How to remove the hornet's nest

The appearance of the hornets and the danger of their bites

Hornets - insects, very similar in appearance to the wasps, but having some differences: a larger body size, brown belly. They are useful predators, because they feed on various garden pests and their larvae. They also love sweet nectar, vegetable fruit juices and honey. In the world there are more than 20 species of hornets, many of which are listed in the Red Book.

If the room often fly large yellow and black waspsit means that the hornets built their nest nearby.

On a note!

It is completely unnecessary to kill individuals: they should not be frightened or waved at them. It is better to wait when such a "wasp" will sit down and catch it, covered with a glass jar. Then carry it away and let it out into the fresh air.

However, you should be aware that the presence of a colony settled nearby can cause a lot of problems because of their ability to protect their home and numerous bites.

Danger of hornets It has several unpleasant aspects:

• in defending their home, they can attack a person and inflict on him numerous bites;
• sting hornets are able to remove the sting and bite their abuser several times in a row, which is more dangerous to health, because the toxicity of such a poison can lead to a strong allergic reaction;
• such insects harm bees by attacking and killing them, as well as destroying their hives.

Important!

For children, pregnant women and people with allergies, the numerous bites of hornet are very dangerous, because they can cause Quincke edema, anaphylactic shock and can be fatal.

Therefore, to get rid of such nasty neighbors, you should definitely search for home ownership of hornets, and for this you need to know what the nest looks like and where to look for it.

Nest and its search

Hornets Nest

For the manufacture of his hive, hornets use young wood bark. For construction, they chew on it, wetting it with saliva, which makes it soft and viscous. Then they build a nest in the shape of a ball, a cocoon or a cone of brown or gray color, the size of which can reach 70 cm, as seen in the photo of the hornet's nest. Many adult workers are engaged in this at once, the noise from the movement and chewing of the bark is heard a few meters from the hive.

Interesting!

Construction is conducted in tiers, usually from top to bottom. Inside, honeycombs are made of several floors and numerous passages, similar to the contents of a beehive.The total number of plates with honeycombs sometimes reaches 500.

It is difficult to calculate how many hornets are in the nest at a certain time, because the number of tenants in the colony depends on favorable conditions and nutrition, on the stage of development. The uterus moves regularly, laying eggs, and working insects dragging them along the honeycomb and feeding them, watching the development of the larvae and their transformation into adult individuals. On average, 300-400 inhabitants can live in a hive.

The location of the nest with hornets can be different, the criterion of choice is the search for a secluded place where there is no wind or draft:

• utility or utility rooms;
• attic or roof space;
• a secluded place on the balcony or loggia;
• in the crevices of the building's plating;
• in the branches of a bush or tree;
• inside a tree stump or hollow;
• abandoned animal burrows in the ground.

To find such a nest, it is easiest to trace the flight of insects by putting some food bait, which they will drag in parts to their colony.

If such a structure is found inside the house or cottage, then it will be necessary to remove the hornets' nest from the attic or other premises so as not to endanger the people living there.

Interesting!

Having settled near the apiary, the family of hornets represents a great threat to the life of bees, since it will select adult bees as hunting trophies, which they feed to their larvae. During a mass attack, predators can kill a whole bee family in the size of several thousand in 2-3 hours.

Ways to destroy the nests

Ways to destroy the nests

The use of nests in such insects is seasonal and occurs only during the spring-summer-autumn period. Then the hornets leave their nests: the majority dies, and the fertilized females hide in secluded places in hollows or under the bark of trees, where they fall into diapause until the spring gets cold.

On a note!

That winter is the ideal period for the destruction of an already empty hive. It is easy to remove and destroy without fear of being bitten.

It is much more difficult to remove a nest along with its inhabitants, because they are very vigilantly guarding their home and can attack a person, causing him a lot of harm.

