In today’s article, I’m going to discuss how to get rid of yellow jackets with dry ice. I once went to my brother’s farm and recently he is working the fence line and found a yellow jacket nest.
The hard way is done then so many times, so I’m going to have to deal with it. Now, I’ve destroyed these nests by pouring soapy water, down the hole that worked well, but in this article, I’m going to fill the underground chamber with CO2.
What is Dry Ice?
Dry ice is solid CO2 and very quickly, turns into a gas, so it’s going to go down and fill the underground chamber and euthanize the Yellowjackets. After that, you’re going to dig up the nest once it’s neutralized and we’re going to feed it to wild animals.
I have experienced circumstances where skunks have dug up yellowjacket, nest, and eaten the larvae. So what you’re going to do is set up the motion cameras to monitor and see what comes along and enjoy a yellow jacket nest.
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How to Get Rid of Yellow Jackets With Dry Ice
First, we’re going to have to fill it with CO2. You might be curious how long it’s going to take and you need to wear your beekeeper suit, at least at first. If you start getting stung, you will put it on.
But at first, you might be curious how well this works. This should keep them from coming out of the hole and attacking you as well.
So, you should look for the nest, and then you will start throwing chunks of dry ice down to see if it works. Okay, you can see the ground yellow jacket nest. There are some guards right at the entrance ready to attack anything that comes along.
What I will advise you to do is place the CO2 right there and see, if it kills them, then you will add more until the chamber is completely full. They will look kind of agitated with you being here. Hopefully, you don’t get stung.
Furthermore, when I place the dry ice right there on the entrance, I got stung several times through my clothing, but I was able to spot them. It’s not too bad.
They were so mad. They were even swarming the camera. So, I went ahead and put on my bee suit, so I don’t get stung anymore and I waited to see how long it takes for the dry ice to work.
Also, I have a butterfly net. I’m going to see how many of these Yellow Jackets. I can swoop it up and put it in a jar just after 3 to 5 minutes. They have stopped coming out of the hole completely. I’m just dealing with the ones around here that are already flying around.
I got a Jar full of yellow jackets. I caught them in the net. I throw dry ice in there and see how long it takes for the CO2 to work.
Well, there we go. It does work. It just takes time. Let’s see how the nest is doing. I found the main chamber. They’re pouring out of there. They’re really slow down with that dry ice and that seems to be working well.
Think I’m so weird. What I saw was the top of the nest right there. It’s all soft and there was a second layer and a third. That’s a good one and putting the dry ice right there overall in the tightly confined spaces, dry ice does work, but there’s a lot that is escaping their flying out.
Then they get the oxygen and the attack. So it’s not the greatest method. But I can work. So here, you are going to feed to the skunk. See what comes along to enjoy, all these little yellow jacket grubs right there.
Your yellow jacket larvae buffet. Let’s see, what comes to the compost pile tonight, and enjoys a protein-packed meal.
Well, there’s skunk sure enjoyed the yellowjacket meal that we left them. These larvae must be a delicacy because they’ll go to great lengths to dig up a nest. I’m sure they get stung but to them, it’s worth it.
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How to Prevent Yellow Jackets Nest
Now, if you find a ground yellow jacket nest, I wrote a technique on the best way to deal with these. I wouldn’t recommend dry ice and CO2. It just didn’t work fast enough. The best method I found is to flood out the nest with soapy water, a few 5-gallon buckets, and it will completely destroy the nest. And if you have a yellow jacket problem, but you don’t know where the nest is.
You can check these steps on how to set up the ultimate yellow jacket trap, very quickly. I caught over 1,000, yellow jackets. It is. by far the best way, I found a deal with aggressive and dangerous yellow jackets.
