Yellow Jackets not being friendly

[poldies4]

Does anyone know of a good way to dispose/remove hives? A week ago my brother and I were doing a little clearing out in the woods, when he was suddenly swarmed. I yelled at him to jump off the tractor, he was trying to back out as I watched the swarm grow. I assumed it was a ground hive, the yellow jacket seem to prefer to be in the ground in my woods for some reason. He only got stung twice, not bad considering the amount of them swarming around him.
Yesterday we were riding atv's in the area of the assumed ground hive, when one decided to fly into my chest. Felt like a rock, as I decided to take a break I heard something, a buzzing. What I thought was a ground hive, was a football sized nest hanging 5 feet off the ground with what seemed like hundreds of yellow jackets flying around. One of my atv's has a loud pipe, since we stayed clear of the area I'm wondering if the vibration woke them up? As luck would have it, my 5 year old was with me and said, that looks just like the one in the front yard. I never knew that we had one in the front? He showed it to me, bigger than the one in the woods, how have I never seen it? I mow right by it once a week, how fast can these little guys build? And as builder, how can I get my guys to build that beautifully and quickly?
In all seriousness, in the ten years that I have lived on my property I have not had nests like this. My concern lies with my kids. My 7 and 5 year old are always outside, and know not to mess with them, but I am not sure what to do. I don't care to kill them, but also don't want to keep finding hives via my children. The big hive in the front seems to have appeared overnight. Of course it didn't, but we as a family spend time in that part of the yard, and never saw it.
Any advice/suggestions to avoid this in the future would be helpful. Any fun comments about my brother getting swarmed are good too. As the younger brother I might have gotten a tiny bit of satisfaction from that experience. Of course it was only funny because no one got hurt.

 

[EMS503]

For the above ground nest's I have used the foam type wasp and hornet killer
fast knock down and has a reach of about 15 feet, Only had one ground hive and brought a loader full of dirt and dumped on the hive. They never came back.

 

[lilranch2001]

Does anyone know of a good way to dispose/remove hives? A week ago my brother and I were doing a little clearing out in the woods, when he was suddenly swarmed. I yelled at him to jump off the tractor, he was trying to back out as I watched the swarm grow. I assumed it was a ground hive, the yellow jacket seem to prefer to be in the ground in my woods for some reason. He only got stung twice, not bad considering the amount of them swarming around him.
Yesterday we were riding atv's in the area of the assumed ground hive, when one decided to fly into my chest. Felt like a rock, as I decided to take a break I heard something, a buzzing. What I thought was a ground hive, was a football sized nest hanging 5 feet off the ground with what seemed like hundreds of yellow jackets flying around. One of my atv's has a loud pipe, since we stayed clear of the area I'm wondering if the vibration woke them up? As luck would have it, my 5 year old was with me and said, that looks just like the one in the front yard. I never knew that we had one in the front? He showed it to me, bigger than the one in the woods, how have I never seen it? I mow right by it once a week, how fast can these little guys build? And as builder, how can I get my guys to build that beautifully and quickly?
In all seriousness, in the ten years that I have lived on my property I have not had nests like this. My concern lies with my kids. My 7 and 5 year old are always outside, and know not to mess with them, but I am not sure what to do. I don't care to kill them, but also don't want to keep finding hives via my children. The big hive in the front seems to have appeared overnight. Of course it didn't, but we as a family spend time in that part of the yard, and never saw it.
Any advice/suggestions to avoid this in the future would be helpful. Any fun comments about my brother getting swarmed are good too. As the younger brother I might have gotten a tiny bit of satisfaction from that experience. Of course it was only funny because no one got hurt.

Are yellow jackets good for pollination?

I have never had a problem doing in a yellow jacket nest

They are nasty little buggers

 

[jcliburn]

I had an underground nest in my front yard this year. I taped an insect fogger onto the end of a telescoping pole, using a couple of dowels to hold the can in a narrow V. See pics.

I waited until dusk, fired off the fogger, and placed the nozzle in the entrance hole. I didn't hold the pole during the entire duration of the assault; I laid it on the ground with the fogger stuck inside the hole. Two hours or so later, I fetched my apparatus and put things away. Next day, no more yellowjackets.

Worked for me. Your mileage may vary. Good luck, and be careful.

Jay

P.S. I would never try this method against an above-ground nest.

 

[johnrex62]

No pollination abilities as far as I know, but they do eat a ton of mosquitoes and other assorted biting flies and spiders. I don't have issues with ground nests in my area, but have tons of smaller elevated nests. They are usually 3-8 inches across with 25-75 wasps per nest. They don't cause me much problem until they build close to a door or in my carport. When they do pick a high traffic area I knock them down with a wasp spray and remove the nest to prevent return of survivors. They ususally look for a safer location right away.

 

[devildog1]

Above ground nests= use bee spray. For below ground nests, this is what I have been doing, wait until dark, (mark location of nest with stick or something you can spot with flashlight at night) At dusk when most bees are back into the hive. Fill quart bottle of kerosene or diesel fuel. Have piece of paper rolled up, pour liquid down hole for nest then light. It will burn for 10 minutes or so, bees no more.
Devildog

 

[gwdixon]

In CA we use those yellow plastic traps with attractant. They fill up right away and the yellow jackets are easily disposed of. An advantage is that you can trap them from unseen hives.

If the traps are used in the spring the queens are nabbed and the hives are much less.

A recommendation - put the traps in unused or unfrequented areas since the yellow jackets congregate around the traps. The middle of the lawn where kids play is not a good spot although it might seem the natural place.

 

[gwdixon]

Above ground nests= use bee spray. For below ground nests, this is what I have been doing, wait until dark, (mark location of nest with stick or something you can spot with flashlight at night) At dusk when most bees are back into the hive. Fill quart bottle of kerosene or diesel fuel. Have piece of paper rolled up, pour liquid down hole for nest then light. It will burn for 10 minutes or so, bees no more.
Devildog

I've used that method as well. It works. It is also handy for getting rid of ants of various kinds.

 

[BXpanded]

Above ground nests= use bee spray. For below ground nests, this is what I have been doing, wait until dark, (mark location of nest with stick or something you can spot with flashlight at night) At dusk when most bees are back into the hive. Fill quart bottle of kerosene or diesel fuel. Have piece of paper rolled up, pour liquid down hole for nest then light. It will burn for 10 minutes or so, bees no more.
Devildog

I've had better success with about half cup of gasoline and don't light it. Insects don't breathe. They absorb oxygen through their "skin" and die near instantly from raw gasoline vapors. Gasoline vapors are heavier than air and if not burned will permeate down through the entire nest.
I'll admit though, the burning does create a feeling of satisfaction, especially if one of the little villians has just nailed you.

 

[poldies4]

I've had better success with about half cup of gasoline and don't light it. Insects don't breathe. They absorb oxygen through their "skin" and die near instantly from raw gasoline vapors. Gasoline vapors are heavier than air and if not burned will permeate down through the entire nest.
I'll admit though, the burning does create a feeling of satisfaction, especially if one of the little villians has just nailed you.

An eye for an eye, I'm OK with that too. In my younger, more brave years if I found a hive on a house I was working on I would take a empty caulk tube, fill it with paint thinner and those little buggers would drop instantly. I really didn't want to kill them, but it seems that they don't have a great use other than to terrorize innocent people. The nests are very pretty, and my kids seem to think that they should hang them from their bunk bed. I can't figure out how to save the hives, but rid them of their inhabitants. Any ideas? Thanks to all for the feedback, maybe we'll have some hives aflame this evening. All the posters south of MI look to the northern sky for the show.:laughing: