[Paul Cottier]

So there are many ideas and theories for yellow jacket and wasp traps out there but i found an idea that i have tested this late summer/early fall that works. Most traps only trap the foragers and maybe if you are lucky a queen but they keep coming. There have been at least a few universities that have experimented with different baits and inecticides to kill the entire nest of wasps, not just the foragers. They all came up with similar results: By taking a can of minced chicken meat or chicken flavor wet cat food and mixing 5% Fipronil into it, the wasps will come into contact with the fipronil, carry it back to the nest and over the course of a couple weeks will have infected the entire nest and by then the fipronil will attck their nervous systems and kill all of them. Larva and all. I used to have such a bad issue with wasps but after a couple weeks they were nearly non existent in my area. Since its meat that the insecticide is mixed with the honey bees will not be attracted to it. Ill set these out with their own stands and covers next spring to prevent any larger animals from getting into them.

 

[SuiGeneris]

Do you have a source or link to an article describing the process in-detail? Sounds like it would be useful (and easy). We've got a lot of wasps (paper and mud-dabber) and yellow jackets around here.

 

[roadkillbobb]

I ordered a container of it, the concentration was 9.1%, ive been doing battle with ants inside the house for a few years and have used permethrin, it does a great job killing them on the spot, but the nests stay alive and keep sending ants out, ill see if this stuff knocks em all out..ill also set up some yellow jacket traps , I see alot of yellow jackets bothering the honey bees...and me, those little SOBS are aggressive..

 

[Gypsi]

that sounds like an excellent strategy

 

[Paul Cottier]

The source from which i have gained this information is from the "managing yellowjackets" download link from the site link provided: https://orsba.org/resources. Fipronil is the active ingredient for a number of general pesticides including Frontline.

 

[SuiGeneris]

So when you say you "add 5% Fipronil", does that mean you're adding 5% of the 9.1% solution (e.g. 5ml of the fipronil solution to 95ml of shredded chicken), for a final concentration of ~0.45%...or are you adding enough of the 9.1% solution to end up with a 5% fipronil concentration in the chicken (e.g. ~55ml fipronil to ~45mlk of chicken)?

I'm guessing the former, as the later sounds a little nuts.

Bryan

 

[roadkillbobb]

So when you say you "add 5% Fipronil", does that mean you're adding 5% of the 9.1% solution (e.g. 5ml of the fipronil solution to 95ml of shredded chicken), for a final concentration of ~0.45%...or are you adding enough of the 9.1% solution to end up with a 5% fipronil concentration in the chicken (e.g. ~55ml fipronil to ~45mlk of chicken)?

I'm guessing the former, as the later sounds a little nuts.

Bryan

here is what I bought https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0058DGMKG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

if you scroll down when you goto the link, on questions asked, they answer about mixing with water to obtain certain % of the fibronil solution..I will try full strength of the 9.1 on the meat for yellow jackets and reduce for spraying ants and around the house where ants may be or go...

 

[roadkillbobb]

The source from which i have gained this information is from the "managing yellowjackets" download link from the site link provided: https://orsba.org/resources. Fipronil is the active ingredient for a number of general pesticides including Frontline.

I read through that link for yellow jackets, very informative, next spring the baits go up..

 

[SuiGeneris]

Thanks!

 

[Paul Cottier]

I believe the document suggested to add 5% Fiprinol by volume to the shredded chicken. Thats what i did anyways, you dont want to add so much that it kills the forager before they get back to the nest.

 

[SuiGeneris]

That makes sense; I imagine a 5% neat solution would be pretty much instantaneously lethal to the forager.

 

[Gypsi]

I bet I could mix that with peanut butter for my crazy ants. Cool. (they will take out a hive by the way, google raspberry crazy ants)

 

[roadkillbobb]

I believe the document suggested to add 5% Fiprinol by volume to the shredded chicken. Thats what i did anyways, you dont want to add so much that it kills the forager before they get back to the nest.

thats true, I dont know how fast acting this stuff is, the permethrin is usually death on contact..but if I use less on the chicken the chicken volume will reduce the % of concentration rather than water down what comes out of the bottle..

 

[roadkillbobb]

this is straight from that article, the concentration of fipronil is much lower than the 5% you stated..unless im reading it wrong or my conversion is off...


Both of
these studies found that minced canned chicken meat, laced with a small
quantity of fipronil eradicated WYJ colonies, often in less than a week. The USCR
study also noted, that with the cost of the minced canned chicken meat being
pretty expensive, the use
of Purina Frisky’s brand canned cat food in Ocean
Whitefish flavor came in a close second place. For the cost it was considered the
best value. The fipronil in both studies was used in small amounts, ranging from
0.025
–
0.1% . The small volume of poison
is carried via the bait back to the
colony by the foraging WYJ where it is fed to the larva. The larva then feed the
adults their excreted carbohydrate and poison. In this way the entire colony is
eventually killed. Replacing the bait after just a few days
(depending on weather
conditions), keeping it soft and malleable was important for WYJ consumption

 

[Paul Cottier]

Ah. You are correct. Good call!

 

[roadkillbobb]

I was wondering about how much to mix with a can of minced chicken and re read the article....5 drops.......as stated below**..so I guess this stuff is pretty potent....with that little amount used at the reduced %, ill mix with water to get the 5 drops , otherwise it might not mix into all the meat...cant wait to try it next season..


Early this spring, once we saw Yellow Jackets flying, we baited our wire cages
with a can of the Whitefish cat food and laced them with *****5 drops of poison***** well
mixed together. I collected the “used cans” after each week and replaced them
with a fresh bait/p
oison combo. I did this for three consecutive weeks, at the cost
of 50 cents a can for the cat food, and a few cents in poison. Each time we inspect
our hives (about every 10 days) we stand and wait to see any WYJs flying or
landing near our hives. We have
yet to see any. For us, that is clearly a huge
success over the past several years when we would see by this time of year,
several per hive per minute. I am planning on rebaiting the cages starting just
before honey harvest time, and continue it through a
t least October. I am hopeful
that for the small cost and effort I can protect my beehives from the WYJ
onslaughts of previous years

 

[SuiGeneris]

I've been very interested in this, and have done a bit of my own digging. I think these links will work for non-academic users (if not I can send PDFs by private message), but here are some of the original studies:

http://ucanr.edu/sites/ucrurbanpest/files/249180.pdf

• Used Swanson Premium Chunk Chicken Breast, Campbell Soup Co
• Fipronil at 0.025% by weight (0.4ml of a 9.1% solution per 150g can)
• Got 80-96% reduction in wasp populations

http://www.pestboard.ca.gov/howdoi/research/2009_yellowjacket.pdf

• Found that Swanson’s brand canned minced white chicken and Purina Friskies Ocean Whitefish Dinner were consistently the most accepted bait bases tested.
• Chicken or whitefish baits consisting of 0.0025 to 0.025% fipronil (by weight) were the consistently most effective

http://ncbees.org/library/TRAPS_AND_PROTEIN_BAIT_TO_SUPPRESS_POPULATIONS_OF_YELLOWJACKETS.pdf

• Similar approach, but tested other incesticides, also had good effectiveness.

We have a lot of wasps on our property and they've stung my wife and little man more than once - I'll be giving this a go just to help with that issue...the benefits to the bees will be secondary (but still good).

 

[roadkillbobb]

heptyl butyrate was used as an attractant for yellow jacket traps, I wonder if that was also mixed in with the chicken and fiponil if more yellow jackets would take the bait than just the chicken and fiponil ?

 

[roadkillbobb]

well amazon delivered the container of fiponil today, it comes with a book of instructions ill read up on..

 

[SuiGeneris]

Damnit! Fipronil isn't available in Canada to anyone by certified pest control people...need to look for an alternative.