Wasps

Its a lot easier if you wait until dusk to spray the nests. That way they are all in there and not out roaming around. I would also recommend using ammonia on stings. It immediately neutralizes the venom and stops the pain. I get stung quite a bit in the summer and it gives instant relief. Also does away with the nasty itching later.

Don't know what is in the surrounding area, but I would use my trusty old 12GA. with No. 9 shot. Wait until dusk when they are in the nest, and blast away. Don't stand below where the nest is, be ready to run, check to see how many survive, in the morning.

Bob

That is exactly what I was thinking.

i bought farm land with a cabin and bathhouse. ive learned to live with them because they help control the large spider population. both had yellow jackets and red wasps in the eaves. red wasps take a lot to aggravate. i can work under them and not be bothered although they fly around a bit. yellow jackets are quick to attack. can usually get away with walking around the yellow jackets for maybe 2 passes before they go for me. yesterday i was stacking hay in the goat shed and noticed a nest about a foot from my head. little black and red type wasp i didnt recognize. all they did was wiggle around on the nest.
in between finishing this message i went outside at my main home to see why there is smoke in the neighbors yard and i am stung by a small version of yellow jackets that we call guineas on a brand new nest under a rain gutter. time for some benadryl.
i kill wasps that wont let me do what i need to do. otherwise i let them live.

The main reason I took these wasps out was that they were livng INSIDE the wall next to an electrical fixture. It was only a matter of time before they got into the wiring and started a fire. So, right now, my rule is 'no wasps on the house'. Beaides, I do plan on selling the house soon, so while a 'biological security system', (or a wasp nest inside the wall right next to the front door) might be a selling point for some people, I really don't think a home inspector is going to relish the idea. Besides, I could wind up having a prospective buyer who is alergic to insect stings.

If it wasn't right above the goat house we'd have just cut down the tree and ran and come back after nightfall with a big bag of Sevin to dump on top.

The location of this thing is the real problem. If it was further away from the goat's night pasture we'd leave it - but if this thing comes down on it's own we could end up with animals cornered and fenced in an area that prevents them from running far enough to get safely away.

And if it was just wasps or bees we'd feel better about this. I like the way hornets prey on other insects but I don't like the way they swarm and repeat sting when disturbed.

Oh well - this week was going too smoothly anyway.

Lynda

We had three bald-faced hornets nests within 12' of the ground, and within 30' of the house, called a professional bee exterminator, and his advice was to leave it alone if it wasn't bothering us, and around the middle of september they would fall out on their own. He was right, something about the cycle of that particular bee, middle of sept and all of them were gone and the birds started pecking at the nests. He did mention however, that if I took a shotgun to the nest, they would rebuild it within hours, very industrious while alive.

In the winter, I was pelting the vacant nests with snowballs, they didn't come down all that easily.

Patience and awareness were our best tools in this case, and the hornets never buzzed or bothered us, even while mowing under the nests.

Thanks wdchuck - that was very helpful.


Lynda

Understanding that there will always be exceptions, I find red wasps easy to get along with. I don't know the times I've ducked through an open doorway into a utility shed or outbuilding, only to discover a huge squirming red wasp nest just above the only exit. Appraisers luck, but I was never stung on my way out. The exception seems to be when a red wasp nest is small in the spring and momma is testy. Those little Guinea types are the ones that surprise and nail you and they always attack in a mad bunch. Bald hornets I ignore in high tree nests and never had regrets. All these will freeze up and fall to the ground with a light spray from a clear coating. They are alive, just
instantly lose the ability to fly with frozen wings, although barefoot walking may still
get you stung..Glen

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Well I got the nest(s) out of the wall yesterday. There were at least four 'umbrellas', two of which were almost five inches across. One was full of larvae and pupae. I took some pictures, but have no idea how to post them. I wonder how long it takes to build a nest this size, and why I never noticed them before.

Apparently the foam wasn't as strong as I originally thought, because some of the larvae were still alive. In fact, some of the pupae were hatching live wasps! I had a can of Dollar Store liquid spray handy, so a quick bath of insecticide took care of the little wasplings for good (I hope). I soaked down the hole where the nest was again, so hopefully, if I missed any, this will get them all. I'm going to fill the hole with spray foam, and put everything back together tomorrow, caulking everything up tight.

Hornets nests are a big item in the antique/junk stores around here. Most of the time they are too high in the tree to get but some guys climb up in the late fall and saw off a section of limb with the nest attached. Then seal it up in a trash bag with insecticide for a few weeks. Shellac or varnish it and it looks nice on the wall in a log cabin or rustic room. Usually bring about $50.00 or more for a large one.

Intersting info on our hive. We talked to an exterminator today and it would cost about $125 to have them take it out. The height is a problem for them because their poles aren't going to quite reach.

The guy recommended we do it ourselves on a cool night or early morning (whenever we get one of those) and he could sell us the spray and lend us the poles - or we could just work with our own stuff.

Talking further, he thinks the best thing to do is just drop the tree and stand still until the wasps settle down. He's never known anyone to get stung by a bald faced hornet and if we are at a distance and not running we should be able to leave the area at a slow pace. He also said that it's unlikely that the nest will fall loose from the branch it's on, but with it being attached to such a tiny little skinny dead stick branch it's very likely the twig will break off before the colony dies off.

For now we're going to wait for the weather to go back to cooler nights. We've got chemicals on hand that we can use to finish off the hive if it falls on it's own and we'll rig up a long stick so we can zap it from a distance if does fall. When it's cooler we're going to drop the tree and poison the nest and anyone who hasn't left it.

The exterminator says the survivors will go straight to rebuilding nearby - so we'll watch traffic areas for new nests and hope they go pick a sturdy tree nearby instead.

I wouldn't mind having a bunch of these hives out just a bit further away from the house and animals. These guys eat yellow jackets. I'm hoping we're seeing a shift to more bald faced hornets and less yellow jackets as the goats clear out the rough and make the land less appealing to ground nesters.

Here's hoping that's the end of our fun for this week.

Lynda

Your exterminator is wrong. The can and will sting if you mess with their nest even from a distance. When I was about 15, a friend and I were squirrel hunting and he thought it would be fun to shoot one of the nests with a rifle. Bad move. Although he was a good ways away, they flew right to him and stung him about 20 times.