Bees!

[Rc_Guy]

If you can wait until fall then may be much easier to deal with. Below around 50 they tend to really be sluggish and much easier to deal with. I wait until that temp to pop the top off my 250gal LP tank and spray the bastards that took up residence.

The original poster replied Friday, about 19 posts back that they paid someone to get rid of the hive already

 

[KansasArt]

That’s true. But I find it interesting to read other’s experiences dealing with a similar situation, especially since this isn’t a very common subject matter.

 

[WisJim]

I've learned to check all the potential nest spots around our place regularly, so I can dispose of new nests when they are just starting to build them. Ends up being a half a dozen at a time, a couple of times each year, but I don't end up with anything big to deal with.

 

[rlitman]

Wife had called around and someone came by about 5:30. Said he could deal with it for $150. Didn't have any protective gear and had a sprayer. We went inside and in about half an hour he had it cleaned up and ready to leave. There were only a couple dead ones on the driveway left.

Pros don't tend to waste time on protective gear. If you know how to approach it within reach of freeze spray and drop the guards before they can release attack pheromone, the returning workers won't be coming back super angry. Speed is your friend, as is knowledge of nest construction. Your homework now is to make sure the surface is clean of nest materials they might want to rebuild on.

For my part, I only have a bee suit because the first one of these I had to deal with was only reachable from a ladder, and I didn't want to worry about the risk of falling off reacting to stings. But now that I have it, it's gotten lots of use.

One trick I use for in-ground yellow jackets is to fill a tube with Sevin then blow it into the hole (after dark). You might have been able to do this with a long pole and an air compressor. The shop-vac trick has also worked well though you have to let it run awhile.

Going back to my first one of these, I tried four cans of spray from that ladder, one in each hand at a time, trying to get as much as possible into the entrance. The hive returned to full activity within a couple of days. I ended up buying a 10' length of EMT, got a compression to 1/2" rigid elbow that I could screw into a ball valve that I put an air compressor fitting onto, and used a pair of Vise Grips as a second handle. A teaspoon of Sevin rolled up inside a square of toilet paper was rammed at least 6' into the EMT and the compressed air sent the TP/Sevin projectile flying with enough force to puncture the hive. It didn't exit out the top, BUT I did see fine clouds of dust escape from the vents at the top. Within a few days I cut the dead hive down.

However, I will offer some caution regarding Sevin. It's SLOW to act. The 5% carbaryl isn't all that effective, and the main potency comes from the 95% diatomaceous earth. That can take days to kill insects, though it is VERY effective. My wife once lit up a ground nest I had just doused with Sevin with a flashlight and ended up stung by a guard that was so heavily dusted that it looked entirely white as a ghost. I can take hours for the Sevin to take effect.

Delta Dust is pyrethroid based (a synthetic type of permethrin specifically) that will drop insects in seconds. Drione Dust is much stronger and should drop insects in under a second, but I've had bad issues with it clumping.

Wait till darker and cooled get a can of the streaming wasp killer. NOT THE FOAM ITS USELESS.
Then calmly focus the spray stream in the entrance hole only , don`t bother coating the outside.
Thats a big nest so may need a second helping the next evening.
I do this all the time ,never been stung and the nest always dies.

So I'll let you in on a secret. Kerosene foams when sprayed. Kerosene is the "inactive ingredient" in all (except water based) aerosol wasp sprays, and it is also the chemical that causes wasps to cease being able to fly almost instantly, though it does not stop them from stinging or crawling. Regular wasp sprays have defoaming agents added (even pump kerosene has a little, and FYI so does gasoline). There's nothing special about foaming sprays being useless, and there may not even be a foaming agent added. It's the pyrethroids that leave the insects a twitching ball on the ground, and the synergist (piperonyl butoxide) that speeds this process up ten-fold.

In my ladder example above, I was about 6' from the nest. WELL WITHIN the reach of a concentrated stream of spray. Even so, four cans aimed in the entrance didn't create enough mist inside to kill the upper tiers. Liquid runs down, and these nests are built to withstand rain. I suppose if you were with a foot of the hole, the spray could possibly make it up, but in my more recent trash can example, I used one full can shot within inches of the hole, and the garbage pail was buzzing for days. I believe my issue was because workers coming out to attack me plugged the exit, breaking up the stream, and yes, foam would have the same effect. They might have cleared the opening and been depleted enough for me to use a second can the next day, but by then I already had it bagged.

