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Hit a yellow jacket hole while brush hogging

G

Goalie35

New User
I was mowing some pretty tall brush, 4-5ft high during the day and naturally hit a ground nest of yellow jackets. Probably got me 3-4 times before I realized what was happening and scooted out of there. They nearly followed me back to the barn.

I don't have a cab on my tractor, does anyone wear anything extra to protect against these guys? I'm guessing there are nests all over the 40 AC I am cutting, no way I could throw gas down every hole. Just want to be prepared next time so I'm not itching for a month.
 
Tape a penny to the sting, it will remove the pain somehow.
Doesn't matter the year of the penny.
I spit on the penny too.
I do it immediately after getting stung..
Doesn't take very long to work.
 
I encountered yellow jackets about 1957 when plowing some fallow ground. Oh!, they got me good
(bad for me) in the face. A little later my eyes were swollen closed.
Several days later I was going back to that field, prepared. I had heavy socks in work boots, 2
pair of levies with the pants lags tied closed at the ankle, a heavy coat and gloves with the
wrists tie closed and a straw hat with mosquito netting sown to the brim (my mother's
contribution) and tucked inside the coat.
Yahoo! I went hunting for nests. There were 2 others of very mad bees.
I may have looked funny but I was also laughing.
 
The obvious thing to do is go and buy a cab tractor for a LOT of money, keep the doors and window closed and
the A/C on (if required) and have 'at 'er'. ;^) P.S. Check is in the mail
 
X-2 the ones we have sting and bite and will chase you but I was cutting hay with a Kuhn cutter a couple times I cut over their holes maybe it was the high pitched sound of the cutter but they didnt attack me.my dad went back with his tractor and bush hog after cutting over a nest once and parked the spinning cutter right over the nest and just let it idle there for a couple hours!
 
George,

I've heard of the penny cure before but I've never tried it. What I do have that works for wasps is a small bottle ammonia that I keep on my tractor. As soon as I get hit with by a wasp, I flood the area of the sting with the liquid ammonia. I stink for a while, but it really does take the sting out in very little time.

Tom in TN
 
Tom in TN,

Mom made a poultice of dirt/amonia that she put on our stings. LOL
Think that I will try just amonia if I get stung (hoping I don't).
 
(quoted from post at 17:46:55 09/20/22)
heavy doses of Benadryl for 3-4 days .
Click to expand...

Be careful with the Benadryl!

Wife is highly allergic to the stings and she got nailed by a couple of bald-faced hornets last year. I had her take 3 Benadryl. It helped, but made her massively loopy. Got to where she couldn't walk without falling over. She panicked and I finally took her to ER. Doctor there said next time to use Allegra. Allegra is a more advanced antihistamine that doesn't cross the blood/brain barrier, and it doesn't make you tired. Doc also said to take AS DIRECTED ON THE BOTTLE; no need to take more as it likely will not improve the benefit.

We didn't know it at the time, but Benadryl is also not recommended for people over 60 years old. Here's the quote:
[i:5bf5b904fe][b:5bf5b904fe]Use in the Elderly (approximately 60 years or older)[/b:5bf5b904fe]
Antihistamines are more likely to cause dizziness, sedation, and hypotension in elderly patients.[/i:5bf5b904fe]

So if you're near or over 60, be careful!! This is why the ER doc recommended Allegra or its generic, as there will not be the severity of reactions that Benadryl may have.
 
I have thought about wearing my chain saw safety pants when brush hogging. Figure if the saw can't cut through them, then the hornets could not sting through them. But I have never actually tried it.

Tim
 


The main thing is to mow either early in the summer before they have gotten active, or as Fritz said after it is too cold for them. I had a job that I was late on that I needed to get done last week, and knowing that I was in prime time for wasps I put on long pants and a sweatshirt even though it was warm. Sure enough I spotted ahead of me the remains of a nest and a lot of them circling near it, looking for the now ruined nest. I was very lucky to not get stung. Timing is everything. Around here mowing time is June, July and October. Never August or September.
 
here is my suit . i am removing a bald face hornet nest swmbo is in the background assisting .
cvphoto136334.jpg
 
Bee careful, I never had a problem with bee stings till I got hit 8 or 10 times in the hand. Had the reaction and ended up in the ER
and was darn sick for a couple of hours. So, be prepared, if you start to get hives, you will itch everywhere you have hair, or your
lips start to swell....GET TO THE ER! Just because you've never had a reaction doesn't mean you are immune.
 


