We seem to have a family of yellow jackets living in the compost pile. I was hoping they were just dining there, but there are A LOT of them and they never seem to leave. :/
Sorry for the close up of the compost pile. These are yellow jackets, right?
This is my consequence for neglecting the poor compost pile for so long. I have spent hours today reading about how to get rid of them. I have learned that they swarm when agitated, apparently loud noise like the lawn mower can agitate them, and reading all that makes me itchy and twitchy all over! Ugh. I was painting on the back porch and swatted three of them with the paint brush! Good thing their buddies didn’t swarm!
On another note, the kids found the dirt garden again this evening. They went outside to play tag, wore themselves out, and settled in the dirt.
Dirty birds!
Eve found a worm and was eager to show me.
Playing with trucks in the dirt. Still a little boy.
They both came in covered with bug bites! Maybe not covered, but they each had six or seven swollen bites. I was worried they were stings at first, but neither of them noticed getting bitten and I think they would have noticed if they’d been stung by yellow jackets six times!
Weird afternoon. New neighbors and new stairs… we’re movin’ on… up?
Any advice how to remove yellow jackets?
Definitely yellow jackets if they’re feasting on the sweet stuff. :) Those are the ones who like to invade picnics and popsicles too… and they make ground nests. You could set a trap nearby (buy one at Home Depot) to reduce the population, or if you know where the entrance to the nest is, pour soapy water in there and cover it with a brick. Do that at night when the little guys are at home. Just be careful about what kind of soap you use because compost is supposed to be organic and all.
If they’re not posing a threat, the nest will die over the winter and I don’t think yellow jackets nest in the same place two years in a row. Whatever you do, don’t turn your compost pile now… and be careful mowing your lawn. Don’t let Lex mow near there!
T –
Very weird! Yellowjackets are usually attracted to animal protein, any chance you’ve got a nice big juicy steak or a dead squirrel buried in there somewhere? We have yellowjackets around our house but I’ve never seen them in or around our compost heap. You can buy yellowjacket traps at Home Depot that should get rid of them after which you might want to poke through the pile to see if there’s anything obvious that’s attracting them. Good luck!
Love,
Greg
Thanks Greg and Lauren! I think we are going to get a trap from HD…. or just wait for winter. We’ll see. :-) If it weren’t for the risk of swarming I’d just let them live there, but none of us are interested in swarming yellow jackets!!!