I have used the lawn mower running over the nest for 20 minute method of eradication as well

I had those little yellow hornets build a nest in the wall of the house one year. The crack they went in and out of was so small they could barely crawl through it. Even so there must have been a thousand of those little buggers going in and out of it.

I waited till after dark and set my shop vac up next to it and fastened the end of the hose so that it was about a 1/2" from the opening. At daylight I turned it on and watched them all get sucked into the vac as they came and went trying to exit the nest.

No warnings ever got back to the hive because they all were whisked away into the vac I gave a little shot of hornet spray into the vac hose before shutting it off so they could not come back out.

I used it a couple more times for about 20 mins a pop and completely rid myself of that potential hazard. I got lucky and just happen to see one of them fly by my head and enter that crack. It was right at the front door and it was just a matter of time before they lit somebody up.

 

When I worked at a certain car garage years and years ago, they would send me out back to rob parts off the old cars (did I say that) and I always took a can of MOPAR carb cleaner with me. That stuff would fold them waspssses up in mid air and they never stood a chance.
I keep a badmitten (spelling) racquet on the back deck for the bumblethingys and the wood bores that look like bumblethingys.

 

This may sound ridiculous but I was working for an old WWII vet a few years back and he hated those yellow legged mud daubers. He'd set up a Rainbow vacuum and let it run for about an hour and sucked about 500 of the things right out of their ground nest. He mounted a coffee can on a piece of plywood about 1 foot square and stuck the hose thru the top and turned on the vac. He'd run it till he got the queen. Incredible but true. His name was Ralph Kuhns. Rest in Peace my friend. Kurt

 

I was stung over 300 times by a swarm of Africanized Bee's when I did a quick job in Phoenix, puffed up real good and spent a night in the ER. They told me if it would have been a kid who hit the nest they'd have died from the attack. It was something like 8 stings for every pound of body weight is what it takes to kill you...so it'd take about 2000 stings for those boys to take me out, little buggers.

 

As a kid,,, me and the next door neighbor were playing in his wooded backyard and seen a yellow jacket go down in what we thought was a crawdad hole. So my buddy proceeded to stomp around the hole to see if it would come back out,,,,,,,,
(yeah,,,,, not real bright at 7 yrs old,,,,,) ,,,,,, well he came back out the hole and brung a bunch of his buddies out with him! MAN were they MAD! We both got hit over 20 some times before we could high-tail it into the house. ,,,,,,,,, ER here we come. I found out I don't have a very good tolerance for stinging critters.

NEVER again,,,,,,,

 

I have a many of stories of bees being a logger for 5 years, the one that sticks out the most is...... I had just skidded in 4-5 trees (my lab followed me everywhere). I noticed that there was a small sapling that was in the way of the new landing so I decided I better get off and whack it. as I jump off the skidder, I turn around and see my lab running and biting at himself. I run over to him and he must have 50+ bees swarming and stinging him. I didn't hesitate, I start fighting them off, digging them out of his fur and once that was done, I told him to load up in the P/U so I could go fell this tree. he feeling that i saved his life would not leave my side. finally got him to stay in the truck. walked over to fell the tree, just as I am tickling it for the final fall, I look up and here comes my lab. I yell load up!!! he turns and starts going back to the trk..... too late the tree smacked him between the shoulder blades. that dang dog was so tuff, got up shook and went running to the truck. he was so lucky (me too) that it wasn't a bigger tree. That is what I call a tuff day for dog. after that any tree swaying he got extremely cautious . Man I miss that dog.... never have one like him again.

 

I've heard of people hitting their dogs with sticks, but never THAT big of a stick.

 

might need to talk to Mike Vick, he does it on purpose.

 

Be careful there, be VERY careful.

 

My own recipe

one part plain old cheeeep dish detergent, one part expennnnsive gasoline, one part water. (hopefully free)

pour into one of those GOOD spray bottles you can get at hardware or feed store, they hold like a quart and will either spray a mist or a cat-training wowee stream for like 25 feet (fine tune it to wowee stream before going into battle)

Agitate gently between sprays to keep it all in solution. This will absolutely provide instant 100% knockdown of any flying insectile beast I've ever aimed it at, regardless of size, color or country of origin. Do not store this in the sun.

I would guess the epa and greenies wouldn't like it much, but I HATE having a darn stable row chuck full of yellow jacket nests! One tiny bug can get a 1400 pound horse to make mincemeat out of you in a heartbeat and I am plumb allergic to being run over!

PS - dirt guys and surveyors have the best bee stories - hubby is a dirt guy and I'm a surveyor!

 

i been stung by those B52's before. 2 times on the right temple (that hurts right there).

 

We used to have only red wasps and the yellow jackets that were the same size as the wasps. Now we've got all these smaller yellow jackets that build the same kind of paper nests. They're half the size, but twice as aggressive. The bigger ones were always content until you screwed with the nest or made too much noise/vibration. These little buggers will drop right on you because you came by.

Had a nest hidden on the round baler the other day while I was greasing it. I had my sunglasses on and saw something making a run at my eye, so I backed away and swatted and he only managed to get a little piece of my cheek. Him and his four buddies found out that PB eats more than just styrofoam cups.

 

I get 'em in gas cylinder caps (I drive a cylinder truck). I carry a roll of tape in the truck to tape off caps I suspect have have wasps, I sneak up quiet and tape 'em in before I move the bottles. I like to think of the little devils swarming around in there trying to sting duct tape.

Hopefully they all die before the cylinders get to the fill plant.

 

best i've found for any flying critters is spray paint, it won't kill them right away but they drop like a rock first shot

 

If your man enough? Show no fear and they will leave you alone plain and simple.
They all can smell fear.

Yeah I know it's easier said then done.