 

[WagonHo!]

And it's funny you posted this thread today. I found a yellow jackets nest in my garage today too. They built it above the garage door, in a gap between the vinyl trim pieces. I didn't know it was there, so I walked in the garage, and stood near the door looking for a ball mount for my trailer in the corner. One little ******* smacked me in the face, and stung me under the chin. So I noticed a couple flying around the windows of the closed garage door, but I could HEAR a lot more buzzing around somewhere I couldn't see.
That's when I went outside and saw where they were coming and going. Couldn't find bee spray, so I used brake clean. Had to get closer than I'd liked, and as I was spraying the entrance, one landed on my index finger and stung me for the second time.
Got some bee spray while I was out today...

Lol Brake clean who knew and it leaves no residue.

 

[Michigan Mike]

little story about a learning experience. I had one of those nests next to my driveway close to the road. So I got a long pole about ten foot. I wrapped the end of the pole with oily rags and lit it on fire. It worked really well. The hornets coming out were incinerated and the nest was burning. About this time one of the hornets (must have been genius class) figured out who was causing the problem. She came out of the nest and made a beeline toward me. I could see her coming and was dodging and ducking. To no avail she nailed me right between the eyes. I could tell something was wrong right away. Went in the house took a cold shower. That slowed the reaction down. I was still on fire and felt like it was getting worse. I called my wife and told her to come home I needed to go to the emergency room at the hospital. So a trip to emergency and some cortisone shots and I had a new allergy and more respect for bald face hornets. The high point of the emergency visit was when the nurse told my wife she thought I had nice legs.

 

[My Old Tools]

little story about a learning experience. I had one of those nests next to my driveway close to the road. So I got a long pole about ten foot. I wrapped the end of the pole with oily rags and lit it on fire. It worked really well. The hornets coming out were incinerated and the nest was burning. About this time one of the hornets (must have been genius class) figured out who was causing the problem. She came out of the nest and made a beeline toward me. I could see her coming and was dodging and ducking. To no avail she nailed me right between the eyes. I could tell something was wrong right away. Went in the house took a cold shower. That slowed the reaction down. I was still on fire and felt like it was getting worse. I called my wife and told her to come home I needed to go to the emergency room at the hospital. So a trip to emergency and some cortisone shots and I had a new allergy and more respect for bald face hornets. The high point of the emergency visit was when the nurse told my wife she thought I had nice legs.

That's not as bad as beehive emptying on you while brush hogging. 40+ stings in the head and neck while on a moving tractor will unnerve you. I managed to get into neutral before I hit the ground running...all the way into the shower. Steroid shots and a week of cortisone, but no severe allergic reaction thank goodness.

 

[racecougar]

For ground nests, lay a window screen over the hole, then do whatever you want....

I do the same, but be wary, there is often another opening. My go to is window screens over the hole(s) and Tempo dust in a duster to wipe them out.

I'm surprised at the term swapping between bees and hornet/wasps. I consider them to be vastly different. I can get along with bees and even have a couple hives.
Hornet/wasps are a different category. I hate em. They are ready to sting so dang quick. I've developed a keen eye to their line hover. Those buggers seem to have a mission to sting.

Amen! Bees = good. Hornets & yellowjackets = mean sumbitches.



I know the OP's nest is already taken care of, but here is a photo of the inside of a nest that I took out a couple years ago. The "comb" structure is at the top of the nest, with layers of "paper" creating one umbrella after another over it. While the paper layers are rather water resistant, an ongoing high pressure stream from a garden hose will eventually cause the nest to fail. I took this one out over the course of a few days by spraying aerosol wasp spray (not bee spray) into the hole from my vehicle a number of times, then hitting it with the hose until it dropped out of the tree.

 

[Rc_Guy]

I’m just guessing that the wasps have slowed down some since June, they are probably froze now.


Edited by a mod to remove quoted spam.

