Re: [OM] Converting Trouble into Medicine

[Jim Nichols]

Thanks, Chuck.  And I wish you good luck in dealing with the weather!

Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA

On 10/5/2016 6:41 AM, Chuck Norcutt wrote:
> It took me a while to get around to this thread but the title was 
> intriguing enough that I couldn't skip it.  Glad I took a look.  Very 
> interesting.
> Chuck Norcutt
>
>
> On 10/2/2016 1:31 PM, Jim Nichols wrote:
> > Several weeks ago, I discovered a Yellow Jacket nest in my back yard.  I
> > kept a wary eye on it, but worried that my lawn maintenance guy might
> > get stung.
> >
> > On Friday, the local newspaper, The Tullahoma News, ran an article on a
> > Winchester, TN resident who traps Yellow Jackets, Hornets, and Guinea
> > Wasps, and freezes them, eventually packing them in dry ice and shipping
> > them to the lab of AKL Source Material in Pennsylvania.  There, the
> > venom sacs are extracted by hand and used to create anti-venom. I gave
> > him a call and told him about my nest.  He arrived yesterday afternoon
> > as I was watching a football game.
> >
> > I decided to document the process.  The first photo shows the nest
> > entrance as I found it, essentially a hole in the ground laid bare by
> > the passage of many insects.
> >
> > http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Yellow+Jacket+Nest.TIFF.html 
> >
> > Pete Waldenmaier's "BeeBusters" truck.
> >
> > http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Bee+Busters+Truck.tif.html
> >
> > The vacuum trap, essentially a tank vacuum cleaner with a special
> > collector trap.
> >
> > http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/The+Vacuum+Trap.tif.html
> >
> > The trap in position at the nest hole.
> >
> > http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Trap+in+Position.tif.html
> >
> > Final adjustments.
> >
> > http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Final+Adjustments.tif.html
> >
> > After about an hour, the insect stream slows, so Pete hammers on the
> > ground to disturb them, and more start flying out.  The vacuum captures
> > most of them immediately.
> >
> > http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Hammering+on+the+Ground.tif.html 
> >
> >
> > His truck is filled with support equipment, including a freezer and
> > bottles of carbon dioxide.
> >
> > http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Support+Equipment.tif.html
> >
> > The final product is a bottle of Yellow Jackets.
> >
> > http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Yellow+Jackets.tif.html
> >
> > Pete stuns the insects with carbon dioxide before placing them in the
> > freezer to die.  To be usable, the insects must remain frozen until the
> > venom sacs are harvested at the lab.
> >
> > http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Stunning+with+Carbon+Dioxide.tif.html 
> >
> >
> > While he had this operation going on at my house, he had a parallel
> > operation going on about 15 miles away.  I'm told there are only about
> > 40 of these collectors nationwide.
> >
> > Comments and critiques welcomed and appreciated.
--
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