I want to emphasize what WNYbill posted. Allergic reaction to bee stings can put you into anaphylactic shock, which can kill you. The greatest danger is swelling of the throat which can kill you. The medics can install an airway that can keep yu alive until the ambulance reaches the hospital. Most of us don't carry the airway in our cars. Epipen is also important but you on't have one unless you already know that you are allergic.
 
Yes, guy I work with suddenly in his late 50s had a serious reaction for the first time. Has to carry an EpiPen now.
 
(quoted from post at 22:20:08 09/20/22)
(quoted from post at 17:46:55 09/20/22)
heavy doses of Benadryl for 3-4 days .
Click to expand...

Be careful with the Benadryl!

Wife is highly allergic to the stings and she got nailed by a couple of bald-faced hornets last year. I had her take 3 Benadryl. It helped, but made her massively loopy. Got to where she couldn't walk without falling over. She panicked and I finally took her to ER. Doctor there said next time to use Allegra. Allegra is a more advanced antihistamine that doesn't cross the blood/brain barrier, and it doesn't make you tired. Doc also said to take AS DIRECTED ON THE BOTTLE; no need to take more as it likely will not improve the benefit.

We didn't know it at the time, but Benadryl is also not recommended for people over 60 years old. Here's the quote:
[i:50ba7a5cc3][b:50ba7a5cc3]Use in the Elderly (approximately 60 years or older)[/b:50ba7a5cc3]
Antihistamines are more likely to cause dizziness, sedation, and hypotension in elderly patients.[/i:50ba7a5cc3]

So if you're near or over 60, be careful!! This is why the ER doc recommended Allegra or its generic, as there will not be the severity of reactions that Benadryl may have.
Click to expand...
Will get the wife some Allegra.
She has allergies. What happens is she gets stung and she is already taking it for allergies? Thanks, DOUG
 
Don't take any chances.Same thing happened
to me one time and it sent me to the ER.You
get stung by enough of em it ain't good.

Paul
 
I got stung after running over some of them, so I pulled off my hat and beat them off as best I could and got away fast but dropped the hat and chopped it up in the brush hog. Next time I cut that field I put on my Full dive suit and bee hat.I looked dumb as dirt but didn't care.
 
If you can swing it get a tractor with a nice cab and a/c.Brushhogging kicks up a lot of dust and debris.Not good being in a hot and dusty environment especially as you get older.

Paul
 
If you can swing it get a tractor with a nice cab and a/c.Brushhogging kicks up a lot of dust and debris.Not good being in a hot and dusty environment especially as you get older.

Paul
 
I would love to drop the coin on a tractor with a cab, maybe in a few years but right now I'm just rocking an old Ford.

I think I will do what some of you recommended and buy at least the beekeeper's hood and throw on a heavy jacket and my hunting Carhartts. Try to tuck all of it in so they can't get under my clothes and sting me. Will also probably get some sort of epipen in the event that I get ambushed. Last time I weedwacked and got hit I was able to run away quickly, just hard to know when they're around when there's s*** flying around everywhere.

I can probably get away with this for a few more years, I'm in my early 30s, but maybe getting a cab is the right move. They're just everywhere, in the barn, in the ground, around the porch, can't seem to escape them until it gets cold.
 
Take it serious! A young man was running a dozer last summer, hit a nest, and was stung to death. Left a wife and a couple young ones. No chance to out run them little stinging buggers while on a
dozer.
 
I ve run over more than I could ever count, and nearly bought a bee suit. It is a good idea, but in the mean time if you watch close you can see the swarm before you run into them. When you first hit them isn t when they get you, its the next pass around when they are all swarming around the hole. For the last five years or so I haven t been stung once, where it used to be 3-5 hives every year that would get me.
 
(quoted from post at 18:25:47 09/21/22) I ve run over more than I could ever count, and nearly bought a bee suit. It is a good idea, but in the mean time if you watch close you can see the swarm before you run into them. When you first hit them isn t when they get you, its the next pass around when they are all swarming around the hole. For the last five years or so I haven t been stung once, where it used to be 3-5 hives every year that would get me.
Click to expand...


I agree that on the next pass they are swarming around the hole, but they can also get you on that first pass depending probably if they become alerted by the proximity of your front tire to the hole.
 
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