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A straightforward and protected technique for eradicating an underground yellow jacket or hornet’s nest with no poison and no danger of stings to you!
My latest article on eradicating wasp nests utilizing a brown paper bag resulted in a number of requests about how you can do the identical for hornets and yellow jackets.
Not like wasps, which usually construct their nests in timber or the eaves of a roof, hornets and yellow jackets are sneakier, favoring underground places.
A gap within the floor the place the bugs come and go is the one proof that an enormous nest could possibly be lurking beneath the soil!
Standard Technique for “Floor Bees”
A couple of years in the past, there was a big yellow jacket nest underground on the property line between our house and my neighbor.
It was a giant danger for somebody to inadvertently disturb the nest and get stung whereas mowing or doing yard work.
Clearly, the nest wanted to be eliminated immediately.
My neighbor, who’s an skilled and credentialed biologist, thought it will be handiest to make use of chemical substances.
He donned a bee go well with for defense and utilized the combination into the outlet in the course of the evening when the yellow jackets have been least energetic.
It took a number of functions earlier than the nest was totally eradicated.
Evidently, neither of us was blissful to be utilizing chemical substances. We simply didn’t know of one other technique on the time.
Because it seems, there may be a straightforward option to do away with floor nests….poison-free!
I’ll undoubtedly be utilizing this strategy sooner or later.
Poison-Free Nest Elimination
I just lately grew to become conscious of how you can take away floor hornets and yellow jackets with out chemical substances. This tip is from Rachel, a reader good friend who commented on the wasp nest article.
She wrote (reprinted with permission):
A neighbor instructed me an exquisite answer for eliminating floor bees (yellow jackets, and so on) that construct nests underground.
He simply pops a marshmellow or one thing candy (granola bar, and so on.) into the outlet within the night, and that draws the skunks, which then fortunately eradicate the nest, as they take into account bees a delicacy!
I attempted this when yellow jackets nested in a raised mattress; inside just a few nights, they have been gone!
What a implausible thought! The one catch is that you could have skunks or some associated species of stink badgers in your neighborhood.
Animals That Eat Hornets and Yellow Jackets
Since we don’t have quite a lot of skunks in my neighborhood anymore because of the fast growth of the final decade or so, I initially didn’t suppose this technique would work effectively for me.
Nevertheless, after doing extra analysis, I discovered that raccoons and armadillos may even fortunately eat up a floor nest stuffed with hornets or yellow jackets! (1)
We now have A LOT of these critters.
Thus, in case you don’t have skunks round to make use of the granola bar strategy, attempt a can of pet meals to usher in the raccoons!
Moist pet meals will actually appeal to raccoons, in my expertise. I’ve used this strategy to humanely lure them in the event that they have been threatening my laying chickens up to now.
When you want to keep away from attracting raccoons as they’ll get into rooster coops, attempt utilizing overripe fruit, mealworms, or spoiled meat to draw armadillos.
These closely armored mammals with a protracted snout received’t assault yard chickens. (2)
Remember that black bears like floor bee nests too.
So, measures to draw skunks, raccoons, or armadillos might inadvertently invite bears to the occasion in case 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 may even fortunately eat up a floor hornet or yellow jacket nest! (3)
Avoiding Stings
When you determine to do this technique, make sure you put the bait within the nest gap at evening when the hornets or yellow jackets are dormant.
This may nearly remove your danger of stings.
You could have to repeat the method for just a few nights in a row for full elimination.
Fall is a good time to deal with floor bee nests which have cropped up in the course of the hotter months.
I hope this technique is useful to a few of you grappling with how you can remove them safely with out poison!
(1) What Animals Assault Yellow Jacket Nests within the Floor?
(2) Finest Armadillo Bait
(3) Geese Eat Yellow Jackets??!! Possibly so…
