Yellow Jackets not being friendly

[poldies4]

Does anyone know of a good way to dispose/remove hives? A week ago my brother and I were doing a little clearing out in the woods, when he was suddenly swarmed. I yelled at him to jump off the tractor, he was trying to back out as I watched the swarm grow. I assumed it was a ground hive, the yellow jacket seem to prefer to be in the ground in my woods for some reason. He only got stung twice, not bad considering the amount of them swarming around him.
Yesterday we were riding atv's in the area of the assumed ground hive, when one decided to fly into my chest. Felt like a rock, as I decided to take a break I heard something, a buzzing. What I thought was a ground hive, was a football sized nest hanging 5 feet off the ground with what seemed like hundreds of yellow jackets flying around. One of my atv's has a loud pipe, since we stayed clear of the area I'm wondering if the vibration woke them up? As luck would have it, my 5 year old was with me and said, that looks just like the one in the front yard. I never knew that we had one in the front? He showed it to me, bigger than the one in the woods, how have I never seen it? I mow right by it once a week, how fast can these little guys build? And as builder, how can I get my guys to build that beautifully and quickly?
In all seriousness, in the ten years that I have lived on my property I have not had nests like this. My concern lies with my kids. My 7 and 5 year old are always outside, and know not to mess with them, but I am not sure what to do. I don't care to kill them, but also don't want to keep finding hives via my children. The big hive in the front seems to have appeared overnight. Of course it didn't, but we as a family spend time in that part of the yard, and never saw it.
Any advice/suggestions to avoid this in the future would be helpful. Any fun comments about my brother getting swarmed are good too. As the younger brother I might have gotten a tiny bit of satisfaction from that experience. Of course it was only funny because no one got hurt.

 

[EMS503]

For the above ground nest's I have used the foam type wasp and hornet killer
fast knock down and has a reach of about 15 feet, Only had one ground hive and brought a loader full of dirt and dumped on the hive. They never came back.

 

[lilranch2001]

Does anyone know of a good way to dispose/remove hives? A week ago my brother and I were doing a little clearing out in the woods, when he was suddenly swarmed. I yelled at him to jump off the tractor, he was trying to back out as I watched the swarm grow. I assumed it was a ground hive, the yellow jacket seem to prefer to be in the ground in my woods for some reason. He only got stung twice, not bad considering the amount of them swarming around him.
Yesterday we were riding atv's in the area of the assumed ground hive, when one decided to fly into my chest. Felt like a rock, as I decided to take a break I heard something, a buzzing. What I thought was a ground hive, was a football sized nest hanging 5 feet off the ground with what seemed like hundreds of yellow jackets flying around. One of my atv's has a loud pipe, since we stayed clear of the area I'm wondering if the vibration woke them up? As luck would have it, my 5 year old was with me and said, that looks just like the one in the front yard. I never knew that we had one in the front? He showed it to me, bigger than the one in the woods, how have I never seen it? I mow right by it once a week, how fast can these little guys build? And as builder, how can I get my guys to build that beautifully and quickly?
In all seriousness, in the ten years that I have lived on my property I have not had nests like this. My concern lies with my kids. My 7 and 5 year old are always outside, and know not to mess with them, but I am not sure what to do. I don't care to kill them, but also don't want to keep finding hives via my children. The big hive in the front seems to have appeared overnight. Of course it didn't, but we as a family spend time in that part of the yard, and never saw it.
Any advice/suggestions to avoid this in the future would be helpful. Any fun comments about my brother getting swarmed are good too. As the younger brother I might have gotten a tiny bit of satisfaction from that experience. Of course it was only funny because no one got hurt.

Are yellow jackets good for pollination?

I have never had a problem doing in a yellow jacket nest

They are nasty little buggers

 

[jcliburn]

I had an underground nest in my front yard this year. I taped an insect fogger onto the end of a telescoping pole, using a couple of dowels to hold the can in a narrow V. See pics.

I waited until dusk, fired off the fogger, and placed the nozzle in the entrance hole. I didn't hold the pole during the entire duration of the assault; I laid it on the ground with the fogger stuck inside the hole. Two hours or so later, I fetched my apparatus and put things away. Next day, no more yellowjackets.

