things are larvae, which are developing yellow jackets. Yellow jackets develop from the larvae. The queen yj lays an egg in each cell or little section,
and the egg grows into the larva, and the larva grows into a yj.
The outside of the nest is like a grey paper ball. When I pulled the top off, after lifting each layer, I found 6 layers of what you see in the picture. On the bottom of each layer is where the larvae filled the cells. The layer I pulled out is upside down, it houses the white larvae.
DM: Any last thoughts Papa?
Papa: Last year I poured gasoline on 5 nests before the they quit flying around the porch. This year, after one nest, the they are still flying around the porch. I have to find the rest of the nests. I'll tell you when I find them. I try to use as little gasoline as possible. I want to be careful of groundwater as well has ruining the soil.
That concludes our visit with Papa, thank you for reading with us.
A page you can print and then color.
You can use the next picture to learn the correct terms for the wasps body parts
You can use the next picture to learn the correct terms for the wasps body parts
8 comments:
Daisy, I want to compliment you on your interview skills, you wrote down my words exactly as I spoke them, not like some liberal newspaper writer that would twist and exaggerate my words. Good Job!!
Haha dad. Good job Daisy.
Very informational! I love your charts and visual aids. Aubrey, if you make those cute cupcakes, be sure to send one to me, ok? ;-)
"papa, that sounds scary. why do they sting you? The nest is cool. It's cool that the queen puts eggs in every hole and layer. Why is it their job to sting people?" - Zack
Dad - We have yellow jackets in the sides of our house (but not IN our house)... any ideas on how to get them out? I see them going into holes in the siding and into a vent on the side of the house. Can't exactly pour gasoline in... they are also living in my neighbor's mammoth sat. dish... is it worth my effort ridding myself of the ones I have when the neighbors have a large nest a foot over my fence?
sometimes they sting me because I stepped on their nest, they thought I was attacking them. And that's okay, they are just trying to protect themselves. But sometimes they get really mean, mostly in late August of early September, and fly around looking for food, but when they fly next to you and you accidentally bump into them they get mad and sting you, of when you try to eat something outside, they try to eat it too, and when you swat at them they think you are trying to hurt them and sting you. Papa
Kimberly, I would buy some bug spray with residual killing so when you spray them as they enter the hole in the siding or spray the holes themselves, the entering bees will carry poison into the nest, they are cannibals and when they eat the dead bodies they will ingest the poison. This will take some time to get to all the bees.
As far as your neighbor's nest, ask them if you can spray their dish, then buy some long range (20')spray, and spray the nest heavily each evening right after dark, getting it into the entry hole(s). This might take several evenings for the attack to be successful. Good hunting!! Dad
Ethan - Thank you for making the printing thing for me. Mommy fixed the printer last night. I will color it probably today if mommy gets it out. Will you please mom..."no..I'm a mean mom"
Ethan says "you have too! You're not a mean mom."
Aub - I really, really love the cupcake idea. Who knew there were yellow jacket cupcakes? When I make them I will send you a picture. My grandpop who battles yellow jackets every year will get a kick out of them. I didn't know that their nests were so big. I have nothing else to say...
Aub says i'm mean for writing that last sentence. See I am a mean mom!
The kids loved it! Thanks Daisy!!!
Post a Comment