I'm killing off the wasp/yellow jacket nest at my house sucking them out of the sky with my vacuum!

[TSR6]

I noticed quite a bit of wasp activity by my front door, found they're getting behind the siding in a small hole. I bought a couple cans on that foaming bee killer, shot it up behind the siding - didn't do much. I figure I killed about 50 bees in total after using up about 4 cans of bee killer, and I had to re-fresh the foam every couple minutes as it dissipated quickly.

Instead of buying more cans of bee killer, I just setup the vacuum and let it run for a bit sucking them out of the sky as they left and returned to the nest. I had some pissed off wasps in the dust can, but they were mostly dead by the afternoon. I'd let it run for 10-15 min at a time, and then let it rest. A lot of the bees that get sucked up end up half dead by the time they get to the dust bucket. Then I finish them off by flushing the dust bucket with water and let them drown.


Here's my setup:

I've also ordered some diatomaceous earth to puff up into the hole to kill them off even while the vacuum isn't running, but at least I've depleted their numbers a little bit. I figure I've sucked up at least 500+ yellowjackets so far!

 

[Magpie]

They're getting in behind your siding? And they aren't massing together and chasing you down the street, the moment you get within a few feet of the nest?

Are you sure they're actual yellow jackets and not just mud daubers?

We recently got to experience a couple different types of wasp, when we rebuilt our front porch. The non-aggressive long-legged yellow-and-black fellows living behind the siding are mud daubers. They can't hurt you, and they're eating your spiders. We took out one colony because it was in the way of the work we were doing, but we left the rest.

I'm happy to have them taking out the spiders around my house.

On the other hand, if you ever see anything like this in your eaves:

Don't go near it with a vacuum, and don't try to take care of it yourself. Call an exterminator to handle it. We had one, and when I stood under it to point it out to the exterminator, he got really nervous and made me move back. Then he sent me inside, while his partner suited up like he was prepping for the moon landing. They used Borax, and I watched through the window... it was incredible to see the wasps swarming around him and even trying to attack me through the window. According to Wikipedia, "However, the baldfaced hornet has a unique defense in that it can squirt venom from the stinger into the eyes of vertebrate nest intruders. The venom causes immediate watering of the eyes and temporary blindness." Yikes!

Bald faced hornets do eat flies, but that doesn't mean I want to share my living space with them.

I've learned, there are wasps and there are wasps, and they can be two very different things.

 

[TSR6]

Yep, They're these guys: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowjacket

They really don't come after you unless you do something to them. In this case, I just carefully setup the vacuum cleaner and they're sucked up before they even know what's going on. They're real jerks if you tick them off though.

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

Omg you are braver then I am I would be giving a professional every last penny I had before attempting anything

 

[Squirlz]

We've watched this nest grow on the neighbor's house for months. It's right outside their handicapped twins 2nd story window. Finally yesterday they had a guy do something. He used a long pole to first empty a can of something on it, then poked and scraped with the pole until most of it came off. No protective gear or anything.

 

[TSR6]

Omg you are braver then I am I would be giving a professional every last penny I had before attempting anything

eh, why pay someone a couple hundred bucks when so far I've spent maybe $20?

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

eh, why pay someone a couple hundred bucks when so far I've spent maybe $20?

I would be afraid of getting stung mostly even though I am not allergic

 

[TSR6]

Bee stings dont hurt that bad.

 

[mel&me]

You need to spray at night when they are not out and all back at nest, you get a better kill.

 

[Jennasis]

Bee stings dont hurt that bad.

WASP stings hurt like the devil. Got stung this week twice. Once on my forearm and once on the knee. It feels like getting stabbed with a shard of hot glass and it lasts a long time. Then the horrible pain subsides and is replaced with swelling and a maddening itch.

The best part is that if you mess with one wasp, you apparently mess with their whole family. LOL

 

[mel&me]

Bee stings dont hurt that bad.

True but still annoying. Ive been stung about 6 - 7 different times so far this year, annoying every time

 

[mel&me]

WASP stings hurt like the devil.

I agree especially the ones with the bright blue wings, they are worse than hornets

 

[CarolAnn856]

WASP stings hurt like the devil. Got stung this week twice. Once on my forearm and once on the knee. It feels like getting stabbed with a shard of hot glass and it lasts a long time. Then the horrible pain subsides and is replaced with swelling and a maddening itch.

I'm dealing with this right now. Got stung by a yellow jacket last night on the knee, which is now swollen (which of course hurts), red, itchy, and warm to the touch. This is my first wasp sting, and I can't believe how painful it was!

The bugger got me through my jeans. I'm just so thankful that the others that flew out of the nest missed me and everyone I was with.

 

[Jennasis]

I'm dealing with this right now. Got stung by a yellow jacket last night on the knee, which is now swollen (which of course hurts), red, itchy, and warm to the touch. This is my first wasp sting, and I can't believe how painful it was!

The bugger got me through my jeans. I'm just so thankful that the others that flew out of the nest missed me and everyone I was with.

My forearm has been hot swollen and itchy (it looked like Popeye's arm!) since the sting happened on Sunday! That's FIVE days! I've been using hydrocortisone and benadryl but it hasn't done much. The more you scratch it, the more the swelling and itch spread. Little buggers.

 

[Kellykins1218]

Bee stings dont hurt that bad.

I got stung last week and I have to disagree.

 

[Kellykins1218]

I'm dealing with this right now. Got stung by a yellow jacket last night on the knee, which is now swollen (which of course hurts), red, itchy, and warm to the touch. This is my first wasp sting, and I can't believe how painful it was!

The bugger got me through my jeans. I'm just so thankful that the others that flew out of the nest missed me and everyone I was with.

I got stung on the back of my arm last week and within a few minutes it felt like I had been punched in the armpit and had pain from my neck to my groin. I couldn't even lift my arm by the time I got to first aid. I didn't know what was happening because I'm not allergic. Turns out the venom got into my lymph system.

 

[TSR6]

I got stung for the first time about 2 weeks ago. I was mowing the lawn with a collared polo. It fell between the collar and my neck. Got me a couple times..... no big deal, had the wife pull the stinger and drank a couple beers. It was all good.

 

[pigletto]

We had a massive nest (easily bigger than any of the pics on the thread so far) behind a climbing vine on the front of our house. It was up near the roof and we didnt' see it until end of September . The safest thing for us to do at that point was wait for the cold weather when they went dormant. We sprayed and then took it down after we were sure there was no activity.
Last summer was even more fun.. I noticed a smell in the downstairs bathroom like something rotting. I bleached and scrubbed and searched and couldn't find it. It wasn't all the time.. just occasionally. Then we realized we could only smell it when the exhaust fan was running (we don't use this bathroom much). We took the fan apart thinking it was moisture or something and took the fan upstairs to clean it out. By the time I came back downstairs the rec room windows had about 30 wasps .
Yep.. we had a nest in our vent. It was luckily pretty close to the opening and we were able to spray. One treatment took care of it.
This year we hung 3 of those fake paper nests around the outside of the house and no wasps. They are territorial and won't build a nest if they think there is another. Best $5 I ever spent!

 

[Party.Of.4-NY>>>FL]

I've used the vacuum truck many times. Works like a charm. I use a shopvac and spray the the inside of the canister with bee/wasp killer so as to form a small puddle in the bottom. Kills the bees instantly.

To anyone that says bee/wasp stings don't hurt, I would generally agree that it's not too bad. But try taking a sting on the upper ear. You know, top, curved part of the ear where it's all cartilage. I got it there once and it sucked big time. Hurt like hell for 3 days.

 

[jo-jo]

I may never go outside again.