Worked for me. Your mileage may vary. Good luck, and be careful.

Jay

P.S. I would never try this method against an above-ground nest.

 

[johnrex62]

No pollination abilities as far as I know, but they do eat a ton of mosquitoes and other assorted biting flies and spiders. I don't have issues with ground nests in my area, but have tons of smaller elevated nests. They are usually 3-8 inches across with 25-75 wasps per nest. They don't cause me much problem until they build close to a door or in my carport. When they do pick a high traffic area I knock them down with a wasp spray and remove the nest to prevent return of survivors. They ususally look for a safer location right away.

 

[devildog1]

Above ground nests= use bee spray. For below ground nests, this is what I have been doing, wait until dark, (mark location of nest with stick or something you can spot with flashlight at night) At dusk when most bees are back into the hive. Fill quart bottle of kerosene or diesel fuel. Have piece of paper rolled up, pour liquid down hole for nest then light. It will burn for 10 minutes or so, bees no more.
Devildog

 

[gwdixon]

In CA we use those yellow plastic traps with attractant. They fill up right away and the yellow jackets are easily disposed of. An advantage is that you can trap them from unseen hives.

If the traps are used in the spring the queens are nabbed and the hives are much less.

A recommendation - put the traps in unused or unfrequented areas since the yellow jackets congregate around the traps. The middle of the lawn where kids play is not a good spot although it might seem the natural place.

 

[gwdixon]

Above ground nests= use bee spray. For below ground nests, this is what I have been doing, wait until dark, (mark location of nest with stick or something you can spot with flashlight at night) At dusk when most bees are back into the hive. Fill quart bottle of kerosene or diesel fuel. Have piece of paper rolled up, pour liquid down hole for nest then light. It will burn for 10 minutes or so, bees no more.
Devildog

I've used that method as well. It works. It is also handy for getting rid of ants of various kinds.

 

[BXpanded]

Above ground nests= use bee spray. For below ground nests, this is what I have been doing, wait until dark, (mark location of nest with stick or something you can spot with flashlight at night) At dusk when most bees are back into the hive. Fill quart bottle of kerosene or diesel fuel. Have piece of paper rolled up, pour liquid down hole for nest then light. It will burn for 10 minutes or so, bees no more.
Devildog

I've had better success with about half cup of gasoline and don't light it. Insects don't breathe. They absorb oxygen through their "skin" and die near instantly from raw gasoline vapors. Gasoline vapors are heavier than air and if not burned will permeate down through the entire nest.
I'll admit though, the burning does create a feeling of satisfaction, especially if one of the little villians has just nailed you.

 

[poldies4]

I've had better success with about half cup of gasoline and don't light it. Insects don't breathe. They absorb oxygen through their "skin" and die near instantly from raw gasoline vapors. Gasoline vapors are heavier than air and if not burned will permeate down through the entire nest.
I'll admit though, the burning does create a feeling of satisfaction, especially if one of the little villians has just nailed you.

An eye for an eye, I'm OK with that too. In my younger, more brave years if I found a hive on a house I was working on I would take a empty caulk tube, fill it with paint thinner and those little buggers would drop instantly. I really didn't want to kill them, but it seems that they don't have a great use other than to terrorize innocent people. The nests are very pretty, and my kids seem to think that they should hang them from their bunk bed. I can't figure out how to save the hives, but rid them of their inhabitants. Any ideas? Thanks to all for the feedback, maybe we'll have some hives aflame this evening. All the posters south of MI look to the northern sky for the show.:laughing:

 

[SPYDERLK]

I've had better success with about half cup of gasoline and don't light it. Insects don't breathe. They absorb oxygen through their "skin" and die near instantly from raw gasoline vapors. Gasoline vapors are heavier than air and if not burned will permeate down through the entire nest.
I'll admit though, the burning does create a feeling of satisfaction, especially if one of the little villians has just nailed you.

Yes. :thumbsup: Gas is totally effective. Less than a $dimes worth at nite will kill any hive. Below ground just pour on at nite. Topside nests require a little more ingenuity to get it inside so the fumes can do the job.
larry

 

[gotrocks]

Yellow Jackets and Hornets are two different critters. Most of our Yellow Jackets do nest in the ground but the football size nest in the tree was probably Hornets. And they don't always use trees.

