how to kill bald face hornets nest

[Blacktail]

i went hunting today and found a tree that has 2 hornets nests in the tree..i want to keep the nest..so,what would you use to kill the hornets...i will have to get the spray in the whole but i was wondering if the spray will soak into the paper on top..just trying to think this out...john

[Timo]

My advise to you would be to leave them nastys alone until cold weather,then use EXTREME caution. You do not want them critters mad at you,and trust me if you are near ,and something gets out of place in their world, they will hurt you.....

I have a friend that found one fishing one day,it was on a limb overhanging the creek. He went back at night with a dbl trash bag, and bagged it,cut the limb and rushed it to his house.Put it in the freezer. He said it sounded like Armageddon inside the bag before he made it home. Made the mistake later after he thawed it out, they came back to life enough to hurt him.

[Pat B]

This time of year hornets and yellow jackets know the end is near and are just waiting to take someone with them!        I'd wait until cold weather, collect the nest in a garbage bag like Timo's friend and spray hornet killer in the bag and seal it tight for a few days. You might shake it a few times over those days to be sure all are dead.  When you are sure they are dead allow the nest to air out well in a protected area then seal the outside with spray poly or shellac.

[mullet]

 Think about what Timo said. I knocked one off a tree with the pipe rack on my truck. It fell on the roof. After about an hour of sounding like someone was slinging gravel at my truck we started to worry if they could get in the vents. These are some relentless, hurting little Boogers.

I really didn't want it after that.

[Blacktail]

thanks guys..i did plan on waiting until winter...and yes they are the spawn of satan...i am hoping to get 3-4 cans of spray and hose them down..john

[Tsalagi]

I hate to sound like a curmudgeon here, but...why do you need the nest? I mean, it belongs to those hornets and it would appear they're still using it. If they're not hurting you, leave them be. If they're around the house stinging your kids, that's one thing. But you said they're out in Nature where they're not hurting anyone. I'm not trying to criticize you here. I'm just asking you to consider if having their home is worth killing all those creatures who are doing you no harm. I understand that in winter they abandon the nest. So, wouldn't that be better?

[Del the cat]

I hate to sound like a curmudgeon here, but...why do you need the nest? I mean, it belongs to those hornets and it would appear they're still using it. If they're not hurting you, leave them be. If they're around the house stinging your kids, that's one thing. But you said they're out in Nature where they're not hurting anyone. I'm not trying to criticize you here. I'm just asking you to consider if having their home is worth killing all those creatures who are doing you no harm. I understand that in winter they abandon the nest. So, wouldn't that be better?

Well said...

[Grunt]

Wait till Jan or Feb. From what I understand all the hornets die except the queen and the queen hibernates on the ground or in a woodpile. In spring the queen reemerges and starts the whole cycle again. Even if you wait till deep winter say a prayer and put some tobacco down when you take the nest.
 With that said, I did hammer a nest with spray one time myself but only in self defense. I was weedeating with shorts on and got into the nest before I knew it. Ouch, ouch, ouch.   

[Pappy]

I would also wait till winter,sometimes the birds will get in them and rip them up pretty bad.I don't usually bother them unless they build to close to where I am ,then I will take them out early on if
I see them starting a nest.Sorry guys but I don't want them around me,they are very protective of there area and so am I. As much as I respect all living things , the welfare of me and mine come
first. Once they have left the nest it is going to wast anyway and they are pretty cool to hang up and look at.
   Pappy

[adb]

I tend to leave them alone as well, if they're not harming anyone. The only nest I ever took out was under the eave on my back shed. I took the mower out one afternoon and started it, not realizing the nest was right above my head. I got stung right in the temple. I folded up like a cheap suitcase, and thought someone had hit me with a bat. Frickin' h-e-double-hockey sticks!! I waited until night, and sprayed down the nest with one of those long range hornet bombs. 

[John K]

Wait till the first good hard frost and then harvest the nest, if you soak it with 4 cans of spray the thing is going to fall apart on you.

[osage outlaw]

Last year we had them build a big nest under the overhang on our roof.  I resisted the initial urge to throw rocks at it to see what would happen.  I watched them build it all summer until it was larger than a basketball.  They never bothered me, and I never bothered them.  I would mow and weed eat right under it.  During the winter the nest started falling apart and they moved on.  Now, if they would have stung me, then it would have been game on!  I thought about getting one of those CO2 fire extinguishers and freezing them if I would have needed to remove them.

[Marc St Louis]

Contrary to what some may think Hornets are not stupid, the last time I messed with them taught me that lesson. 

The event that changed my mind on this happened behind my dad's workshop.  There were 2 species that happened to build nests close to each other.  Bald Faced Hornets had built a nest up in a tree next to the workshop and the Bumblebees had built a nest inside the attic of the shop.  By observing them I noticed that the Hornets had a kind of war going on with the Bumblebees, they would come out of their nest and dive bomb the Bumblebee nest.  Well this wasn't happening often enough for me so I thought I would take matters into my own hands.  I went to the far end of the shop away from the nests and gave it a hard whack with my closed fist and backed away quickly.  I stood by another shed not moving, everybody knows if you don't move they can't see you, watching the Hornets diving through the hole that lead to the Bumblebee nest.  All of a sudden one Hornets came out of it's nest and hovered there for a minute then dove down at me and promptly stung me right between the eyes, I was fully 30' away.  I never bothered them again.