Removing yellow jacket nest?

[Denly]

Found a old bird feeder covered by yellow jacket nest, it hang 2 ft off a branch by wire 10 ft off the ground. It is still young at about 10". What is the safest way to get rid of it? I already tried nuke it from orbit and frame thrower so save that.

I plan is to wait till night fall, get a big garbage bag then bag it and cut the wire. Will they bite thought the bag?

 

[herm0016]

nuke it from... wait....


a lawn and leaf bag should work. colder temps will be better, they will be less active. though, i would just spray it with something and gtfo.

 

[joutlaw]

Get a spray type yellow jacket killer. Yellow jackets don't play around.

I'll tell you how I know - I was doing dirt work on our property with a bucket scoop attached to the 3 point hitch of a tractor. Basically, you let the bucket down and back into a pile of dirt and pull the bucket up with the 3 point's hydraulics. Well I backed into a pile with a buried yellow jacket nest and didn't realize it at first. Once moving they starting attacking and I couldn't get the tractor going fast enough to out run them. I ended slamming on the brakes and jumping off the tractor and running towards our house ripping off all my clothes. I was stung 15-20 times and was sick all night.

 

[MongGrel]

I thought yellow jackets usually did their thing in the ground, hornets ???

Similar I guess.

Flame throwing it the usual thing, if that didn't work are some tough buggers.

10" isn't that big, but...

 

[Denly]

nuke it from... wait....


a lawn and leaf bag should work. colder temps will be better, they will be less active. though, i would just spray it with something and gtfo.

Spray on the nest?

 

[Denly]

I thought yellow jackets usually did their thing in the ground, hornets ???

Similar I guess.

Flame throwing it the usual thing, if that didn't work are some tough buggers.

10" isn't that big, but...

it is one of those brownish greyish paper nest, that is not YJ?

 

[mizzou]

wait till night and spray the heck out of it. That is the major weakness of hornes and wasps.
Kill them all, dont let ny live on and brees sleepless mutant bees!

 

[MongGrel]

it is one of those brownish greyish paper nest, that is not YJ?

I imagine they are, the ones I used to run into in the midwest were built in the ground a lot and were huge in the country, we'd dump gas over a large area of the ground and light em up.

Apparently they do make other nests, I had to look it up.

Would be the same deal with Hornets though at any rate.

 

[dbcooper1]

Wasp and hornet spray with as much range as you can get; it empties the can in a hurry but it's worth it for your well being. I usually buy the two pack and sometimes more. If you don't kill them, they will just move elsewhere. This stuff drops them immediately and is worth whatever it costs. Some are allergic to the stings and have died from multiple stings when disturbing a nest and not realizing it until too late.

 

[DrPizza]

Found a old bird feeder covered by yellow jacket nest, it hang 2 ft off a branch by wire 10 ft off the ground. It is still young at about 10". What is the safest way to get rid of it? I already tried nuke it from orbit and frame thrower so save that.

I plan is to wait till night fall, get a big garbage bag then bag it and cut the wire. Will they bite thought the bag?

Seriously? You don't have some new mutant species that builds their nests out of fire retardant, do you? Go to store, get a can of ether starting fluid. If you have a propane torch, use that as the pilot light so your fingers aren't near the flame. You can hit that nest from about 10 feet away. 5 seconds or so and it should be incinerated. Your birdhouse will likely be incinerated as well.

 

[Denly]

Wasp and hornet spray with as much range as you can get; it empties the can in a hurry but it's worth it for your well being. I usually buy the two pack and sometimes more. If you don't kill them, they will just move elsewhere. This stuff drops them immediately and is worth whatever it costs. Some are allergic to the stings and have died from multiple stings when disturbing a nest and not realizing it until too late.

I usually spray them if they're the comb one, this is the first time I have to deal with the paper nest.

I yes, I am allergic to stings or black flies. I was at ER last yr because of 1 wasp stings.

