# How do you get rid of a HUGE WASP NEST



## California

I just discovered this, outside the dining room window. Its about a foot square and a foot high.

More to the point, it's up on the underside of the attic's porch, where you step within a foot of it climbing the outside stairs. There's no place to run away if the wasps went after you since it's 15 ft to the ground.

The attic is the guest bedroom so I can't just ignore it. (Well maybe I'll wait until Vin arrives and not tell him!)

Any suggestions?


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## Melensdad

When Vin arrives, hand him LOTS OF HEAVY CLOTHES, 3 HATS and 5 CANS OF WASP SPRAY

Stand 25' away with a camera and let us know how it turned out for him.


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## Bobcat

Tell Sushi there's cookies in there.


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## k-dog

With all of the nasty critters down under, Vin probably wouldn't even flinch and ask what the problem was.


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## urednecku

I'm sot sure how to handle that one, short of a professional. Unless you use a flame-thrower, then ya may have to explain that to the Fire Dept.


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## mak2

i took out a hornet nest several years ago, but it was constructed at the end of my driveway in a burning bush.  Had I followed the instructions on the can I would have been stung a hundred times.  I used my truck, blankets, a welding glove and about 3 times the amount of spray the instructions it reccommended.  The next morning probably half of them were dead.  Tried it again.  Ended up using about 6 cans of spray.  then I had to cut the nest out of the bush leaving a big hole in it.  Not at all a pleasant experince but at least i did not get stung.  Dont know what I would have done if it was someplace difficult to get to like yours.  They really did fly directly at me but I was in the truck with blankets over the windows and my hand with the can sticking out with a welding glove on it.  Little shizs seemed like they were looking for me.


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## Bulldog1401

I use the foaming type of wasp killer alll the time with great results. It clings to the nest and blocks the way out for them. I then saturate the nest with pesticides (sometimes to the point that it nearly falls apart), and wait. Usually works well. Good luck!


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## California

urednecku said:


> I'm not sure how to handle that one, short of a professional. Unless you use a flame-thrower, then ya may have to explain that to the Fire Dept.


The flame thrower is out. That's hundred year old bone dry redwood, in fact the whole house is, and it would be gone in a couple of minutes if a flame touched it.

After reading Mak's experience I think you are right, this is a job for a professional. It's a story and a half above the ground, so I can't approach it from the ground. And I'm not going to stand near the top of the stairs to fight them. Occasionally calling a pro is the only reasonable alternative.

I'm convinced.

Here's a picture I made for a different purpose (first day with my 'new' tractor four years ago) that shows the underside of that attic porch. It just isn't practical to work this project from the ground. I'm calling Orkin in the morning.


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## DaveNay

Dynamite.


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## BoneheadNW

I suppose hitting it with a high pressure stream of water is out of the question?  I remember a buddy of mine (really, it was a buddy and not me) needing to rid a smaller wasp nest on the underside of his second story roof.  He got a can of spray (the high pressure spray with the red tube coming out of the can), stood on ground level, and sprayed the nest.  The spray dislodged the nest from the roof, the nest dropped to the ground next to my buddy, and the wasps flew out and stung him (only a handful of times, if I recall correctly).  Boy, that hurt (or so he told me).
Bonehead


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## thcri RIP

Use the spray bomb.  I have had to use it a couple of times at our cabin.  Do it after dusk when all of the wasps are in there.  Then soak it with the spray bomb.  Main goal hit the entrance hole.  You won't have to run.

But I like the idea of having Vin take care of it during the day.  


murph


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## EastTexFrank

Give Vin a six pack of Fosters and he'll be ready for anything.  That's my answer to the problem ... Vin, six pack, 2 cans of foaming wasp killer, stand back and watch fun.  Should be an entertaining day.


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## Pigtails

California said:


> I just discovered this, outside the dining room window. Its about a foot square and a foot high.
> 
> More to the point, it's up on the underside of the attic's porch, where you step within a foot of it climbing the outside stairs. There's no place to run away if the wasps went after you since it's 15 ft to the ground.
> 
> The attic is the guest bedroom so I can't just ignore it. (Well maybe I'll wait until Vin arrives and not tell him!)
> 
> Any suggestions?
> 
> View attachment 24651



I do not like wasps...I used that raid for wasps. Seemed to work well too.


