Bees nest in the duck coop!

[arrowti]

I'm not worried about the bees attacking my ducks, mind you, because they've clearly been there for awhile... about a month or so, and no one has been stung. I haven't been able to clean out the coop for awhile due to weather (hauling hay out in 100 degree weather+humidity would probably kill me... not even joking), being out of town, and just being incredibly busy. There are two small-ish bees nests, on either side of the coop. They appear to be rather small hornets. I only found them out while spearing out some hay and getting annoyed by the buzzing around my head. I thought it was flies. It was not flies. By some miracle I did not get stung.

I'm worried about getting stung when I try to clean out the other half of the coop. But I don't want to kill the bees, because hornets are very good for our general area and we're already so short on helpful bees that are keeping the fly, spider, and other insect population down. Especially those nasty caterpillars! If anything I'd leave them if I can finish cleaning the old hay out of the coop and adding fresh hay without getting stung. I'm not 'allergic' to bee stings, at least, not severely, but I certainly don't want to test out if that has changed.

Any advice? I have some RAID but it's almost out... I don't want to spray poison inside the duck coop for obvious reasons. If I could relocate the nests somehow I would certainly try it. As I said, we usually have out of control caterpillar populations killing our trees and feasting on our gardens and it's been better this year thanks to the hornet population.

Basically: killing them is a last resort.

 

[R2elk]

I'm not worried about the bees attacking my ducks, mind you, because they've clearly been there for awhile... about a month or so, and no one has been stung. I haven't been able to clean out the coop for awhile due to weather (hauling hay out in 100 degree weather+humidity would probably kill me... not even joking), being out of town, and just being incredibly busy. There are two small-ish bees nests, on either side of the coop. They appear to be rather small hornets. I only found them out while spearing out some hay and getting annoyed by the buzzing around my head. I thought it was flies. It was not flies. By some miracle I did not get stung.

I'm worried about getting stung when I try to clean out the other half of the coop. But I don't want to kill the bees, because hornets are very good for our general area and we're already so short on helpful bees that are keeping the fly, spider, and other insect population down. Especially those nasty caterpillars! If anything I'd leave them if I can finish cleaning the old hay out of the coop and adding fresh hay without getting stung. I'm not 'allergic' to bee stings, at least, not severely, but I certainly don't want to test out if that has changed.

Any advice? I have some RAID but it's almost out... I don't want to spray poison inside the duck coop for obvious reasons. If I could relocate the nests somehow I would certainly try it. As I said, we usually have out of control caterpillar populations killing our trees and feasting on our gardens and it's been better this year thanks to the hornet population.

Basically: killing them is a last resort.

If they were honeybees, you could find a local beekeeper to come remove them for you.

I am going to guess that they are paper wasps which do make small gray nests.

A honeybee can only sting you once since they lose part of their abdomen when they leave their stinger behind. Wasps and hornets can sting multiple times.

Soapy water sprayed on honeybees will kill them. It may also work on wasps/hornets but I do not know that for sure.

 

[ChickenRelatedUserName]

Don't kill bees. I see no reason to not kill wasps and hornets.

 

[arrowti]

I have managed to successfully remove all the hay without being stung. When the hornets (they definitely look like small hornets) got agitated I left for a bit before coming back. For now I'm going to keep them where they are unless they become very aggressive. I'd rather have tolerant hornets than tree-killing caterpillars.

 

[snow5164]

My dad would smoke them at the cottage ... it would cause them to leave long enough to do what you need to do.

Try it and see if they leave the area

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

I have managed to successfully remove all the hay without being stung. When the hornets (they definitely look like small hornets) got agitated I left for a bit before coming back. For now I'm going to keep them where they are unless they become very aggressive. I'd rather have tolerant hornets than tree-killing caterpillars.

exept the nest will only get bigger and more aggressive. maybe you c an go in at night and get a big zip-lock bag and pull it over the nest zip it up and relocate it somewhere else.

 

[llombardo]

I had hornets make a nest in the chicken coop right before they were going in. I was putting extra hardware cloth in with them right next to me. Never got stung. They didn't even move, a couple came in and I could here them buzz past me. I couldn't let it stay there with the chickens, so I knocked the nest down, they left and I sprayed some stuff to keep them away from there. They went on to make a nest in the top rail of the pool. I see them coming and going. They aren't bothering anybody and the pool isn't in use right now. I have 5-10 nests every year. I let them be unless it might cause someone to get stung. In 5 years only one sting and that was my golden and it had nothing to do with a nest.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

An empty pork and bean can (15oz) half to 3/4 full of gasoline then dashed on the wasp nest with force and vigor from close range is the prefered method of killing wasps without getting stung yourself. Just don't do it around light fixtures or possible sources of sparks.

 

[llombardo]

I can understand people killing(I personally don't)certain bees but there are some species that are very much needed and killing them is doing more harm then good.