 

[Denly]

Seriously? You don't have some new mutant species that builds their nests out of fire retardant, do you? Go to store, get a can of ether starting fluid. If you have a propane torch, use that as the pilot light so your fingers aren't near the flame. You can hit that nest from about 10 feet away. 5 seconds or so and it should be incinerated. Your birdhouse will likely be incinerated as well.

I thought nuke it from orbit is ATOT tradition?

 

[Denly]

The nest looks like the one below.

 

[dbcooper1]

The nest looks like the one below.

That doesn't look like the yellowjacket nests we have around here; they're the honeycomb pattern starting at the center and build outward and can get pretty large if left for very long.

 

[ControlD]

Spray it with a little gasoline and light it up. Watch the pretty fireworks for a few minutes.

That looks more like a hornet nest to me. Still needs to burn.

 

[Denly]

Spray it with a little gasoline and light it up. Watch the pretty fireworks for a few minutes.

That looks more like a hornet nest to me. Still needs to burn.

You sure I have time to spray, light it up and run?

 

[ControlD]

You sure I have time to spray, light it up and run?

That's how I always have done it, but there is always some risk. I usually light it from a distance (rag on a pole). Those wasp killer sprays shoot like 30 feet though, so you can always give that a shot first and see how it goes. You should be safe from that distance after dark.

If the nest isn't where people are going to have a problem with it, you can always wait until late fall / early winter and simply cut it down and dispose of the nest. I only take out the ones that are in a danger area.

 

[utahraptor]

You should have someone filming you grabbing it bare handed and holding it up like a trophy and then slowly parade around the yard chanting "I am the wasp man!" If you can maintain composure while being stung that is probably at least 100K youtube views.

 

[crashtech]

If you can find a big old-style chlorinated carb cleaner spray, just wait until after nightfall and douse it with that. It kills wasps and hornets almost instantly and also dissipates rapidly with no toxic residue.

It's this stuff, but the Amazon price for one can is WAY out of whack:

http://www.amazon.com/Gunk-M4824-12PK-Chlorinated-Carburetor-Cleaner/dp/B00BGSFINE

 

[utahraptor]

It kills wasps and hornets almost instantly and also dissipates rapidly with no toxic residue.

No toxic residue

 

[crashtech]

It evaporates fairly rapidly and completely, so while it technically creates a tiny bit of air pollution, there is no residue, unlike with pesticides.

 

[DrPizza]

An alternative: set up a tall step ladder you'll be comfortable on. Put on gloves that can handle a sting or two. Make lots of room in your freezer. After dark, carefully slide a large (40gal) garbage bag over the nest, and quickly close it on the other side. Wrap closed end with string tightly. Cut short chunk of the branch off, and bring the whole thing to the freezer. 48 hours, and they'll all be dead.

Sell nest. And, I think there are companies that will buy the dead wasps, provided they haven't been killed chemically. Should be able to get about $25 for the nest. That'll at least cover part of the copay for the ER visit if you get stung.

 

[tracerbullet]

^^^ Interesting, never thought of that.

I've always shot from a distance, then waited and done the bag thing. The shooting isn't super effective, once the shell is around the honeycomb layers only so much can be done. But they seem to drag the stuff inside? Whatever it is, the combo definitely works.

 

[edro]

I already tried nuke it from orbit and frame thrower so save that.

:hmm: You must be Asian...

 

[Paperdoc]

I just dealt with this, although a smaller nest. My first attempt to bag the nest quickly showed immediately that they were a LOT faster than me! A little vibration of the tree branch and they came swarming out to defend the nest. Time for another plan!

I bought a can of a special wasp nest killer for the job. It comes with clear instructions on the can and a small plastic tube that fits into the spray nozzle. It contains a foaming insecticide. First you wait until late evening when the bugs are all in the nest and less active. You get about 6 feet from the nest opening and spray the foam to completely block the opening. Then you get up close and poke the tube through the blocked opening, then fill the interior of the nest with more foam. Next step is to wait, probably until next morning, to be sure they are all dead. THEN you take down the nest and bag it.