How to get rid of Yellowjackets?

[Tunie B]

I have a crappy pre-fab coop that is within a cow shed that I have put doors on and renovated. There’s a Yellowjacket nest on the pre-fab—as I discovered when I opened the egg door and got stung on my neck/face/arms.

I want to knock the nest down at night and then drag the pre-fab coop out in a few days when the little jerks wander off. It’s not a big nest, but it doesn’t take many to really **** up your day, lol.

How hard is this?? I do not relish the idea of getting stung more/again.

 

[nuthatched]

Wasp traps.

 

[Tunie B]

Wasp traps.

Do you have a favorite brand?

 

[nuthatched]

Do you have a favorite brand?

I don't think there's more than 1 brand, you can get them at the hardware/feed store, they're with the pest control.

 

[Evadig]

want to knock the nest down at night

Yes!
If you knock it down at night perhaps you can pick it up with some tongs and submerge it in some soapy water to drown them.

 

[picklestheduck]

I’ve only had experience using wasp killing spray, but I wouldn’t want that near chickens. Id try the traps. Knocking it down could get you or your chickens possibly stung more maybe not though

 

[BigBlueHen53]

We had a pretty good (really bad!) infestation of red wasps in the roof of our house so we called Orkin and they took care of it. You could ask them if what they use is safe for chickens. They guarantee the wasps won't come back for a year and if they do, they will come back and re-treat the area. Good luck!

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

There's a spray. I've had it used in a neighboring coop to my active coop's and on the in-ground nest, and it worked great. Sometimes, on the huge nests, it had to be sprayed again, but other than that, it always worked. (Disclaimer: This coop of mine wasn't being used actively, so if you use the spray, you might want to hose down the coop after the nest is removed.)

Another thing is smoking them out. Supposedly, if you use enough smoke, it'll cause them to get drozy, so that you're able to remove the nest.

The method my grandparents used was winter. They waited until winter, when the things were all nice and cold and inactive, then they'd remove the nests from their house.

This method is more about avoiding the nest building then getting rid of them, but it supposedly works. You place old, abandoned nests in areas where you don't want new nests, and supposedly it'll discourage others from building in that "colony's territory."

 

[Tunie B]

I should say that I called a local pest control and he told me basically to knock it down at night. I think he either felt it was simple and didn’t want my money (lol) it just didn’t want to bother coming out. Hard to tell here sometimes.

 

[Acre4Me]

We had a nest in our home wall. They ate through the drywall and we would get one in the house when they figured out how to maneuver past the kitchen cabinets in their way. We tried spray, but bc of their next location, it was ineffective. So, spouse waited until dusk. Suited up in winter gear (coat, goggles, long thick pants, socks, boots, using duct tape to seal up any openings, such at at boot/pants junction. The hood on the coat was cinched up around the goggles. Then, using a shop vac, he sat there sucking up the live yellow jackets for about an hour as they would go in and out of their hole. After a decent time, I came out (suited up) with spray and he began to dismantle the exterior wall. More vacuuming, some spraying.

In the end, humans=1, yellow jackets=0.

We had to patch the kitchen drywall from the backside, we fixed that wall and no yellow jacket has attempted to get into the wall again.

So, vacuum those bugs up. But protect your skin- yes, you’ll be hot, but not stung.