Yellow jackets/ wasps

Some kind of strange little critter made a nest in the hay bales the grandkids made a fort out of. 2 of the 4 of them got stung Sunday. A little smaller than a yellow jacket, darker in color, look different than the paper wasps that are everywhere, and they made a conventional paper nest like yellow jackets and hornets do. Doesn't matter much what they are, I gotta get rid of them before we start putting in hay in a couple of days.

Problem is they are in a hay loft, and right by the ladder that is the only escape. Was going to cover the nest with a jar this morning, but went out about 6 AM and they were already out and about. Don't really want to get a nest in the jar, and have others come back and find the homestead gone. They may take a dim view of that, and take it out on whoever's handy.

Nest was a little too large for a jar, so now thinking of going out in middle of the night and spraying them. My question is- do they all come back and sleep in the nest after dark? Do they go out at night at all?

BTW, learned something from an earlier post- I will NOT carry a flashlight, so they come right at me when I spray. Lantern set out on the other side of the loft as a decoy, I come in from the dark side and get 'em. Can of ether to get the ones who start lurking around the light. And I'm going to set up a ladder at the other end of the loft as an escape route. Just wish I was about 30 years younger and faster.

Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men. . .

Take 2 cans of wasp and hornet spray, spray with both hands...

Here's my advice. Wait till dark and position a flashlight or something else with a good beam a distance away that would shine some light on the nest just so you can see what you're doing. Get a can or two of the long-distance wasp spray, the 15-20' range stuff. Find a place at that distance where you can nail the nest, and they might not even suspect you. Sit very still. Soak the nest well. Better to use too much spray than too little. Just to be extra safe, you might want to spray yourself with some sort of repellent before spraying them. Return in 24-48 hours. They should all be gone, even the wasps in denial who like to come back periodically thinking that this couldn't have happened.

Reminds of the commercial on TV a few years ago with a large paper wasp nest under the gutter of a 2-story house, and the DIY homeowner climbing up a tall ladder, with his weed whacker, to destroy the nest.

Mikey, Mikey

Hope that lantern you are referring to is battery operated. In my day, lanterns were Kerosene filled, with an open flame. Spraying ether at one of those would not turn out so well. Not to sure I'd want to spray a flash lite with ether either, as you say, the best laid plans often blow up in our faces..

Soak an old bed sheet or blanket in gas. (don't
get it dripping wet) Take stick or small poll,
drape it over the nest and floor. They will
leave nest and fly into it. Have use this
method several times with success vs spaying and miss some of the suckers.
Good luck.

if they are bald or white faced hornets, there will be a sentry waiting for you, and they will fly at night, if you can't protect yourself, immediately after or during spraying, you'll get nailed but good.

If this is an open nest where you can see the cells, they congregate both on top and below over the cells, at night, none of the species here except those hornets will fly if illuminated, and its best to spray on a cooler night if at all possible, all other species of wasp will be in the nest and its the best time to kill them all in one shot. Some of the same species here, act differently 30 miles north, more aggressive and if you spray a nest in the day, the remaining that are not home will come back and swarm for awhile maybe a few days, maybe a few hours and you don't want to be too close to that, sometimes they just bumble around, sometimes not. They are unpredictable, I've been stung in the middle of nowhere, probably something else disturbed a nest and I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Years ago, in the side of the blade of the old D7 dozer, brown paper wasps would nest in this hole and if you walked within any proximity one would dart out and get you, and every time, we all got nailed, that is the strangest I have ever seen brown wasps act, I've never seen it since, so in summary, they can be unpredictable at times, but around here, with the exception of those big hornet nests, oval and enclosed, all are fair game at night, and its likely with a good spray application, they will be gone with no other problems after.

The yellow paper wasps here at home, you can disturb them, they come out, bumble all around, and you can be within proximity, they just don't seem to find you, get too close maybe, then they settle in and back to business, I often just work around them until they have to go, or get the nests early in the season so they do not get large and problematic, which reminds me, I forgot the rafters of the wood shed !!!! Couple of nests in there. Ive seen those big maroon wasps down south, those are aggressive, don't like those at all, glad we don't have them, they get large in population too, worst we have are those hornets and they are rare, you really have to look for a nest, I have not seen one in years. 10 Years ago I came face to face with a nest in a bush, where I was clearing, thankfully I did not bump the bush, huge one, left em alone, could even stand in their flyway, and they just go around. Once I had it cleared, I took a long stick and jarred the nest, got clear away to watch, incredible what they do, I was lucky I saw them first, now when clearing I look everywhere for them.

When I was about 10 years old a old black man that worked on the farm would tell me that wasps won't sting this month. After while I would get stung and he would laugh. He said wasps won't sting the month but they will sting your butt if you mess with them. Tommy






A

You can rent a racoon to kick bee or wasp butt in the middle of the night...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h0wLz7OmXE

Or you can rent a handfull of big Japanese hornets to not only kick bee butt, but they clean up after themselves too...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ1eAM8CChc

Good luck.

Mark

Sounds like African wasps. Ran into them at the property I take care of last year. Had to hire the 'Pros' to get rid of them. --Smaller than a 'yellow jacket' and nasty little boogers. Stung me about 30 times before I cleared 20' ( at light speed for me). Not toxic to me, so not regular 'yellow jackets'. 'Pro' identified as African wasp. HTH

These spray up to 20 ft. So you can stay clear and just soak the whole nest. And area it works great.
Walt

Yellow Jackets are a little like Honey Bees but Yellow Jackets live in the dirt. They actually look like a giant sweat bee.

yellow jackets here also live in paper nests, they go into the ground in the fall, as with other bees some may stay out overnight if it gets dark on them but not enough to worry about they usually leave after 2 or 3 days

Agree with Dave in Ga, may I tell you of a product I use to prevent the build up of wasp and nest. At TSC it is called "DEMON". I buy it from the Exterminating supply house in large quanty with differernt name. The product is a water soluble powder. Follow the instructions, the residual powder it leaves around the eaves of your house, shop etc. killed the wasp when the walk thru it.

Jo Bird,
You are right, especially if the OP is in a hay loft being chased by wasps.