Wasp stings

[Cobleskill]

Might be a cyclical thing. I used to think a hot summer produced an abundance of hornet/wasps. Pretty hot summer here (I think 3rd hottest on record) and the flying buggers seem to be on the light side. That theory blown to pieces.

 

[Rborist1]

Extremely wet year here and we are finding them on every second job. One of my foremen took 12+ stings the other day and ended up in the emergency room of a hospital. Another foreman of mine had an extremely close call yesterday, he was standing on a ground nest and had hundreds of yellow jackets swarming around him. Somebody was watching over him because he did not get stung once!

 

[MasterBlaster]

THAT"S odd!

 

[Al Smith]

From what I heard Toms' crew got into them some yesterday also . With this cooling off here of late I'd think they would be less active .Then again if you cut into a bunch in a hollow tree chances are they'd be pizzed off a tad .

 

[woodworkingboy]

I hate when the first big one flies into the shop for the season. It means three or four months of having to watch out. A good shot with carb cleaner will knock one out of the air, rather sporting really.

 

[sotc]

Extremely wet year here and we are finding them on every second job. One of my foremen took 12+ stings the other day and ended up in the emergency room of a hospital. Another foreman of mine had an extremely close call yesterday, he was standing on a ground nest and had hundreds of yellow jackets swarming around him. Somebody was watching over him because he did not get stung once!

I've done that a few times now. Once I was standing on a stump and didn't know the nest was in it. Cat skinner stopped and stared at me, I thought there was something wrong with the turn of logs till he pointed at my feet. I looked down and there was a hundred of them flying around my feet. Not stung
Another time I was setting chokers, and was running, stepped on a rotton log and crushed it but kept going, wham, wham, wham, I went faster at that point
Then a couple months ago I stuck my soil injector right into a nest, when I pulled the needle out I realized what I had done when they boiled out. I stabbed it in the ground and slowly walked away, not stung.

 

[gf beranek]

A couple years ago was the worst encounter I ever had with ground bees. Could only estimate the amount of stings because they were so many and so close together in places. 30/40 or more on my back alone. My head, arms and the ones crawling up my pants leaving tracks of stings was that many in itself. It was clear open ground, no brush to dive into and so they had my number good.

 

[MasterBlaster]

So, how'd you escape???

 

[sotc]

When the yellow jackets butts hurt too much to sting you anymore!

 

[Cobleskill]

Owchy. Lots of Benadryl?

 

[woodworkingboy]

The wasps I hate most are the ones that will jab you repeatedly. Two or three times before you can react. Vicious attacks. By then their buddies might soon be on the way too. Two jabs and my elbow was almost as big as a softball.

 

[Burnham]

My bud used to do grounds maintenance for several school complexes told me he used to do it that way. This nest is about the size of 5 gallon pail. Probably big number of residents and walls to keep spray from penetrating? How big was your nest. Nipping them out shouldn't be a big deal.

The one I just dealt with wasn't that big at all, between a softball and a football. Your point about spray penetrating may well be valid...but they only come in and out one place...just keep spraying there until no more exit, is what I have done. I use the sort of instant knockdown stuff. More than one can if necessary.

Maybe not a big deal to you . But you got stung with your method, and I didn't with mine .

 

[gf beranek]

I got about a hundred yards from the nest and lost the main swarm then started picking, smashing and wiping them off. Steve Van Horn came over and helped get the ones off my back and out of my hair.

John Ciro got it just as bad. Some how Steve got out of the whole ordeal without a single sting.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Wow, like a wasp tattoo!

 

[gf beranek]

If ever I was going to have an allergic reaction that would have been the time.

 

[Al Smith]

When I was a youngster,about 14 my big old German shorthair "Duke" got into the hornets .Poor old Duke had a head the size of a basketball,eyes swollen shut .His big old floppy ears were even puffed up .His head looked like it was growing golf balls .

The old man said he'd either make it or not and tied him up with a bunch of water to drink .Next day old Duke was just fine ,perhaps just as stupid but in good health .

 

[CurSedVoyce]

While I was working that oak yesterday, in SRT fashion.. I was redirecting my rope through another crotch to get in position to descend and work that lower limb. I no sooner descended about 10 feet when I saw them.. Right below where I had redirected was a nest in a pecker hole. I had been standing there, no evidence of them that whole time, and now there they were. I can only think that when I slid around the trunk with my flip line that it must have disturbed them. Talk about lucky !

 

[gf beranek]

Always good to see them first.

 

[Bermy]

The heat treatment works by denaturing some kinds of poisons or toxins...as well as just the itch relief for things like poison ivy.

 

[treesmith]

There is an herb called plantain (plantago major) that grows all over the place down here. If you break off a leaf and chew it up, then plaster it on the sting, it helps to reduce the swelling and pain. One of my daughters was stung last year on the arm and swelled up something awful. A few months later she was stung on the finger/hand. Her sister grabbed a leaf or two of plantain, chewed it up and put it on the sting, then covered it with a bandage. By the time I got home from work, she couldn't even find where it had stung her. It might not work for everyone, but I use it whenever I'm stung. The plantain looks sort of like turnip greens and they grow everywhere it seems. They pop up in my wife's flower beds regularly.

 

[woodworkingboy]

A friend of mine is an urushi artist, you know the extract from the poison oak type plant that gets used for finishing.. His old Labrador got into a bucket of the thick stuff and lapped it up. It's lips and tongue got huge and the dog was in obvious discomfort for a number of days. Similar to Al's "Duke", only time would tell. He pulled through. The dog always seemed a little crazy whenever I saw him.

 

[Burnham]

Poor pooch!

 

[Al Smith]

FWIW plantain is used frequently by nature foods people .It contains a blood coagulant and often in olden days was called the soldiers herb because it was used for battle field wound dressing .

It's pretty widely scattered and is said to have come from Europe via the early settlers .The native Americans called it the white mans foot print because it appeared around where they settled .Weed trivia 101 .

 

[gf beranek]

I always assumed that plantain was native around here. well now...

 

[Labour of Love]

Thanks Kate for the cautionary. The reactions that I have been experiencing of late are pretty rad swelling and almost instantaneous infection, and this last time a little dizziness included. Whether that qualifies as severe I'm not sure, but it is a step or two beyond when previously barely getting any reaction at all from stings. i really do fear the Giant wasp in particular, like the bad guy who rides into town and people stay in their houses and close their curtains as a result. One hostile encounter is definitely enough. I need to get an expert opinion on whether further consideration is required. Appreciate the heads up.

I'd be carrying an epi pen if I were you. For me, multiple stings (more than 4) give me a pretty scarey reaction. I always have an epi pen within reach.