I searched to see if this issue had been dealt with, but only found one thread about removing a nest from a gate.
Here’s my scenario … we had an old car sitting in the driveway for a year or more. This summer, some yellowjackets decided one of the rust holes would make an ideal nest. Finally, we contacted a donation place to come take the car. Prior to this, I sprayed the hole one night. I had thought they were all dead, but a couple days later, still saw some stragglers.
Anyhow, now the car is gone, and my car (sans rust holes) seems to be to their liking. The car was removed while I was away for the weekend. I got back late last night. When I went out to the car this morning, I saw a random bee crawling in the crack by the doorway. I drove away thinking that they would abandon the plan when they find this car actually moves. Guess not. I went out again a couple hours after returning and there are now 5 or 6 bees investigating the crack of my door.
I don’t really want to use chemicals on the car, for fear of harming the paint. I also really don’t want to be blazing down the highway and have a swarm of bees attack me. More realistically, I don’t want to open the passenger door and have me or anyone else attacked.
Any suggestions? Will this band of yellowjackets come along for the ride every day in the safety of my door crack?
Buy a two-liter bottle of soda, non-diet variety, whatever is on sale. Pour half of it out. Cut the top off right below where the taper ends, so about 1 centimeter is the maximum with. Invert this into the bottle so the opening is a couple centimeters from the soda. Now place your cheap bee trap about twenty feet from your car. Any bees around will be atracted to the soda, fly in, and be stuck until they die. I suspect what you are getting is the drones that were kicked out of the nest, or left behind when their home turned mobile.
Sounds like they are just trying to return to the nest that is no longer there and, not finding it, they are behaving unpredictably (I can’t imagine that nature has equipped them with the programming to deal with this scenario).
Thanks for the quick responses. I just took the car out for a drive and parked on a side street across from my house.
I like the idea about the cheap bee trap. Only problem is that I have lots of gardens around the yard and have literally hundreds of bees and probably a dozen bee nests. This trap could be quite the bee holocaust, no? I actually don’t mind having bees around, as long as they aren’t getting in my car or house. Perhaps I’ll try it for a short time around where the car used to be and see what the results are.
Regarding them being drones, would that mean that aren’t interesting in building a new nest because there is no queen? I suppose they could try to join another colony in the area.
They aren’t interested in building, and no ther colony will take them at this time of year (most colonies are kicking drones out right now in preperation for winter, depending on your climate, but since your car had rust holes, I’m guessing you are from the salty-road north) The trap does turn into a holocaust pretty quick, but works as a quick fix to rid an area of problem bees.
I feel that my experience with yellowjackets allows me to make this small note: Yellowjackets are not bees, they are wasps. Having been stung on the order of 70 times in one unfortunate encounter, I can assure you that they will sting more than once.
The bee trap is a good idea; I believe that they will also go for red meat should your bait attract the wrong type of insect.