Aggressive black bees?

[magicheater]

Found this while walking through my orchard. Right at head level, could of been disastrous. Bald faced hornets ARE VERY MEAN! Use caution when eradicating. Brake cleaner with a high volume nozzle does well. I just got rid of a smaller nest by going out at night and mechanically removing and then doing the residual the next day. The tree branch presents a very different approach, nothing solid to push against.......

 

[Pete Judd]

There used to be a guy around here that would come out and bag the whole nest. He advertized in the local paper and made a living selling them to labs that (some how) took the venom and used it in drugs. He removed a couple for out-laws, and myself. Now I just wait for dusk and spray with long range spray, as it works very well. Every year, get a few nests in the eves on the outside of the house, and in the shed.

 

[LMan1967]

Hornets will kick your ***, and there's no outrunning them.

My usual issue is the ground-nesting YJs/wasps, the small ones...they sting like a b*****. I usually "find" them when Im reaching for a spigot, or the well pump, or something similar and they swarm out at me....the holes are small so they are almost impossible to detect until they fly up at you.

 

[EE_Bota]

There used to be a guy around here that would come out and bag the whole nest. He advertized in the local paper and made a living selling them to labs that (some how) took the venom and used it in drugs. He removed a couple for out-laws, and myself. Now I just wait for dusk and spray with long range spray, as it works very well. Every year, get a few nests in the eves on the outside of the house, and in the shed.

This is what I did once (in bold.) It worked great.

But one year I has so many in so many different places, I did the work at noon...I rode around the yard in my VW pickup with the windows up, and the sprayer wand out the drivers window, packed tightly with denim from blue jeans. The next day, I found a pile of hornets under each next...the spray wasn't so noxious at to make them flee, but was a poison, and it did kill the lot of them.

I have been stung by a Japanese hornet...the big long ones...right in the web of my thumb, and he left his stinger. So, we can't be so sure about a wasp or hornet not leaving their stinger. We know that they tend to not leave them. Anyway, I got stung because he landed in my hair and I swiped at him with my hand not knowing what it was. To this day, I never go outdoors without a comb, and I always use a comb if something is in my hair. A hornet can train a human pretty well.

A buddy swears out that hornets can do math. As a kid, he hid behind a log, and throw a rock at a hornets nest. The entire nest of mad hornets arrived at the log to make him pay. To this day, he thinks they did an analysis of the entrance and exit hole and plotted a course to his location.:laughing:

 

[JDgreen227]

Have never seen a hornet nest around here, the only real nests I usually see are those of paper wasps. Have had a few nests of yellow jackets inside the walls of my 110 year old barn but only one in the ground. For the ground nest, I filled the fuel tank of my oldest push mower, started it up and taped the deadman control down, then used a 2X4 to push it over the ground nest. :laughing:

 

[magicheater]

:rotfl:

Have never seen a hornet nest around here, the only real nests I usually see are those of paper wasps. Have had a few nests of yellow jackets inside the walls of my 110 year old barn but only one in the ground. For the ground nest, I filled the fuel tank of my oldest push mower, started it up and taped the deadman control down, then used a 2X4 to push it over the ground nest. :laughing:

Too funny!!:rotfl:

 

[texasjohn]

Just ran across Giant Cicada Killer wasp...first I've ever seen...apparently seldom sting, short lived, BUT BIG, BIG BOOGERS....as much as 2 inches long...
More here.

Cicada killer wasps

 

[Depmandog]

Just ran across Giant Cicada Killer wasp...first I've ever seen...apparently seldom sting, short lived, BUT BIG, BIG BOOGERS....as much as 2 inches long...
More here.

Cicada killer wasps

My neighbor has these, and she asks me to dispatch them for her every year. They make a person nervous, as they sound like a small plane dive bombing around you. Only the female has the ability to sting, but seldom does.

Biggest wasp I have ever seen. Looks like a fighter jet. They burrow into the ground, and the female take a cicada into the hole with her and I think deposits her eggs into the cicada.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

View attachment 272586 Found this while walking through my orchard. Right at head level, could of been disastrous. Bald faced hornets ARE VERY MEAN! Use caution when eradicating. Brake cleaner with a high volume nozzle does well. I just got rid of a smaller nest by going out at night and mechanically removing and then doing the residual the next day. The tree branch presents a very different approach, nothing solid to push against.......

Hornets will kick your ***, and there's no outrunning them.

My usual issue is the ground-nesting YJs/wasps, the small ones...they sting like a b*****. I usually "find" them when Im reaching for a spigot, or the well pump, or something similar and they swarm out at me....the holes are small so they are almost impossible to detect until they fly up at you.

Agree and you definitely DO NOT want to mess with those guys! :shocked:

Why are you guys so scared??? We had a nest of bald faced hornets (did not know what they were at the time). I went out at night and powered up the power washer and tore their nest apart.

Didn't get stung once. :thumbsup:

 

[CompactTractorFan]

My neighbor has these, and she asks me to dispatch them for her every year. They make a person nervous, as they sound like a small plane dive bombing around you. Only the female has the ability to sting, but seldom does.

Biggest wasp I have ever seen. Looks like a fighter jet. They burrow into the ground, and the female take a cicada into the hole with her and I think deposits her eggs into the cicada.



View attachment 272748

Just ran across Giant Cicada Killer wasp...first I've ever seen...apparently seldom sting, short lived, BUT BIG, BIG BOOGERS....as much as 2 inches long...
More here.

Cicada killer wasps

Yeah, those things are HUGE! :confused2: