Ground hornets, Not honey bees

[toppop52]

Halon is not a poison. It is worked well as a fire suppressant because is displaced the oxygen, and was highly compressable. So you could get more cubic feet of halon gas in a smaller pressure vessel. It is still used to extinguish fires, but only where absolutely necessary (like systems built into passenger jets).

You could have gotten the same results with CO2, or (cheaper yet) nitrogen.

Yeah, I'm not a chemist and should have read again before speaking up, it's been the 80's since I read how it works, but work well it does and I had 14 of them paid for many years ago.

 

[SPIKER]

Halon is not a poison. It is worked well as a fire suppressant because is displaced the oxygen, and was highly compressable. So you could get more cubic feet of halon gas in a smaller pressure vessel. It is still used to extinguish fires, but only where absolutely necessary (like systems built into passenger jets).

You could have gotten the same results with CO2, or (cheaper yet) nitrogen.

using ANY fire extinguisher for bees is a big waste of $ AND where will you be when you NEED the fire extinguisher?

Now if you are bored you can kill them MANY WAYS. Even a propane (unlit) gas w hose down the hole will kill them as it also displaces O2, heavier than air so sinks into bottom of hole and fills it up. It works much faster to light it up and burn em out with no chance of escape for them too... really easiest way is the cup of gas in a small pop bottle with a bit of oil or old 2 cycle mix works great. Stick bottle upside down in the hole & leave it to seal hole up and anything inside is dead in a few min...

Mark

 

[AchingBack]

While we are on the subject of stinging, flying insects, here is one of the best sites I've found on the subject of Baldfaced Hornets: Baldfaced Hornets : College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences : Clemson University : South Carolina

 

[francessca135]

Good Morning, I have tried a number of different "save myself from stinging" strategies... all very time consuming. I use our ATV with bed and drive up and down the tall weeds with my weed whacker. long pants tucked into socks then boots long sleeves and gloves armed with marker paint if i stir something up. I then ride over with my wheelhorse lawn mower...I should only be using the tractor and brush hog but I am NOT great at it and am afraid of flipping it,,and if I should have to hurry and get out of there I know i will flip it. The other 5 nests seemed to have not rendered any more wasps after my multiple treatments. I found another under some treated lumber stacked outside next to a utility shed.. SOB's came right out at full force all over my shirt, in a panic i ripped of my shirt and started running for the big barn, only got bit on the palm of my thumb. I maintain/manicure over 30 acres of grass/weeds around the house and 3 barns, so it is hit or miss. Once I find the nest and if I am lucky to catch a cool morning or evening, I pour diesel down one access hole. Ultimately there are a number of exit holes with one nest so I try and cover up the others prior to treating. I am sure they can smell me a mile away because I am so allergic i have to use an epi pen if stung multiple times. So in summary I try to work smarter not harder and am always prepared. I have learned to not wear muck boots because those sob's go down in the boot. Good Luck Ken 45101. treatment after a sting is to get the stinger out immediately by "scraping the site" with a dull knife. if you try and "tweezer" the stinger out you will squeeze more venom into your system, then i make a baking soda paste on the site Works awesome!:thumbsup:

 

[francessca135]

Thanks for the article!

 

[francessca135]

I have done that also jumping off to save my life and leaving the mower running..either way I waste gas it seems. Thanks

 

[SPIKER]

Other day I found one where I park the tractor & Rider all the time. I wipped up to the area and seen one of these dang vines I hate that spread like crazy so was going to hop off the rider & pull it. I stopped hit the safety clutch loc and started to swing my leg and out came about 10 yellow jackets & I mashed the GO peddle to get out of there but the clutch/brake was still SET So that just happened to be about 15" from the hole I was in SHORTS and had to stab the thing to un-set it so I could get out of the area... I went in grabbed a empty ATF bottle, added mix of 1/3 of old chainsaw gas & ATF & Mineral Spirits. Walked back out and watched them for a bit to see if they calmed down some. They did so I went in and grabbed a new can of BRAKE CLEANER and the 1/3 quart of mixed up hydrocarbons. if ya watch them they run in Cycles a bunch in/out then not much for a minute then a bunch in/out again. When it hit a lull of activity I start to spray the cleaner and move in with the mix & jam it into the hole upside down & run...
a bunch will gather around the outside & bottle wondering what the %#*&&$* is in their hole. Anything inside is dead in a couple minutes from the fumes of the Gas/Mineral Spirits. I went out hour later with a light board and knocked the quart bottle over & left the board. Next morning there was about 30 stragglers hiding under the board! I should have taken the big Weed Burner out when I went to look, would have cooked em in .0125 seconds Just a bit dry around here and next to some high grass...

Mark

 

[Pilot]

Found 4 nests this year, 3 of them because a skunk or raccoon found the nest first. Dug up an area about 15" across. The critter didn't kill them all, but it came back 3 or 4 times, each time at night and really cleaned up 2 of the nests. The 3rd one still has some activity & I'll gas it some cool evening. The nest I found (just luck I happened to see the bugs going & out of the nest while I took a leak in my forest several feet away) I poured gas on it that night & saw no more activity. A couple nights later the skunk/raccoon dug up the nest.

One of the nests had honeycombs and the others had a paper nest like hornets produce.

 

[forgeblast]

I found a ground nest a week ago. I was 15' up in the air taking down my ladder stand. I got to the ground and was walking the ladder down when I though I got tangled into a picker bush. I kept going and then saw the hornets. Got me about 4-5 times. I figure this was the best case because if I was up in the stand strapped in and they got me it could have been really really bad.