bee's, wasp's, hornets....

cutting a fence way through a 1/3 mile of low wooded swamp. As if the mud, skeeters,grass, sink holes werent enough. I happened to find what appears to be the main county nest for hornets, right where we have to clear about a 1/4 acre swat to get the fence where it has to go. Yeah....I discovered it as I was standing on the mound cutting the brush growing from it. Was wondering what the noise was that I could hear over the chain saw, shut it down, looked down.....and was covered in hornets and they were coming out like one after the other, discovered I can run pretty darn fast, through muck and brush. Hundreds of them, suckered chased me well over 40 yards and still got me a few more times for good measure. If I would have had shoes on instead of hip waders I would have had a good 100 stings on me, well, what would have been me. Any way, cold front is here, and I am wondering at what temp will it be safe to go does the nest with gas, bee spray, permethrin or some thing, when they will be too cold to be active and agressive.

About dark thirty is a good time to approach, then pour in some gas.

all you need is dishsoap and water. kills em dead. i have had bees swarping around house and also made a home in TD18 . i threw a pail of this mixture on them and that was that. and also used a sprayer too. ideally should run it through a pressure washgun. the soap plugs their pores and their finished.

Napalm seriously

If its cool enough and dark believe it or not I've had good luck with Raid yard guard fogger if you can blast it right in the nest. I have a underbody tool box on my flat trailer. They found a bolt hole on the side and are living inside. Other night I blasted a whole can of wasp & bee spray in which pretty much drops em on contact into the bolt hole. The key phrase here is "on contact". They're still alive! I find the wasp spray must contact them before it dries where as the Raid makes a fog that seems to stay wet longer and get them albeit slower.

I had a bees nest in the last tractor I bought. My wife bought a couple of cans of wasp & bee spray. I used a whole can, then I got chest pains. Wound up in the hospital for 24 hours to find out it wasn't my heart. So watch what your breathing in.

Yep, wait till dark when they all are home then give them some gas.

Brake clean or Electric motor degreaser will take them out instantly. They drop like a handfull of small nails and bounce!
Jim

After they settle go back very slow and stand still look for thenest,if there in the ground pour about 2 gallons of gas down the hole

jimmy

Like I told Old above...scrubbing bubbles...good stuff.

Don't deal with hornet's very much here but lots of yellow jackets...
Same basic idea tho. Wait until dark when all is quiet. I always like the big cans of ether. Give em a good ole soakin and light er up. BOOM!! Dead hornets everywhere. LOL.
That said, the last bunch I dispatched was right around the valve of a 400# LP tank... of which there was three tanks.... I used the Raid wasp and hornet killer on that one...


Rod

I usually don't have the patience to "wait until dark". I just blast them with Raid, from a distance if they're aggressive. Last Friday, I tore 50 ft of gutter and fascia board off a barn roof for an addition. I knew there were some wasp/hornets nests in there so I had 2 cans of Raid at my side. I was able to work right at the eaves, got the gutter and fascia board off with just a few buzzing around my head and hands. Never got stung. Smacked a few with my gloved hand if they got too close. Then I could see the nests all along the underside of the steel roofing for about 10 ft along the eave and going up the underside of the raised ribs. No telling how far up they went. So I grabbed the spray cans and started spraying up under the roof ribs. Wow, Katie bar the door! They came out like.... well.... mad hornets. I ran out of Raid but was able to loose install the rafters for the addition up under the existing roof but they wouldn't let me get close enough to nail them down. I find that if you have one or two buzzing around, they're not much of a bother, but they must feel pretty brave when they're in numbers. And they WERE in numbers. Plan for this Friday is about half a dozen cans of Raid and lift up the metal roofing to see how far up they go. I want to get rid of all the nests if I can, although some people say, leave the nests, they won't return to one that's been sprayed. Don't feel like testing that theory. Good luck with your infestation, but that's why I like the Northern climate. We only have to deal with skeeters, flies, bees, hornets for half the year.

Hi there,
agreed with most already said.
Just after dusk, they are all "back home".
Some species post guards at night.
I look to use the specific stand 10 feet away and douse them down
wasp/hornet spray. it also leaves a residual, for returning "scouts or guards". But yes, attack at night, do a double dose were it me, then retreat fast before the guard wasps get ya'.
Wait a day, then go back to work.
Should be no problem.
If u return too soon, survivors will be MAD and crazy, trust me.
If need be, return a second night with same above procedure.
Also, remember if a stinging insect is deceased, if you put pressure on it,
the stinger will still come out and get ya'
Suchas stepping on a dead wasp barefoot, or squshing dead one with bare hands. Just watch the hind end, where the stinger's at.
You'll be find.
Got a flame thrower? That could be fun...on a night attack...lol...sprinkle hive with plenty black powder, first, too...u didn't hear that from me, do that at own risk...the first above method is best.
Every reply pretty much on the right track, just wanted to add my two cents...lol.
Best of luck, Dan

About 15 years ago, I found that paper wasps had built a nest about the size of a basketball between 2 strands of barb wire on one of my fences. It made it dangerous to walk anywhere around there, as the wasps were protecting the nest.

That evening I drove the pickup to about 50 feet from the wasp nest. It was about dark, but I could still see well enough to shoot the wasp nest with my 12 gauge shotgun. The shot pattern really destroyed the nest, and a whole lot of wasps came out, like a cloud. But I was far enough away that I could get into the pickup, and while a few wasps came around the cab, none could get in. My son was sitting in the pickup the whole time, and he still talks about the time I shot the wasp nest!

A couple of days later, I carefully approached where the wasp nest had been. Parts of the destroyed nest were on the ground, but I didn't see any wasps remaining on or around it. I have never found another similar wasp nest on my property.

I thought about setting the wasp nest on fire, but it was during the dry part of the year, and I might have caused myself a REAL problem, if a fire got going and got away from me. Fighting fire and wasps at the same time doesn't sound like fun to me.

But a nest in an area where you need to wear waders might be efficiently and fairly safely destroyed with a propane weed burner, of course after dark when the wasps are all home. Or maybe using a couple of quarts of gasoline and a thrown match. Good luck and be real careful!