Those darn mud daubers...

tcweb

tcweb

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H-M Supporter Gold Member
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We just moved to the KC area (out a bit from all the crowds), and built a nice pole barn. I'm working on walling off a nice shop area.

I was about to hookup my compressor, when I noticed that the evil mud daubers had built some nests in the motor. I'll have to pull the cover off the motor and hope they didn't do any real damage.

For the most part, they haven't done too much damage - but I don't have a ton of equipment in the barn yet.

Seems as if they like the cooler steel on tools, but not the steel skin on the pole barn. Probably temperature related.

So WHAT are other people doing to protect their motors (and anything with a hollow cavity) from these critters?

-Tom
 
Another place to look for those devils is the nozzles of you fire extinguishers. Learned this one when a fire broke out and the first three of the extinguishers would not fire, the 4th finally did and put out the fire. Later we found the nests in the nozzles. In the heat of the moment it was not something that was thought of.

We now have a cotton ball lightly pressed in each nozzle to keep them out and it will blow out if needed.
 
they are a real problem, and the dirt they use for their nests ruins a lot of motors. a fine screen over openings will keep them out.
mice and other bugs can also be a nuisence because they can carry small stuff in and make a huge nest inside. red squirrels are my main problem in my Minnesota shops
 
Keep a can of that 20' wasp killer spray in easy reach in the barn and kill the little devils whenever you see one! I have stalked them for a long time watching where they go then spraying the opening! I suppose they fill an important role in the ecosystem somewhere, but I haven't discovered it yet.
 
Here they build every where in the warmer months.

I have them in the ground hole of power outlets inside the shop and outside, when I picked up my mill they had filled every oil tube with grit (I spent many days cleaning those out!), I even caught one once flying in with a little green caterpillar, she stuffed into the clamp hole of a vee-block that was laying sideways on the band-saw table.....they provide food for the egg they lay on/in it. Gruesome!

Winter seems to stop them for a while......

-brino
 
I hear you. Paper wasp too. Second the can of wasp spray. The only thing worse are the mice and rats eating the equipment wiring and hoses. On second thought I haven't been bit by a mouse or a rat yet, but the wasps will nail me several times every summer. Have not found any better control than the can of wasp spray ,but by then the damage is done. The revenge is nice though.
 
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I have mud daubers, paper wasps, bald-faced hornets and yellow-jackets (meat bees). Never had a problem with any except the yellow-jackets. I stepped on a nest and got hit 3 times right around one eye. I was miserable and out of commission for 3 days. They paid dearly once I recovered.

My daughter's late-model Mercedes was recently hit by rats in Sacramento. $14,000 and who knows how long to replace the entire wiring harness.
 
I couldn't get my boys motorcycle running, they plugged the exhaust. Can't hang my air tools by the quick connect, they will all be plugged up, on and on and on
 
Never heard of meat bees, but we get regular honey bees and a large variety of native bees some of them also produce honey, but the big pest in recent years has been the European wasp, they also like meat and have a fondness for getting inside a beer or soda can when you put down. I haven't been stung by one yet, but apparently they sting something fierce.

We keep them under control by putting out traps for them every spring through summer. We also hear every now and then of a mouse or rat destroying the wiring in a car.
 
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