Guess what I found in front yard?

seedcorn

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5662_hornet_nest_in_yard_2013.jpg
 

thistlebloom

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Whoa! That's a big one! Looks like it's just the right height to hit with your head while you're mowing. This has been a colossal year for wasps and hornets out here. We had a grapefruit sized nest like that hanging above the garage door, and those buggers were hard to kill. Took three evenings of spraying their nest. ***shudder***. Then we have the usual honeycomb type wasp nests that they build under the eaves and on all the outbuildings.

I'm extremely tired of them.
 

seedcorn

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Wife wanted to kill them and take it down. I think it's cool. Plus this variety eats bugs and yellow jackets. Normally my house and out buildings are swarmed with them. Not this year.....now I know why. I'm told, leave them alone, they leave you alone. We'll see. First time they sting someone, they will be DEAD and it won't take me 3 days, 3 minutes.
 

Southern Gardener

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Wow! How will you kill them - or will you? Either way, be careful!!

It's been terrible here as well with wasps. I've knocked down at least seven this summer in my potting shed and two in the chicken coop.
 

seedcorn

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If I wanted to kill them, gas and fire.
 

thistlebloom

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I leave them alone unless they build on my house or sheds that I'm in and out of. I've been stung twice checking the nest box for eggs.
The chicken kind.

Yeah, I know they're beneficial, and we have very few flies out there so they must be eating a lot of them, but I'm so tired of sitting out in the yard and having them do fly-bys and touch and goes off my head. They are literally everywhere, on all the plants, crawling on the grass, buzzing in my breathing space...

I just found out that the nests are used for patches for black powder guns. Thought that was interesting.
 

seedcorn

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The ones I hate are the ground hornets, stepped on nest, and they lit me up!
 

bj taylor

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wow, that's huge. if they eat yellow jackets, I like them. i'm allergic to yellow jackets (fairly new development for me who has never been allergic to anything), now i'm wondering if that makes me allergic to wasps and bees too.
 

journey11

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Made me cringe...

However, if they're not in the way and you wait until November, you could make a few bucks selling it on eBay. I've seen them go for as much as $40 and that's a nice one! (You'd want to stick it in the deep freezer for awhile to make sure they're good and dead.) Just a suggestion. :)
 

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