This was taken a few years ago. Called nearby university entomology dept. - they were not interested. Said was common near bodies of water.
We have a small pond that is about 1000 feet away.

If we tapped on the window these hornets would come out "fighting mad" start hitting the window panes, sounded like hail on the roof.
(I don't think any of those in the pictures were smiling for the camera

)

Did some video and had several that brought friends to come upstairs and watch the activity.

After a while we were afraid visitors to front door might get stung, SO out came the night time spray and after two sessions we scraped the nest off the window.

 

[Maxify55]

A proper mixture of malathion and water, placed in a pump sprayer should do the trick. Give the elevated hive a good soaking from a safe distance. Careful with the warning label. Follow instructions, please.
A more organic means would be a mixture of 5% Riptide. Again, mixed to container instructions. It's, as well as malathion, a neurotoxin. In this instance it's made from flower seed hulls, chrysanthemum I believe. It doesn't last long in UV light, however. We use it in our barn in a pressurized fly system.
There are others but you get the idea. You want knock down power. The stuff I mentioned will sever cranial activity to the body.

Better living through chemistry, ay?
Ya gotta be a chemist to run a farm these days.

 

[whatever1]

I can support the gasoline. I put that in a hand sprayer and they just dropped out of the air. Quicker than any bug spray.

 

[barkerrd]

Last summer , I had a yellow jacket nest start in front of my house . It was in the ground between the shrubs and the foundation . As the summer progressed the nest got larger and larger . I knew it was getting serious because there is a window and I could see the "bees" coming and going . The entrance hole was at least 3 inches and judging from the activity , there was at least a couple thousand . I knew I had to do something and I warned everyone to stay away from that side of the house .
Then one night in late August , a skunk or a coon came and dug up the entire nest and ate it . All I found the next morning was a few remnants and a large hole . Problem solved ...

 

[USMC.27]

One way I have found that works is to mix up dish washing liquid with water. About a cup of the soap with three cups of water. put the water in first then add the soap. Stir it as to not cause it to foam or create suds. Wait until early in the morning or late in the evening when the nest is full and inactive. throw the mixture on the nest and they will drop immediately. It works under the same principal as BXpanded's idea. They can't assorb oxygen and die right away.

 

[SPYDERLK]

One way I have found that works is to mix up dish washing liquid with water. About a cup of the soap with three cups of water. put the water in first then add the soap. Stir it as to not cause it to foam or create suds. Wait until early in the morning or late in the evening when the nest is full and inactive. throw the mixture on the nest and they will drop immediately. It works under the same principal as BXpanded's idea. They can't assorb oxygen and die right away.

Sounds good for when theyre exposed. For an enclosed nest I inject a couple oz gas at nite with a syringe and let the fumes do it.
larry

 

[BXpanded]

An old friend in East Tennessee was an avid Bluegill fisherman and he absolutely prized hornet larvae. When he found a nest, he'd come back after dark when all the hornets were inside for the night. He would take a large trash bag and just go over the nest and the end of the tree limb, etc. Then twist the bag closed, break off the limb and wrap some tape or a tie wrap around the top of the bag to keep it closed. Tossed the whole thing in the freezer. Everything was killed by the cold, but the nest and larvae weren't damaged. Later, he'd open the nest and save the larvae in a freezer container.

I guess it would work if you wanted to save the nest without damage...

 

[buck12]

For in ground nest gas will work. My experience as others have said is not to ignite the gas. As a kid we had a nest in a ditch bank. I waited til night poured a couple of gallons of gas in the hole and lit it. I went back an hour or so later and dug the nest up and found many yellow jackets very much alive. An old timer told me not to lite the gas which I have used several times over the years and it has worked well. The dish soap idea works well on Wasp nests and is inexpensive.

 

[rd_macgregor]

For in-ground nests, I just drop a couple of mothballs into the entrance hole and place something over the hole (a rock or board); they don't come back.
Although I've seen some of the big paper nests in the woods, I've not yet had any close enough to the house or a work site that I needed to remove them.
BOB