About a week ago, there was a LONG thread on a hornets nest outside a window. Sadly, I don't remember what were the answers to dealing with this.
I saw such a nest (grey, round, about the size of a basketball, and open at the bottom) the other day.
So, what did we decide, again?
Buy a spray can of Raid brand "Wasp and Hornet Foam Bug Killer" and follow instructions printed on the can.
Spectracide Pro (white can w/ red and black print, not the green can non pro version), applied late at night.
HOT water is a lot cheaper than bug spray.
Talked with my neighbor this morning, he's a professional beekeeper. My helper has a bowling ball sized nest in an old horse stall, and asked me. Called beekeeper. Beekeep says to mix soapy water in sprayer, heavy on liquid soap. Wait until first light, or middle of the night when they are asleep. Spray heavily into opening, and have second person stomping the ones that hit the floor. Keep spraying. A shop vac is actually a decent idea, with the inside heavily sprayed with hornet killer to suck up the ones on the floor When finished, stuff a rag in the open end so they can't get out. Leave in the sun for a day.
Just what I heard. He got called for an Africanized colony a couple of days ago. Said he "ONLY" got stung twice through his gloves, nonetheless. If he gets a wild hive that's not Africanized, he brings home the queen if he can get it, and the adjoining royal chamber, and starts a new hive. He has about 15 hives now.
Steve
The last one I had like that was hanging from the eaves of my workshop, so I hit it with the end of a long pole and ran like hell :-) A few days later, I found them trying to rebuild (or some new critters trying to move in on the same spot) so I repeated the process and never saw them after that. Presumably they went and built a nest elsewhere.
The worst one I had was bees that had got through a gap under a window sill in the 'shop and were nesting inside the wall space below - squirting nest killer stuff into the hole didn't have any effect (they were much lower, and I suspect the wall insulation got in the way). In the end I had to drill a few holes from the inside and spray the stuff in that way.
Last year, I had something like 20 nests in the various buildings that we have on our land. Same the year before that. This year, not a single one. I assume the goofy weather earlier in the year has done bad things to the stinging flying critter populations.
cheers
Jules
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