Yikes! What is it???

[workinforwood]

A stupid question for some I'm sure...but I'm just walking around the house and the shop getting rid of bee hives and some other tunnel thingy that is like cement and stuck to the rocks. Now I walk around the barn and look up at the soffit and this , what the pic is, is hanging off the soffit. It's the size of a large coffee cup. I figure it's a bee hive, but I never saw one like this...the hives I have been killing are like small honey combs that miraculously hang of a tiny string of paper, but this is not that and I never had one of these before. So what the heck made it and how do I get rid of it? Then, also, I have bees inside the ground by my blueberries. I usually pour my CA/acetone mixture down the hole in the middle of the night and light it up, but I don't want to burn my blueberry bushes...those bees in the ground are very easily P.O'd too!!! They attack people like in a cartoon!

 

[THarvey]

Looks like a hornet nest.:curse:

If it is only the size of a coffee cup, now is the time to get rid of it.

Ortho (I'm sure there are others too.) makes a wasp/hornet spray that you can use from up to 20 feet away. Spray it directly in the center hole, then saturate the rest of the nest. This spray works with ground nest like yellow jackets also.

After you are sure all the bees are dead, let it dry. Cast the nest and cut it into pen blanks. :biggrin: The paper makes a cool pattern. I saw one someone had done at a craft show recently.

 

[workinforwood]

Wow...I really like the way you think! pens!!!

My mother-in law has something on the ceiling in her barn..it's been there several years now and it's like a space ship, this thing has to be 20" wide...you figure that's the same thing, and I should be salvaging that monster? I know hers is vacant.

 

[THarvey]

Wow...I really like the way you think! pens!!!

My mother-in law has something on the ceiling in her barn..it's been there several years now and it's like a space ship, this thing has to be 20" wide...you figure that's the same thing, and I should be salvaging that monster? I know hers is vacant.

If you cast that sucker, send me a couple blanks.

Down here a 20" hornet nest is fairly common. Unfortunately, the hornets don't give them up too easily. It doesn't get cold enough in the winter to kill the hive.

Be careful. There may be a smaller exit at the top of the nest that you cannot see. Watch for anything flying out when you spray it.

 

[OldWrangler]

That is a Paper Wasp nest. Those are some mean muthas. You mess with it you better be ready to get stung. Call a Pest Control Co. and let them deal with it. It might cost $50 but a bunch of wasp stings will hurt more than that.

 

[Mikey]

Small nests like that will die quick with the wasp and hornet spray. We get those every year where I work and I go through about a half dozen cans clearing them all off. After you shoot the spray the stuff is nasty and will likely just fall apart. Do it first thing in the morning though when it's cool and they aren't angry at anyone yet.

 

[gerryr]

Yup, that is a wasp nest. Hornets, or Yellow Jackets, nest in the ground and are therefore much harder to kill because it's really hard to find the nests. One thing you need to remember when dealing with wasps or hornets is that their venom is identical to rattlesnake venom, just less of it in each insect, but they make up for it in numbers. Definitely call an exterminator. If those things get pi**ed off they will attack anything that moves.

 

[PaulDoug]

Wait until this evening and give it a good spray. They are quiet in the evening/night and all are home so you can be sure and get all the little rascals.

 

[Rojo22]

I ran over two nests of ground yellow jackets last week mowing my Dads place with a push mower. I got nailed 12 times the first time, and the second nest I ran over, I caught out of the corner of my eye, and had the spray handy to take them out pretty quick. Those things will sting you and leave the stinger in you in most cases. Watch the sting sites too, they last a long time, and you need to clean them very good for about a week to keep them from getting infected.

Get the INDUSTRIAL rated chemical spray that has a dielectric rating of about 47,000 on it and a jet spray of at least 20 feet. If that stuff hits a wasp/hornet/yellow jacket, they drop straight to the ground. If you can get a canning jar, spray everything around the nest to kill the flying stuff, and then spray a little down the hole. Most people think that "pouring" stuff down the hole is the way to go, but most of the stuff you can spray wont do any good for the stuff down the hole. Then put the jar over the hole. Some of those nests have a second exit, so be careful and check your six......Then find a way to "close" the hole, usually with a digging bar or shovel.

 

[turkey-slayer]

The nest that you are dealing with is a Black Faced or Bald Faced Hornets nest...They can be very nasty and aggressive but a good can of Hornets spray should take care of them...Like what has been said earlier you should wait until dark before trying to kill them because that's when they all will be inside the nest and not active outside...Just saturate the nest real good with the spray.

 

[maxwell_smart007]

We've done it before - used it at nighttime when they're less active, and wore long sleeves....nasty little buggers, but the spray worked for us!

Andrew

 

[workinforwood]

But..you guys are saying if I spray it the nest will be damaged and thus no pens. I don't see any bee's near it, but it can't be that old either, probably only a couple weeks old. So, if I leave it alone, will it get bigger? And then, I can get a really big jar and a spatula and at night hold the jar under the nest, spatula it off the soffit and put a lid on it so eventually the bee's will die, or I can put the whole jar in the freezer ? If it is bigger, I can make more pens!

I had the ground hornets near my house last year, I poured my junk CA/acetone down the hole and lit it up and the bee's were toasted. Three days later, the tiny hole was many times larger, like something dug down in there for some toasted breakfast.

 

[workinforwood]

Shucks...I change my mind...thanks guys. I read a few web sites, I have to mow below this nest and my tractor is big and tall and slower than 900 bee's that can kick my butt with multiple stings each. Looks like this nest is only a queen nest, as the hole is on the bottom center and it's pretty new. I will not spray it for fear of damaging it, I'll simply climb up there in the morning and knock it off into a jar, and that'll be that! Really appreciate all the information and advice!!!

 

[Jarheaded]

Jeff use some smoke to help chill them out. Like bees, they will relax in the smoke. Your best bet may be to tape a plastic bag over the nest for a couple of weeks and they will all be dead when you take it off. Whatever you do, be careful.

 

[JohnU]

u can knock the nest in a plastic bag and put in the freezer for a while to make sure the wasp and larva are dead. I've seen these things go for decent cash. just be careful!

 

[TBone]

I sprayed one about 6 in the morning and when I pulled into the driveway at lunch one attacked the windshield of my truck. When those things get mad, they will attack anything that is nearby. Definitely be careful. Don't cheap out on the spray, get the best you can find that will shoot from a LONG distance.

 

[ldb2000]

Hi Jeff
The nest you show looks like a Hornets nest ( they are the nastiest of all the stinger bugs and can kill you if you are allergic to the venom) the other nests you describe are Paper Wasps (and they come in second on the nasty list , but not by much) they are the ones that hang from a thin support and look like a honeycomb they are closely related to Yellow Jackets , Mud Wasps are the ones that make their nests in the ground or in hollow tubes made of mud on the sides of buildings and trees .
Both the Hornets and Wasps (yellow jackets) CAN AND WILL sting you more then once if they get the chance .
Bees on the other are not very aggressive (except the Africianized) and will not sting unless you provoke them , when a bee stings it's stinger has a little barb that gets stuck in your skin and when it pulls away (or gets brushed off) it pulls it's guts out and the bee dies . If you are having problems with Bees please call your local animal control center (dog catcher) and get the name of the nearest bee keeper to come and remove them . We are having a big problem with die offs of bee populations and this is not a good thing because bees are responsible for pollinating the flowers and without them there will be a shortage of fruits and vegetables .
The best time to kill the others is after dusk or even better an overcast/rainy day as they will all be in the nest , use the 20' spray to get them from a safe distance .
Just be REAL careful around them .
Hope this helps

 

[TellicoTurning]

Jeff,
Agree with Butch.. if you have bees, get a bee keeper to pick them ... they'll get the queen and the workers will follow..
Yellow Jackets usually live in the ground... I had a nest on my hill behind the house that popped me every time I mowed until I finally found their nest in the ground... 1/2 gallon of gasoline (Before $4 gallon) and that took care of them. What we call Red Wasps, make the honey comb nests that hang on small stems... they are nasty and sometimes agressive. As a child of about 5, I had one go down my shirt front and he stung me about 4 times as he moved down my belly. My sister was trying to get him out of my shirt and one stung her right between the eyes... she swelled so badly, she was literally blind for two days.
My house sat for about 3 years before we moved to TN, and the wasps moved in... I have worked for 2 1/2 years getting rid of them.... they got up inside the soffet of my back porch and every spring we have dozens hatching out on the screen porch... this spring no so many, so I think I'm winning. They tend to go back to where they hatched and make new nests.... Last year every time I open the door of the DC closet outside my shop, I had to spray in there before I could check my DC bags.. this year none so far.