 

[jabberwoki]

Ok so lets not call wasps bees ok.

 

[Rc_Guy]

Ok so lets not call wasps bees ok.

Sorry. Didn’t realize it was that big of a problem

 

[jabberwoki]

Just helps to promote a undeserving bad rep for bees is all.
Also it`s always nice to address things correctly , make you seem brighter....lol

 

[i4ni]

Bald Faced Hornets to bee correct. LoL
I was working on a Pipeline job in Wisconsin back in the early 90's and there was a house we drove by every day that had a Hornets nest hanging in a tree that was easily 4 foot wide and 4 foot high . By far the biggest Hornets nest I've ever seen. This was in the fall and how those people co-habitated with those Hornets for that nest to get that big is beyond me. It was in the back yard which was clearly mowed and the bottom was within 5 or 6 feet off the ground. I wish I would have gotten some pictures of it.

 

[jabberwoki]

i`ve been body deep in a Rhododendron with a Bald Faced hornets nest 10 inches away from my face ( didn't know it)
I`ve always been warning buzzed by them first so i kind of like them.
Only bad this is they do attack bee hives.
But Yellow jacket wasps you can kill those fuckers all day and ill cheer you on.

 

[i4ni]

i`ve been body deep in a Rhododendron with a Bald Faced hornets nest 10 inches away from my face ( didn't know it)
I`ve always been warning buzzed by them first so i kind of like them.
Only bad this is they do attack bee hives.
But Yellow jacket wasps you can kill those fuckers all day and ill cheer you on.

Bald Faced Hornets frequent my yard occasionally but I've never had one act aggressive towards me as I go about my business but I don't crowd them either, lol. My Dad had lots of stories about Bee, Wasp and Hornet encounters clearing with Dozers back in the early days.
I have a pretty good wasp story. I was working on a Pipeline job in Missouri in the early 90's and I was staying in a motel in Macon which has these big exotic animal auctions that always books out the motels months in advance. Well for a week I got bumped out of my motel and ended up renting a small camper from a used camper dealer that had some hookups with trailers ready to rent.
First nite I get off work and go about moving in to my new digs and light the water heater and put a pan of water on the stove for supper then jump in the shower. I get all lathered up and all of a sudden theres a few wasp wanting to join me. I peek out of the shower curtain and theres like 50 pissed off supper guests in my humble abode. Well I grab my towel while hitting the door flying looking like Mr Bubbles running for all I'm worth. This lot is all gravel but I ran probably 50 yards without even realising it. Thinking quickly I go to my truck and grab a can of either and remarkably realise i need to shut off the lp tank first but then wagged a battle to the death with every last one of those wasps. I think I went through 3 cans of either but in the end I perservered without a single sting.
Come to find out those wasp had a nest in the stove and weren't enjoying all that heat. Needless to say I drank my supper that night waiting for that trailer to air out. I've had a somewhat colorfull life LoL

 

[micromind]

A highly effective method of hornet nest removal is 1/2 stick of dynamite taped to a 20' 2X4 and held about 2" from the nest..........

BAM!!! Nothing left.

It sorta wrecks the end of the 2X4 though........

 

[Ran when parked]

Since we're resurrecting the Bees! thread, here's a couple pics of a hive under some floor boards. A pretty decent size honey bee hive. It was a little creepy hearing the bees inside the house. This was in a house that was being rehabbed. I knew a bee keeper and she had friends that were willing to jump in and help remove it. The queen was found and the hive was relocated. Good times!!

 

[gba2331]

I had good luck this summer with a sticky spray (not liquid) that coated the bald-faced hornet nest. Sprayed at night from 10’ away and the nest was dead when I checked in a day or so.

 

[Chaznsc]

Wife had called around and someone came by about 5:30. Said he could deal with it for $150. Didn't have any protective gear and had a sprayer. We went inside and in about half an hour he had it cleaned up and ready to leave. There were only a couple dead ones on the driveway left.

Looks like a hornet to me, so does the nest. Thank your wife, those things would eat you alive.

i ran over an underground yellow jacket nest. I nearly stripped getting them off. Damnation, it’s like getting shot.

 

[jar944]

Easy solution for ground nests.