A few years ago a yellowjacket colony set up for business in an underground nest about 10 ft from my front door. I’m into peaceful coexistence, but it turned out they were not. The third time I was stung for no reason, I swore that was the last provocation I would accept peacefully: “One more, and measures will be taken.”
That evening, a skunk solved the problem for me: he / she dug up the nest and destroyed it entirely. The next morning, all that remained was a few dazed survivors standing around wondering where their colony had gone.
Thanks for all the advice! The shotgun idea was just my anger at them and a desire to get even. Last night temperatures dropped to the 50s, so after returning from Devout Brewing I sprayed the nest again. This morning there are dozens of dead hornets on the ground, but no activity yet.
Going out for an early chilly horseback ride, then I’ll see what’s up after it warms up today. My plan right now is to spray nightly. Fire isn’t an option due to proximity to the house. A neighbor told me he paid an exterminator who, at night and in a bee suit, put a heavy plastic bag over his nest. Once he had them bagged, spraying poison in and waiting worked.
My daughter is a firefighter. A couple of years ago they were called to a raging house fire. The owner decided to make a torch out of gasoline-soaked rags affixed to a pole, climb a ladder, and ignite the torch to burn out the several hornet nests.
The house was a total loss. But - it worked! There wasn’t a hornet to be found after the fire was extinguished.
Drench the nest, and if possible knock it off, with a strong spray of water from a garden hose. Stand as far back as you can while still aiming; but IME they won’t connect a person standing some distance off with a sudden flood. Probably not a technique to be used by the allergic, just in case.
Repeat daily until they give up and relocate elsewhere. Shouldn’t take more than a few days.
No poisons necessary; though it may be helpful to hit the attachment point with some WD40 or similar after they’ve given up, to discourage another nest being started there in the future.
– in sufficiently cold weather, nests can be relocated by hand without danger, though I wouldn’t hold the nest directly; use some sort of grabber. Weather needs to be below or close to freezing temps to be safe, though; 50’s F will slow them down, but it won’t stop them entirely.
Glad its working out for you. But remember, if the situation ever warrants, I do have a couple swivel-guns and I’m not all that far away…
On ground bees ------ up Stone House, during a tactical display, I stepped on a nest by accident and got stung to hell and back. I got more than 25 stings even through all the layers of wool in my colonial uniform and one of the ladies back at camp picked bees out of the inside layers when treating my “wounds”. And they continued to follow and attack me several hundred yards away. Several of my “rescuers” got a few stings as well but they had me targeted like a laser. Since then ------- we had a nest forming in the yard. I hate to say it but I put enough fuel oil and stuff down it to turn a small patch into a near-SuperFund site. I’m with you in not wanting to live around hazards like that. Nothing against them; they have a place in the ecology as well. Just not that close to my place.
The dumb bit is, gasoline alone is extremely fatal to hornets/wasps. There is no need to ignite it. Even that large nest shown, one dousing with a cupful of gasoline would soak into the paper and kill them all.
Sop here is find the coldest time of day (often 4-5 am) spray an entire can into the entrance. Repeat 2 following nights. Check for activity, if none, knock down and destroy the nest. Wear long pants/sleeves and headgear for the knocking down, just in case.
Some sprays are better than others. I had one spray that created a big wad of foam on the nest…which then fell off of said nest without killing much of anything. :rolleyes:
OTOH, [url=RAID® WASP & HORNET KILLER 33]Raid wasp and hornet killer](Hornets - Album on Imgur) doesn’t foam up. It comes out of the can as a far-reaching jet of liquid and remains liquid when it gets there. It will soak the nest and quickly incapacitate/kill any wasp it makes contact with. Want results? get a couple of cans of this stuff, wait until well after dark, and soak the nest from a safe distance.