When we moved in in 2005, there was one of the nests like your picture on my front porch, but no hornets in it...I left it for a year as a conversation piece, but it started getting ragged so I took it down.

 

[PaulDoug]

Can it and freeze it like the man said. Unless you are allergic it only hurts for a little while.

 

[Randy_]

Snakebite Kit For Bee Stings!!

I've had real good luck with the canned spray from the grocery store that says it will shoot 20'. It puts out a solid stream of liquid rather than a fine mist and really knocks down those critters. For the small nest pictured, it should be just fine. If you found one of those large football sized nests, I'm not sure the can would take out the entire nest in one shot so I would have an enclosure close by that I could quickly retreat to after the initial spray.

But what I really wanted to comment on is the following. With the exception of bees, all of the insects mentioned above are capable of stinging you multiple times. Honey bees and their African cousins have a barbed stinger which the bee leave with the victim along with the poison sac which can keep pumping venom even after the bee, itself, is gone. I have first-hand experience here as I kept bees as a hobby for several years. If you are stung by a bee, position a knife perpendicular to your skin and scrape it across your skin and you will remove the stinger and sac and terminate the pumping of the poison. (You can also used something like the edge of a credit card.) Additionally, if you have one of these handy..... http://tinyurl.com/32mj2s..... and can get it deployed promptly, you can greatly reduce the severity of the reaction to the sting. I always carried one with me when I opened a hive and could get the device on a sting in about 15 seconds. If I got the Extractor deployed that quickly, there was minimal pain and almost no swelling after a few minutes......a reaction about like a mosquito bite. For an attack of multiple stings, you would certainly want to remove as many of the stingers as possible and treat an many sites as possible; but you won't be able to do all of them in a practical time window so you may need to consider professional treatment depending on your individual sensitivity to the venom. People die from bee stings so this is not something to take lightly.

The instructions for the EXTRACTOR say it can be used to reduce the reaction to hornets, flies, mosquitoes, scorpions and other stinging and biting insects. I have never use the device for anything other than bees so can't comment on the benefits it might provide for other types of attacks.

 

[monkeynutz]

It pretty much goes without saying, but if you use a spray, it will knock them down quick (it's designed to do that) so you gotta make sure you are well off to the side when you fire that thing, or they will come raining down on you, and their last dying act will be to light you up...

 

[nava1uni]

If you have ever been stung by a bee and had a bad reaction be very careful getting rid of the wasps. Since they can sting over and over you could have a very bad reaction. Be careful.

 

[Darley]

You got wasps and those are nasty, be carefull not to be stung by them you will feel it I know about it for the one under ground wait till dust ( they slow down activity and pour down the holde 5 or 6 gallon of caustic soda that will fix them ( ATTENTION WHEN YOU MIX "" Sodium Hydroxide "" WITH WATER ADD "" Sodium Hydroxide"" TO THE WATER NEVER THE OTHER WAY AROUND ) hope you kill those beast

 

[Daniel]

For hornets that nest in the ground I use powder that your literally shot down the hole. they have to crawl through it to get out and die from it, but it is not fast acting.
You have to do it in the late evening or very early morning when all the hornets are in the nest.
This looks like a hornets nest and you cannot get enough powder on it to knock them down enough. even going near the nest can cause them to attack, they are very aggressive. the thing to remember if they start popping out looking for something to sting is they attack anything that moves. it takes real nerve to just stand still but it is your best chance of not getting stung. that is from someone that was put in the hospital by one. So in all I really recommend you call the pros. they really can seriously hurt you. I know hundreds of people destroy them all the time with no problem. but I know from experience that that one time it does go bad it can go really bad fast. By the way I killed three ground nests by myself this summer already and still would not mess with a hanging nest.

 

[workinforwood]

I set the ladder under the nest after not being able to see any activity for quite some time. I put a jar over the nest, tipped back the jar and with a 12" putty knife I scraped it off into the jar. Nothing happened. I put the lid on. I look through and inside I can only see one bee, which I assume is the queen, and I think she is dead. 3 days later and she still hasn't moved from her position inside the nest, and the nest doesn't appear large enough to make a good pen from. It's a 3 layer dome only, and inside the dome is a honecomb about the size of a quarter and it is floating loose. I think this particular nest is just trash, but I'm happy to not be mowing under an active nest containing this type of bee!