So, I’ve since taken a couple of stings (four, but who’s counting?) and my gf has capitulated. Last night I sprayed right into the entrance with wasp/hornet spray. This morning I was surprised to see business as usual.
Thoughts.
I own a 16 gauge shotgun, and the nest is an easy shot, 6-8 feet, from our side porch, with a safe backstop. We are in the country, and people routinely discharge firearms at night. (Seriously:()
You’re gonna need a bigger (and better) can of wasp killer.
I happily and peacefully coexistent with and even encourage a variety of bees, mainly bumblebees and honeybees, which tend to their own business and are not aggressive.
The other kind of hymenopteroid (wasps, hornets and yellow jackets) look for excuses to attack, and so any nests in my territory (like on a garage or shed) are subject to termination with extreme prejudice.
I would really not attempt a shotgun blast, for the reason already mentioned, unless you want to look like an unfortunate character in a Looney Tunes cartoon.
There’s a bald faced hornets nest going up in light fixture above my deck. It’s fascinating to watch and a bit creepy too. However they’re not bugging us humans and their perimeter surveillance of the area has eliminated the yellow jackets from pestering us.
The last time there was a baldie nest in the yard we watched it grow to nearly 3 ft long! Never a sting but then we made sure not to disturb it with lawn equipment etc. I posted a image on flicker and got an offer from someone to buy the nest after the hornets vacated it. We let it remain and it became a favorite of birds searching for food or what all.
Call an exterminator. Not only will they get rid of the nest, they can also spray the area with an anti-pheromone so they won’t rebuild. I found this out when I first moved into my current place, and wasps kept building nests under my deck chair and I called the landlord because I figured there was some kind of mother-lode nest somewhere.
7 years later, I still haven’t had a re-infestation.
No don’t shoot it. They will be mad for days. And rebuild anyway. Maybe closer to the house. Poison is the way to go. You may have to keep applying. I’ve had one for 3 years. I feel like I make progress during the cool months. If you get a hard freeze this winter you can slip a heavy duty bag over it. And pull it down and burn it. Make darn sure they’re dormant first. Little to no movement.
Yep a baldies nest, don’t mow or weed whack near it that excites them. They abandon the nest at first frost, Queen leaves never to return, the rest will die and litter the ground below.
There’s no “peaceful coexistence” with those that aren’t able to hold to their end of that bargain. I’m allergic too. I’m fine with their more cooperative brethren but would have already committed to terminating them with extreme prejudice.
I agree with generally trying more/different [del]weapons of mass destruction[/del] sprays as the next step. The shotgun is not awful as a means to physically target the nest. It can inflict a lot of damage all at once and from a distance. Kayaker if you try that though make sure to pre-plan your escape because there will be many extra pissed wasps. Small shot, well choked to give a tight pattern, probably puts more holes in the target. Only have one round in the gun, though. There’s no follow up shot if even a single pellet hits the nest. It’s bang and “run awayyyyyyy!” You don’t want to reload by muscle memory under stress or have a second barrel already loaded when you are running. I’d still go the WMD route first. Why deescalate to a strictly conventional campaign?
A (possibly useful) tip–whatever you do, do it at night with a bright light set up in the opposite direction from you. I say this because I once moved something in my yard at night and disturbed an underground yellowjacket nest that I didn’t know was there. A cloud of them swarmed out–and flew over to attack my porch light. I got only a single sting, when I probably would have got a dozen or more otherwise. I don’t know if the hornets are equally phototropic, but it is worth a shot.
If the tree isn’t extremely dry and it’s away from building, fire works. We got rid of a hornet’s nest in the overhang of my cousins pole barn that way. Propane torch on an extension pole. Torch the entry first to keep them from swarming out, then let the fire do its thing.
I had a beautiful solution but it won’t help you. There was a yellow jacket nest in a small hole in the stucco on my house. I got some quick setting cement and filled the hole. I held the trowel over the hole until it set. Five minutes later, problem solved. Fixed the hole too.
After renting for over a year, my parents bought a house after I finished my sophomore year of high school. I soon discovered a small nest on the back fence; I hit nest with bug spray then knocked it down with spray from the garden hose and ran like hell.
Assuming its a pump I would say three fast ones of 8 or 9 shot but I would want to be further away than that; more like say 20 yards. And if its a full-choke bolt all the better. I used a 12 gauge but I have actually done it and it works. What can I say? I was curious. Watch for them to try to reestablish nearby just in case the fine stuff doesn’t knock enough of them out or misses the royalty.
That being said I think I would still go for a few more cans of spray or fire. Fire ---- good.
Yesterday I pissed off some yellow jackets while mowing. I knew they had a nest in that general area because I was stung 2 or 3 weeks ago, but I guessed wrong about the exact location. This time, as I fled the stinging bastards, I saw their hole. **FCD **got a couple of cans of wasp spray, and about 7:30 last night, we took care of them. They either died from the poison or drowned - and the peasants rejoiced!!!
We watched 3 more enter the nest shortly after the spray can was empty - they wandered in and out a few times, and I’m pretty sure they were dead a few minutes later.
Meanwhile, I have 5 red, swollen, hot areas where I got stung. Last night, I never slept more than an hour at a time, getting up to either take another antihistamine or slather on my hydrocortisone. I’m sore and exhausted. Later today, I’ll go check the nest - if I see any evil critters coming out, they’ll get a second dose tonight.
