I'm trapped by a swarm of angry hornets

[Ivan Seeking]

Today it looks like most of the hornets have disappeared and that it might even be safe to walk over and take a look. I'm expecting to find a nest that fell from the tree and was too badly damaged for the hive to recover, but I am still very curious as to what I will find... but maybe a little more time is in order, just to be safe.

Sometimes it pays to procrastinate.

 

[Moonbear]

Poor Tsu.

At least she has medical training.

 

[SticksandStones]

How about a fire hose? The water won't kill them, but will knock them to the ground so they can't swarm while you do whatever you decide the next step is (kerosene poured on the hive followed quickly by a match is a good start, if you can locate the hive.

Thankfully, the wasps around here are pretty tame. Every year, it seems they try to build a small nest in the patio umbrella, but never get more than about 6 combs built into it (usually just one or two solitary wasps). Once I knock the nest down for the year, they don't rebuild until the next year. Of course, that could also be because I spray the umbrella with insecticide in the summer...helps keep away the mosquitoes too, and better than spraying myself or the ground. Nothing helps keep away bumbling beetles under the porch light at night, or clumsy grasshoppers trying to fly around (or something very much like a grasshopper that takes wing...Ember likes chasing them when she gets outdoor privileges...she's just like a dog now, getting all excited to have her harness put on so she can go for a walk on the deck and lawn...she still gets scared the moment another person is outside though, but is getting better about it).

The worst spot for us is under the edge of our pool. We have to go around every week and spray nest after nest. Fortunately there haven't been many this year, although it looks like some bumblebees started a nest near our porch. I can live with those though - they look cute and don't bother us.

 

[hypatia]

When I think I'm going to be near bees/hornets, I carry a big can of hair spray, it sticks to there wings and they drop to the ground, unable to fly.

 

[-Job-]

I once had a whole colony move into the chimney at my house, but they were honey bees. The whole radius of the house plus garden was covered by bees. They started coming down the chimney at one point and that's when the trouble really began.

We also had owls come in and make a nest on the chimney, it was a very popular place.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I once had a whole colony move into the chimney at my house, but they were honey bees. The whole radius of the house plus garden was covered by bees. They started coming down the chimney at one point and that's when the trouble really began.

Yikes! So did you at least get some honey out of the chimney?

 

[-Job-]

There was some honey gathered from the nest, but i didn't see any of it.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Now it's starting to seem that we have a roving swarm? Does this make any sense? Do they swarm in early summer for some reason? As I said, at first they were all swarming around one area with the size of the swarm decreasing each day. Yesterday there was probably only dozens to a few hundred flyling around. Then this morning there was a good size swarm out there again near the same place but relocated by about twenty feet. This afternoon they were gone when hornets are normally buzzing all around. Yesterday evening I went out and took a look but didn't see a large nest on the ground where I expected to find one. It could still be hidden in the grass but I looked near what seemed to be the center of the swarm.

Now I know that we do get tremendously large nests here in Oregon as I've seem them as large as a basketball, and the size of the initial swarm was in line with some of the nests I've seen, but I have never seen an entire swarm moving around like this.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Well, I never found a nest, and I finally had the pasture mowed but he didn't quite finish mowing - the hornets ran him off! When he got near the tree mentioned earlier, they started to swarm. Luckily he saved that area for last.

I think the nest may be in the tree trunk. I can't see one but it is certainly somewhere nearby, and a very large one at that! I'll probably try to figure out where the nest is and wait until winter to get it.

 

[dlgoff]

Wait until winter? You're no fun.

Do you think that there may be another queen and they are moving to start another nest?

 

[SticksandStones]

Well, I never found a nest, and I finally had the pasture mowed but he didn't quite finish mowing - the hornets ran him off! When he got near the tree mentioned earlier, they started to swarm. Luckily he saved that area for last.

I think the nest may be in the tree trunk. I can't see one but it is certainly somewhere nearby, and a very large one at that! I'll probably try to figure out where the nest is and wait until winter to get it.

Call in an exterminator and get it removed.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

They are no threat in cold weather - they can't move. When it gets cold I'll have my wife Tsu take care of it.

 

[rcgldr]

about 1.5" long and really thick and stubby.

Cicada killers. A lot these in parts of Texas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada_killer_wasp
Might as well include the Cicadas:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada

swarm

If the critters are truly swarming, like a small tornado, chances are they're re-locating (leaving an old hive, or a splinter group following a second queen). Since there's no hive to protect, they generally aren't aggressive, and won't sting while they're swarming. The key is a general lateral movement while swarming. If they're protecting a nest, they're more scattered, and there's no net lateral movment. I've had a swarm of rather large hornets pass right by me while I was at a stop light on a bicycle. The main concern is for the hornets not to get "caught in clothing" (as mentioned in the article) which would trigger a trapped reaction.

relocating honey bees

I live near the edge of an unpopulated area. The local vector control frowns on killing any critters in our area. There's a service to relocate honey bees. The guy comes out in a van, dons a bee keeper suit, captures the queen bee, guides her into a small box with a string, then hangs the box in the back of the van and just waits for almost all of the bees to surround the queen, then he closes up the van, and relocates the bees to a honey farm.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

If the critters are truly swarming, like a small tornado, chances are they're re-locating (leaving an old hive, or a splinter group following a second queen).

That's what Integral suggested. It would also explain why I haven't seen as many since, even when they started to go after my tractor man.

 

[SticksandStones]

They are no threat in cold weather - they can't move. When it gets cold I'll have my wife Tsu take care of it.

I meant remove them before the winter. Maybe I'm just weird, but my property isn't here for spawn's of satan to relocate and freeload. If they want to stay on my property they can pay rent or meet Mr.Raid. :)

 

[turbo]

The year before last was a bumper year for white-faced hornets, and they built a nest in a particularly good patch of blackberries on the edge of the woods in the back yard. I didn't want to poison the patch or the soil, so I just avoided that patch, until the night-time temps dropped to the low 40's and the black bear from out back (with whom I have to share the berries) ate the hornets, grubs, food stocks, everything. Nothing was left of the nest but shreds of gray paper. At least I got to pick blackberries from that patch until frost hit. Get a bear, Ivan!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Get a bear, Ivan!

Moonbear! Turbo says this is your job.

 

[turbo]

Moonbear! Turbo says this is your job.

Sure! Hornets are very small, and Moonie's used to tackling much larger beasts - baaaaa.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

http://img.timeinc.net/popsci/images/2007/01/mega_jan07_9.jpg
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/photogallery/54647d505244c010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd/5.html

 

[Evo]

http://img.timeinc.net/popsci/images/2007/01/mega_jan07_9.jpg
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/photogallery/54647d505244c010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd/5.html

Whoa! You found my car!

 

[Moonbear]

So *that's* where all the missing bees have gone! They were just on a road trip. Phew! And here people were worried they were gone for good.

 

[dlgoff]

Oh. That's just my bee power car.