Therefore, you should definitely consider and take all sorts of protective measures:

• wear clothes made of thick fabric with long sleeves; cuffs should rest on the hands and fasten;
• You must put on a thick hat on your head, and better - a protective helmet with a net;
• on the legs — boots and gloves — on the hands;
• protective goggles or face mask;
• in such a situation is perfect suit beekeeper;
• prepare a disinfectant drug in case of bites, as well as antiallergic agent;
• consider in advance the “plan of retreat” and escape, if a swarm of hornets chases away: a pond or a closed room;
• children or allergic patients temporarily relocate to another place.

Preparations to destroy the hornets nest

There are several ways to destroy the hornets' nest. Do it better at night or at dusk:

• Drowning the hive in a bucket of water or in a solution of kerosene, and it is not necessary to remove it. If the nest is located at the top, then it is better to raise the bucket to it by substituting the stepladder under the bottom. Immerse the whole hive in liquid for several hours, preferably for a day. After waiting time, remove the softened house.
• It is quite easy to remove the nest by treating it with an insecticidal spray designed to kill pests: Executioner, Geth, Karbofos, Lambda Zone, etc. It will take 2-3 bottles. You need to spray the entire internal cavity of the hive through the inlet, then go away and do not touch it for several days.During this time, those individuals who have not slept in it will also return to the poisoned dwelling, and they will also die from poison. Later, the house is better to burn.
• To process the nest with foam from a fire extinguisher, trying to wet the honeycomb, all residents freeze. Further the lodge can be torn off from the basis and to destroy.
• You can remove a nest hanging on a tree branch by burning it, which will require kerosene or gasoline, but care should be taken not to start a fire.
• If the hornets settled in the hollow of a tree that has a narrow entrance, then you can pour a strong chemical agent there, and then quickly fill up all the cracks.
• It is safe to destroy the nest and the inhabitants by taking a large plastic bag and spraying an insecticidal spray into it, in order to cover or wrap the dwelling with it, trying to seal it. This method is convenient when it is necessary to remove the hornet's nest in the house.
• Another way is to seal the entrance to the nest with foam.
• When the colony is located in a hole under the ground, then it is better to pour boiling water on it or lay out a fire at this place, having slightly dug up the entrance hole.
• In the "underground" housing can pour kerosene and set on fire.

On a note!

All of these methods are best used at night or in the evening, when the activity of predators is reduced. Contrary to popular opinion, the night is not the time when the hornets are sleeping: at such hours they either rest or are busy with other things. The flashlight during procedures should be used very carefully, because insects react negatively to changes in lighting.

Preventing the appearance of hornets and nest building

Preventing the appearance of hornets and nest building

To prevent hornets from settling in the garden plot or apiary, experienced gardeners and beekeepers begin to observe closely in spring the appearance of females, who after hibernation begin to search for a favorable place for the formation of a colony.

Large females up to 5 cm in size, having found for themselves a suitable branch or hollow, begin to sculpt a nest in order to breed the offspring and organize a colony. At first, it looks like a small walnut. At such a moment, you can easily tear it off with a shovel or other tool, then crush or burn it along with the inhabitants.

Experts also advise in the spring make traps to catch the hornet's queens, for which a bucket of water is put in which something sweet or sour (vinegar) is added, and then a soap is added.Insects fly to the smell, and then sink because of the inability to get out of the liquid.

Similarly, they make a trap out of a plastic bottle with a cut off neck, which is put inside like a “funnel”. A solution of honey and beer is poured into the interior, on the fragrance of which all insects fly and fall down. Get upstairs they will not be able to.

Such methods will help prevent the spring settlement of the hornet colony at the site or apiary. Already by the beginning of summer, all the big queens are setting up their homes, and the danger of their arrival is sharply reduced.

Important!

The hornet cannot simply be killed or slapped, because when crushed, an odorous substance is released from the calf, which signals to the brethren about danger and calls them to help. And this is fraught with the beginning of a massive attack of a whole colony of “biting” insects.

Conclusion

Deciding to destroy the nest and hatch hornets themselves, it should be taken into account how real the threat of their living next to people or bees in the apiary. After all, these insects are useful to nature, and many of their species are even listed in the Red Book as disappearing from the face of the Earth.