Hornets

Have a tractor to get out of dad's rental property garage this week. I didn't notice a hornet nest this morning just outside the overhead door, but sure did after I opened the door from inside. Got back to the Ranger for a QUICK getaway while the swarm woke up. Weather guessers are calling for 55 degrees early Wednesday morning. Nest will fit in a five gallon bucket, wondering if it's a good idea to knock it into a bucket early, and seal with a lid so I can get the tractor out without getting stung? Any thoughts welcome!

Lots of RAID & a couple of fast runners right after dark.

Will it get down to 55F inside the garage? Even if it does it might not keep them from flying. 50F is generally thought to be the temp at which they won't fly successfully. Wasp spray will shoot out 20' or so. Wear full protection clothing. I have a beekeepers hat with mesh to the shoulders. Gloves. No exposed skin. They might still hitch a ride on your clothing and bite later. While spraying up into eaves I've had them fly right down the spray stream at me. They didn't quite make it though. Always fun and challenging. (;>))

If there's no danger of setting the barn/shop/ door on fire, use an old broom head soaked in kerosene or diesel, set it on fire and hold it up under the hole in the bottom. As they come out, their wings'll get burned off, then you can spray, whatever to kill 'em. Just do it early morning or late evening when they're all inside. My Daddy told the story of a couple of young fellers back in the day that plugged the hole in a nest with a pine burr, cut it down and were showing it to folks. Said it was a buzzin'/vibrating to beat the band!! Daddy might have been funnin' me.

I had a nest inside a channel hitch on my log splitter last week. I was walking by and one of them came out did not sting me but alerted me that they were in there.
Just about dark I wrapped a shop rag on a stick soaked it in charcoal lighter lite it of and held it up there.
They cam swarming out madder than mad I bet there was 50 of them in there lucklty I did not get stung. I dig the nest out and stepped on it to kill the young ones.
The only way to get them is with firs IMO yo burn them paper wings and you can them step on the.

I have never seen a hornet nest here in S. California. Finally one of the flying stinging things we Don't have. Stan

Carb cleaner is a solid killer, but if cool enough, your idea sounds pretty good. Wear a heavy coat, and 2 thick stocking hats and welding gloves. Jim

Yellow jackets, get some of that hornet spray that shoots 20 ft, wait until dark and spray into nest entrance. Ballface hornets, let them keep the tractor.

If you are real brave , take a caulk gun and fill the exit.

Someone makes a wasp and hornet spray that has something sticky in it. You can spray a nest of anything and they will drop to the floor until it kills them. I believe it was Bengal wasp and hornet killer.

I use a shop vac. Works good, then spray wasp killer in the vac hose.
Dave.

RAID® WASP & HORNET KILLER 33. You can spray it from over 20 feet away and it kills instantly. Do not do a quick spray and then run. Stand in one place and do not let up until you have emptied the can into the nest. They will all touch the nest and be dead in a couple of minutes. There may be a handful of survivors, but in a few minutes, they will focus on the nest. I have done this several times on nests that would fill a 5-gallon bucket and never been stung.

Gum-Out carburetor spray will not kill them, they will shake it off and fly away.

if you can drive up near the nest, stay in the ranger, roll the window down enough to give em a good soaking and roll the window up. safest place to be. they can detect body heat and fly faster than you can run!

Use lots of care if these are white faced hornets. They are beyond comprehension when on the attack. Don't think you're clear at night, they will fly at night and always leave at least one sentry outside at night. You get tagged with the pheromone, they will have a sting party on you that will not stop. If undisturbed, they are not aggressive, however the slightest threat will set them, off. I would be extremely careful if trying to capture the nest like that, again if these are white faced hornets. Yellow ones seem a little different around here, not as aggressive, but just as dangerous.

I have come face to face with a white faced hornets nest while on a tractor and was very happy I saw them before I bumped the honey suckle bush they were in. The nest was one of the biggest I have ever seen. You could walk up to it, interrupt their flight path even, but just bump that bush, it's over in a hurry. Sometimes all of these will bumble around for a bit when initially disturbed, gives you time to get away, other times they'll be on you instantly. I'd be wearing my bee suit if dealing with these. Never been tagged by one so far and I have knocked a few large nests down before. I use a basket ball, plenty of distance and ran to a vehicle for protection.

DO NOT USE FIRE EVER!!!! That's just a bad idea, and makes you a possible Darwin award candidate. Just use the foaming wasp spray that will spray 20', it's what it's for. You don't need to do some wacky convoluted Rube Goldstein wasp killer. Just keep it simple. Hit the nest as late at night as you can, and use a can of spray. It's cheap,easy,and it WORKS.

Ya stole my question guy! Just started writing it when in popped yours. I have 2 of them. One under a running board on an 830CK Case and the other in a 20 ft oak log I pulled out the woods last winter. With the tractor, I hopped up on the seat, was warming the glow plug and got mobbed, being on the backside of 75 I think I baled from the tractor quite quickly with only a dozen or so stings. The opening in the nest is straight down so you have to lay on the ground to even see the thing, let alone attack it. The next day, i went out to block an oak log for splitting and stacking. It is sitting on a row of 10 ft logs maybe 2 ft off the ground. I cut halfway thru on my first cut and was mobbed again, only standing on the ground I made a get away with only a couple of stings. The opening in the log, is a round hole, a broken off branch long ago, that has hollowed, and of course straight down. That one I may pick the log up with the skidder and rotate it 90 or a 180 degrees to get a better attack angle. I don't pop off the ground quite like I used to. Any ideas, not discussed below, particularly the Case deal, since the hive is really tucked into the corner of the floor boards. Oh, I too, found out that wasps post guards and they are active all night..... Thanks for your 2 bits guys. Larry

Richard, I have two nests here bout 10 mins from u.
I super soak em with diesel fuel.

If I HAD to move the tractor, I think I would pop it out of gear and hook a chain to it and pull it out. I would deal with the nest in the winter.