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## California

BoneheadNW said:


> I suppose hitting it with a high pressure stream of water is out of the question?





thcri said:


> Use the spray bomb.  I have had to use it a couple of times at our cabin.  Do it after dusk when all of the wasps are in there.  Then soak it with the spray bomb.  Main goal hit the entrance hole.  You won't have to run. But I like the idea of having Vin take care of it during the day.



I guess I could knock it down with the pressure washer. And I like the idea of after dusk. But I still think I'll call the pros and pay them to do it after we go back to town. 

This ancient farmhouse is so far from airtight, or wasp-tight, that the windowshades flutter if there's a breeze outside. If the sun is just right I can see sunlight getting around some other window frames at a certain time of year. We have been finding a wasp or two, and dozen or so ladybugs, inside that window every time we arrive. If ladybugs can get in around the window then pissed-off wasps can also. I don't want to be in here when they suddenly have nowhere to live, and figure out who did it.

I've used the high pressure 'wasp spray' cans on much smaller nests. But this one is nearly the size of a basketball, and in an inaccessible place. There's no way to saturate it quickly or get away if it falls.


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## sports850

Don't know about up there but you can buy an aerosol wasp spray here that will spray a strong stream of highly toxic gunk about 20 feet . It comes in a 750 gram aerosol tin but empties in about 10 seconds so it sprays a lot . We get big paper wasp nests under the eaves at the peak of the roof on a 2 story house and this stuff flattens them , the wasps are dead before they reach the ground . That is a bigger nest though so maybe two people spraying at once ?


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## daedong

*White Anglo-Saxon Protestant.*



*Happy to assist
*


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## DaveNay

daedong said:


> *White Anglo-Saxon Protestant.*



    

So the answer the the original question is to just give them his credit card and the keys to the truck so they can go to the mall?


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## Erik

after sunset they're more dormant.  nail tarp up around the porch so they can't get out and bug bomb them.  And if you really want Vin's help don't threaten him with roo whiz.  They actually have other beer down under that's decent.


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## fogtender

Well if you do use a wasp spray, don't use any that says "Environmental Friendly", I used some of that once on a yellow jacket hive and they flew around as if I put water on them. 

The really good stuff kills them on contact and doesn't say anything "Pro Environmental" on the can, and the even better stuff foams so it sticks to the nest so they can't get out and die quickly on contact also... and the spray has about a 25' range.

Are you sure that is a wasp nest? That looks more like a bee's nest of some kind. Big differance if so, wasps will keep stinging you as much as they want, the bees die after one sting so they are limited in how many times they can get you.... so if it is a bees nest, you don't have to worry too much, they only have a few hundred in a nest like that and can only sting you that many times, once each, verses the wasps are unlimited...


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## Bulldog1401

fogtender said:


> The really good stuff kills them on contact and doesn't say anything "Pro Environmental" on the can, and the even better stuff foams so it sticks to the nest so they can't get out and die quickly on contact also... and the spray has about a 25' range.


Thats what I am talking about. The night time approach is a good idea also..


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## mtntopper

Spray the nest with starting fluid. It is amazing how fast ether will take care of many nasty bugs.


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## California

fogtender said:


> Are you sure that is a wasp nest? That looks more like a bee's nest of some kind. Big differance if so, wasps will keep stinging you as much as they want, the bees die after one sting


Good question. I said wasp after one glance at the nest shape. I think they are actually yellowjackets. I took some pictures in better light this morning.

 
(10x zoom through old wavy window glass)

I think the licensed applicators can buy that nasty stuff but I don't know if it's sold retail here. This is the 'greenest' county in the greenest state. I would probably have to buy wasp spray off Ebay or something.

But I don't want to be around when that nest falls. This is a job for the pros.


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## Cowboyjg

Calli....They are paper wasps. Nasty buggers. Mornings and evenings are when they are most docile. Either way that's a good size nest. If you're gonna tackle it yourself (I've done about a dozen or so in my bug guy days) the key is be suited up real good and make sure everyone else and the pets are either gone or inside. What ever you use...Kill on Contact is key, foaming is great. I know you said that getting chemicals could be an issue. If you can knock the nest to the ground and cover it with a sheet to trap as many as possible then douse the sheet and the nest real good and then jump up and down on it....That ought to take care of  'em...


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## California

Cowboyjg said:


> Calli....They are paper wasps. Nasty buggers. Mornings and evenings are when they are most docile. Either way that's a good size nest. If you're gonna tackle it yourself (I've done about a dozen or so in my bug guy days) the key is be suited up real good and make sure everyone else and the pets are either gone or inside. What ever you use...Kill on Contact is key ...


What if they don't all die





> If you can knock the nest to the ground and cover it with a sheet to trap as many as possible then douse the sheet and the nest real good and then jump up and down on it.


Ok. After carefully considering this expert advice - 


I don't have a bee suit. (I'm not even sure a bee suit is sufficient).
Indoors won't help, this ancient farmhouse isn't bug-tight.
What if I can't get enough spray 15 ft up there to kill them all instantly?
Walk up to the fallen nest and put on a tarp like it was a bedspread?
Jump right in ????? 
Ok, you convinced me. 

I called Orkin. Nobody wanted to talk wasps, the first two nice ladies wanted to talk maintenance contracts. Finally I got a price. $275. Thanks.

I tried a longtime local firm. This nice lady said Jerry's out on the truck, but I can give you a firm price, $175. Sold. That's the sort of local firm I want to do business with.

The orchard crew is thinning apples here so its not safe to get the pest control guy in until Thursday, after they are done. No, I'm not going to be here and film him, I'll be safely back in town, thankyouverymuch.

Looking into the mouth of the beast. I wonder what the living capacity of that thing is?


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## Bobcat

Rats. I was looking forward to the "jump up and down" video. _(and so was AFV)_


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## American Woman

I was think'in you should set it on fire before you start jump'in up and down on'em


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## mak2

I am telling you, follow the instructions on the can and die.  er or at least get stung several times.  I did exactly what the can said and if I had been standing outside my truck or without the protcetion I know I would have been stung several times.  Also it seems like the nest reeked of petroleum, like kerosene the next day when they were all dead.


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## fogtender

mak2 said:


> I am telling you, follow the instructions on the can and die. er or at least get stung several times. I did exactly what the can said and if I had been standing outside my truck or without the protcetion I know I would have been stung several times. Also it seems like the nest reeked of petroleum, like kerosene the next day when they were all dead.


 
You were probably using that "Environmental Friendly" stuff that is a good way to really piss the little buggers off (Which by the way, still look like the Yellow Jacket bees we have here).

I used that crappy spray in a "Green Can" and didn't get stung, because I got my truck window rolled up in time before they figured out where I was at and the stuff didn't hardly have any range, just enough to make me feel that I was going to reach them with a blast... Some of them died, but I think it was because they were getting old and that is what the Environmental stuff does, only takes out the old and weak...

Went back with the Nasty Black can of Wasp and Hornet spray (with foam and nothing on it said "Environmental") and I don't think any of them got out of there alive.  Hit the hole where they were coming out at and the foam filled the exit.  Then hosed the hole thing down and really soaked it.  A few were coming back and buzzed around, but I was perfectly still and stayed that way until I was empty... Then I ran like hell to the truck...

There was nothing but bodies of little dead bees laying all around the ground, looked like a repeat of some the WWII Island hopping campaigns.


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## rugerman

Wasps are sight fliers, they don't fly at night when they can't see. Kill the lights, spray the entrance hole back away let it work. Then knock it down put it in a plastic bag with a little gas, problem solved. When I find a yellow jacket nest in the ground in the fall I wait til dark, take a flashlight find the hole pour in a little gas (ounce or so) put a rock over the hole, next day no yellow jackets. rugerman


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## mak2

you guys go head and do it in the dark, whatever, nexttime it is napalm, i used all my luck last time.


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## fogtender

*Know the Enemy!*

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.worsleyschool.net/science/files/yellow/pic07western.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.worsleyschool.net/science/files/yellow/jacket.html&h=297&w=497&sz=42&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=gq0Rxlohz_AHuM:&tbnh=78&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dyellow%2Bjackets%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us%26sa%3DG

The Yellow Jacket is a member of the wasp and hornet family _Vespidae_; in Alberta the most familar example is the Western Yellowjacket: _Vespula pensylvanica_. There are actually twelve species of yellow jackets in Alberta and seventeen in North America. In most of North America, yellow jacket colonies flourish during the summer and fall; they die off in the winter. 







The Western Yellow Jacket





A single yellow jacket queen begins building a nest in the spring. She lays eggs to produce workers, which soon take over the nest-building, and also begin foraging for food. Meanwhile the queen continues laying eggs, which hatch as larvae and are continually fed until they pupate; adults emerge from the pupas about three weeks later.

Workers searching for food will concentrate mainly on finding and killing other insects, such as flies and bees, within a hundred metres or so of the nest. They will continue to enlarge the nest until fall, when there may be as many as 1000 wasps living in it. In late summer, the queen produces eggs which become fertile females; these will become queens and leave the nest to mate, spending the winter alone in protected places under tree bark, in rotten logs, or sometimes in the walls of a house. The original nest is abandoned in winter; only the queen survives. She also spends the winter in a safe spot until spring. When a new season begins, old nests are not resused. 





Yellow jacket wasps can be up to an inch long. They are distinctive not only because of their black and yellow, or sometimes black and white, colour, but also because their bodies have a definite waist and they fold their wings lengthwise. Like other wasps, yellow jackets chew bits of wood and leaves to make a paste, which they shape into a paper-like nest. 

Yellow jackets build their nests in the ground or attached to branches. Sometimes they will make one in the walls of a building. The Western yellow jacket nests on the ground, often building a nest under porches or in cracks in structures. Unlike many other wasps, which are exclusively predators, the western yellow jacket is also a scavenger ... it is particularly attracted to garbage and anyhting with sugar in it. This scavenging makes it a pest, but it is what allows it to survive late into the fall. 








If a nest of yellow jackets is disturbed, workers will aggressively defend it by stinging. Yellowjackets can sting more than once. Usually a sting is just a temporarily painful experience, resulting in redness, itching and pain.

A hollow stinger is located at the rear of the yellow jacket's body. When it penetrates the skin, venom is injected through the stinger. It takes about 1,500 stings to kill an adult man. 

For people who are allergic, a single sting may result in a serious reaction, or in some cases, death. Between 0.5 and 1.0 percent of the population may be allergic to yellowjacket venom. Yellow jackets are also sometimes responsible for infection ... a contaminated stinger can inject bacteria beneath the victim's skin, causing blood poisoning.


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## Cowboyjg

I just noticed that I had left the    out of my post...

Choosing to let the bug guy handle it is a good move.... 

In the more tropical areas of the country...Fla and So. Cal as an example, they do not die off in the winter. The nest numbers diminish some as the colony splits.

That one has been there for a while. Guess you'll monitor a little more closely and knock'em down when they're small.

Had one that filled much of a wall cavity once. There had been a hole made in the siding which allowed them to enter and exit. You could hear/feel the wall buzzing.  Wild!


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## California

fogtender said:


> http://images.google.com/imgres?img...ckets&um=1&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&sa=G
> 
> ...Yellow jacket wasps can be up to an inch long. They are distinctive not only because of their black and yellow, or sometimes black and white, colour, but also because their bodies have a definite waist and they fold their wings lengthwise.
> 
> ... western yellow jacket is also a scavenger ... it is particularly attracted to anything with sugar in it.
> 
> If a nest of yellow jackets is disturbed, workers will aggressively defend it by stinging.


Fogtender, thanks! That's exactly what I have. All year there are a few overlooked apples rotting in the tall grass, that attract these guys. 

And there are a couple of family pear trees down in the back of the apple orchard, of a variety that sweats sugar all over the pears, leaves, everything, when they are ripe. There are always yellowjackets visiting those pear trees at harvest. We seem to get along. I've never been stung, but my wife was one time when she got one up her sleeve and swatted it. At least his friends didn't join in. 



Cowboyjg said:


> Choosing to let the bug guy handle it is a good move....



Today I phoned and the dispatcher said the guy got  the nest removed, with a 30 day guarantee to get the rest if they come back. 

Mission accomplished!


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## fogtender

California said:


> Fogtender, thanks! That's exactly what I have. All year there are a few overlooked apples rotting in the tall grass, that attract these guys.
> 
> Today I phoned and the dispatcher said the guy got the nest removed, with a 30 day guarantee to get the rest if they come back.
> 
> Mission accomplished!


 
Glad nobody got stung.  

Funny that I have been around them all my life, been stung a lot over the years and never knew they were part of the wasp family, always figured they were bees...  Too busy trying not to piss them off.

We have had them pretty heavy in the last few years and they eat all the mosquitos really well, so much in fact that we haven't had a big issue with the blood suckers...


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