The talk of all the creepiecrawlers is going to make me search for hives...But crow, here's a story you might enjoy...someone else has had the type of experience you have had....Your poor sister and folks!!! I panic if ONE comes close to me....let alone MANY....yuk!
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Dealing with Hornets
A few years ago my parents had a hornets nest in the apple tree in the back yard. I think they were hornets since a friend of mine said "Oh look, you have a hornets nest in your tree", but I didn't consult any special bug books on the subject. No one had actually been stung by this batch of hornets, but I knew from past experience that they did sting. The hornet nest had to go.
My parents were away at this time, and my sister and her husband were down for the weekend. We were sitting around playing some game and the subject turned to the topic of hornets - specifically the hornets in the apple tree. None of us had any experience with getting rid of hornets, but some of the rumored methods of dealing with hornets seemed to be rather questionable at best. We started to discuss the various methods we had heard.
A friend of mine had told me that a method that works is to take a can of RAID or other powerful insecticide and simply spray it into the hole in the nest. Someone else suggested that the nest could be simply set on fire. The RAID method seemed to be a bit foolhardy, since the hornets don't die right away when they are sprayed, and they could get a few good stings in at least. The gasoline method (take a garbage can, put some gas in it, chuck the nest in, set it on fire) seemed much more dramatic, but since we were in a residential area, and I had no particular desire to recreate a scene from Apocolypse Now, this idea was rejected.
We decided what to do after a period of much debate. We obtained a foam cooler with a tight fitting lid, and put a window in it (you know those plastic report covers? One of the amazing properties of this plastic is that it's hornet proof) and a hole with which we could pump industrial pesticides into the cooler. The theory was that we could carefully cut through the branch that the nest was on when the hornets were sleeping, and put all the hornets in the cooler, and deal with them then. My sister had noticed that the hornets went back to the nest and stopped buzzing around when it was dark.
For some reason, I was elected Person to Deal with the Hornet Nest. My sister and her husband helped me get suited up in several layers of winter clothing. The headgear consisted of a garbage bag with a report folder window and a screen to breathe through. I had a cowboy hat on underneath this so there was some space between the garbage bag and my face. I had some rather heavy gloves on as well, and a heavy winter coat and ski pants. All the places where hornets might get in (sleeve to glove, coat to pants etc) were taped up. Needless to say, I was getting rather hot.
We brought the dog inside, and Jan and Ron watched from inside the screen door while I went to deal with the nest. I carefully went up to the nest with my cooler, and looked into the nest hole. Regardless of what we had previously thought, the hornets were NOT sleeping. There was a hornet at the entrance sort of watching but not doing anything. I took my clippers and gently started to cut through the branch. My theory was that the hornets wouldn't notice that at all.
My theory was wrong. As soon as I started to cut through the branch, hornets started to boil out of the nest. Since at this time I was pretty well committed to dealing with the hornets, I simply dropped the nest into the cooler. Most of the hornets stayed with the nest. They probably weren't expecting quite a wholesale attack on their abode. Approximately 15 of the hornets were flying around. trying to sting me. Some of the hornets actually went to the screen door and tried to get in. Hornets are tough, but are not terribly resistant to pesticide, so they were sprayed. There were some that were chewing at my gloves, and I sprayed them as well. Bug spray doesn't work instantly, but it works pretty well. So now I had a cooler full of hornets.
Having a cooler full of hornets is kind of interesting. The hornets sounded pretty mad in there, and when we shone a light into the cooler the buzzing intesified. Then we noticed a problem developing.
Styrofoam coolers aren't really all that hornet resistant. As we looked inside the cooler, it was pretty clear that the hornets were starting to chew through the cooler. We had some industrial strength coolant and we gave them a shot of that. Interestingly enough, this stuff worked instantly, and that was the end of the hornets. My sister said that some more hornets hatched a few days later, but she dealt with them as well. My parents were glad to be rid of the hornet nest, but my dad was a bit annoyed that we had toasted a cooler to do this. |
