Got Stung By A Yellow Jacket

[LadyKay]

I got stung by a yellow jacket at the grocery store. I just wanted to share that. I am not allergic and have been stung by yellow jackets, honey bees, and wasp numerous times in my life.   So  I am sure I will live. But dang that thing hurt!  

[IloveyouGod.]

Ouch, that hurts.   Out of curiosity was it inside the store or outside?

[LadyKay]

50 minutes ago, IloveyouGod. said:

Ouch, that hurts.   Out of curiosity was it inside the store or outside?

Inside the store. By the produce.  

[johnthebaptist]

2 hours ago, LadyKay said:

I got stung by a yellow jacket at the grocery store. I just wanted to share that. I am not allergic and have been stung by yellow jackets, honey bees, and wasp numerous times in my life.   So  I am sure I will live. But dang that thing hurt!  

I'm not clear about what the difference is between yellowjackets and hornets. I got stung once on the ear by what I thought was a hornet (could have been a yellowjacket) and it hurt quite a lot. I always thought wasps were sort of easy to get along with - just leave them alone - but whatever stung me on the ear didn't really have any reason to, I didn't think.

[Marathoner]

Yellow jackets are hornets. The majority of wasps are predatory with most preying upon one species of arthropod: for example, cicada killer wasps prey exclusively upon cicadas and spider hunters make their living preying upon spiders. Because the majority of wasps aren't socialized to the degree that hornets are, they tend to be unobtrusive in their habits. Consider the various mud-dauber wasps... the female paralyzes a caterpillar (or spider) and builds a structure of mud to house their prey upon which they lay one or more eggs. Stings from predatory wasps are rare because we rarely come into contact with the chambers they build for their brood. 

Hornets on the other hand are social and gather in colonies; they are aggressive toward intruders. Yellow jackets are scavengers so we'll find them anywhere where food is found, especially dumpsters and garbage cans. Their superficial resemblance to honey bees makes them harder to detect. I've viewed yellow jacket combs over five feet in diameter... larger ones have been found. Hornets build paper combs. The majority of yellow jacket combs are subterranean (underground) but they occasionally build them in wall voids.

Edited September 8, 2020 by Marathoner

[DeighAnn]

4 hours ago, Chicken coop2 said:

Maybe it was a tiny little fireman.  They sometimes wear yellow jackets. 

OK, that's funny.  

[Debp]

4 hours ago, LadyKay said:

I got stung by a yellow jacket at the grocery store. I just wanted to share that. I am not allergic and have been stung by yellow jackets, honey bees, and wasp numerous times in my life.   So  I am sure I will live. But dang that thing hurt!  

How much worse was the Yellow Jacket sting compared to a Honeybee?   And what did you do to tic those insects off to get stung so many times in your life?! 

First time I ever got stung was several weeks ago by reaching for a letter inside our lobby!   At about Midnight!    That stinger sure did sting and lasted a few hours.  It was a Bumblebee, I think.

One of my cousins stepped on a Yellow Jacket hive in a field.   The whole swarm chased him all the way to his house, over a block away.   He was stung many times and his mom treated him with an epsom salt bath.

2 hours ago, LadyKay said:

Inside the store. By the produce.  

Some people these days would sue the store!

[Dennis1209]

5 hours ago, LadyKay said:

I got stung by a yellow jacket at the grocery store. I just wanted to share that. I am not allergic and have been stung by yellow jackets, honey bees, and wasp numerous times in my life.   So  I am sure I will live. But dang that thing hurt!  

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.

Bush hogging my field, every time I'd pass over and near a certain area, the thorns, thistles and briers would get me in the arms, neck and legs. Finally the light bulb came on when I got a ways from them and could see the yellow jackets flying all over the ground area 

To me they don't hurt as bad as a wasp or bumble bee. Evidently my body chemistry has changed; I once had a job delivering propane. In the summer for drying out farmers grain bends they had propane tanks. Nine out of ten tank hoods had wasp nests under the hoods, and when you opened it to fill the tank, they got very angry. I use to get stung by wasps multiple times a day and no big deal other than it hurt. Now I get stung by a wasp and it's a three day affair of swelling, itching and pain. That's not the "bee's knees"...

[LadyKay]

25 minutes ago, Debp said:

And what did you do to tic those insects off to get stung so many times in your life?! 

Well.  I use to run barefoot all summer and of cores I would step on a bee. The wasp happen because I was banging on an old train boxcar which they had a nest in. They sent two out to get me.    

[Debp]

2 hours ago, LadyKay said:

Well.  I use to run barefoot all summer and of cores I would step on a bee. The wasp happen because I was banging on an old train boxcar which they had a nest in. They sent two out to get me.    

Oh, they just sent two?   You were lucky! 

Btw, that reminds me of the Killer Bees and now the new Murder Hornets!   Yikes.