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A straightforward and protected methodology for eradicating an underground yellow jacket or hornet’s nest with no poison and no threat of stings to you!
My latest article on eradicating wasp nests utilizing a brown paper bag resulted in a number of requests about the best way to do the identical for hornets and yellow jackets.
Not like wasps, which usually construct their nests in bushes or the eaves of a roof, hornets and yellow jackets are sneakier, favoring underground areas.
A gap within the floor the place the bugs come and go is the one proof that a large nest might be lurking beneath the soil!
Typical Methodology for “Floor Bees”
A number of years in the past, there was a big yellow jacket nest underground on the property line between our dwelling and my neighbor.
It was an enormous threat for somebody to inadvertently disturb the nest and get stung whereas mowing or doing yard work.
Clearly, the nest wanted to be eliminated straight away.
My neighbor, who’s an skilled and credentialed biologist, thought it could be best to make use of chemical substances.
He donned a bee swimsuit for defense and utilized the combination into the opening in the course of the evening when the yellow jackets had been least lively.
It took a number of purposes earlier than the nest was totally eradicated.
Evidently, neither of us was completely happy to be utilizing chemical substances. We simply didn’t know of one other methodology on the time.
Because it seems, there’s a simple strategy to do away with floor nests….poison-free!
I’ll positively be utilizing this strategy sooner or later.
Poison-Free Nest Removing
I just lately turned conscious of the best way to take away floor hornets and yellow jackets with out chemical substances. This tip is from Rachel, a reader pal who commented on the wasp nest article.
She wrote (reprinted with permission):
A neighbor informed me a beautiful answer for eliminating floor bees (yellow jackets, and so forth) that construct nests underground.
He simply pops a marshmellow or one thing candy (granola bar, and so forth.) into the opening within the night, and that draws the skunks, which then fortunately eradicate the nest, as they contemplate bees a delicacy!
I attempted this when yellow jackets nested in a raised mattress; inside just a few nights, they had been gone!
What a implausible thought! The one catch is that it is advisable to have skunks or some associated species of stink badgers in your neighborhood.
Animals That Eat Hornets and Yellow Jackets
Since we don’t have a variety of skunks in my neighborhood anymore as a result of fast improvement of the final decade or so, I initially didn’t assume this methodology would work nicely for me.
Nevertheless, after doing extra analysis, I discovered that raccoons and armadillos can even fortunately eat up a floor nest stuffed with hornets or yellow jackets! (1)
We’ve got A LOT of these critters.
Thus, should you don’t have skunks round to make use of the granola bar strategy, strive a can of pet meals to herald the raccoons!
Moist pet meals will actually appeal to raccoons, in my expertise. I’ve used this strategy to humanely entice them in the event that they had been threatening my laying chickens up to now.
When you want to keep away from attracting raccoons as they will get into rooster coops, strive utilizing overripe fruit, mealworms, or spoiled meat to draw armadillos.
These closely armored mammals with an extended snout received’t assault yard chickens. (2)
Bear in mind that black bears like floor bee nests too.
So, measures to draw skunks, raccoons, or armadillos might inadvertently invite bears to the celebration should you reside in a rural space.
For areas of the world with out raccoons, armadillos, and skunks, it’s good to know that domesticated geese can even fortunately eat up a floor hornet or yellow jacket nest! (3)
Avoiding Stings
When you determine to do this methodology, you should definitely put the bait within the nest gap at evening when the hornets or yellow jackets are dormant.
This can just about get rid of your threat of stings.
You might have to repeat the method for just a few nights in a row for full removing.
Fall is a good time to handle floor bee nests which have cropped up in the course of the hotter months.
I hope this methodology is useful to a few of you grappling with the best way to get rid of them safely with out poison!
(1) What Animals Assault Yellow Jacket Nests within the Floor?
(2) Finest Armadillo Bait
(3) Geese Eat Yellow Jackets??!! Perhaps so…
