We just found a yellow jacket nest in the compost pile the hard way - son got stung 7 times.  Unfortunately with the way it is configured we need to get up close and stay there for at least a few minutes.  Will Tyvek's stop stingers? I'm thinking a tyvek suit, gloves, boots, goggles, and lots of duct tape might do the trick.

I prefer gasoline and a match.








Edit: Sorry I thought this was in GD. I have no useful advice for you

Unfortunately the compost bin is heavy plastic.

No and I wouldn't want to be the test dummy either.
 

I would find a local bee guy and ask for help.

Don't do anything until the sun has gone down, then they'll all be in the nest and less aggressive.





If it's in a compost pile, I'm assuming that chemicals are not an option correct?





Boiling water in a sufficient quantity is one way, a couple of gallons of boiling water and then come back in a few hours and see it has worked, or if they need another dousing.
 

wasp spray works wonders.  

 

Do it in the morning, they'll all be in the nests chilling out.  Use a shovel or other tool to scoop up the nest, then dump it into a bucket, or other section of the yard, then hit it with the chems.

Nothing to offer on the Tyvek...  Is it possible to put a shop vac near the entry hole in the morning?  If it is you'll get most of them in about two or three hours then you can dig for momma.  Set it up so you don't prevent them wanting to leave but near enough that it pulls them in when the slow down for the landing.

This is the exact bin I have:



but with 1/2" pvc piping driven down the inside staking it to the ground, with wire ties holding the plastic bin to them. The bees are entering/leaving through the holes about half way up.

I tried using spray, but the holes block almost all of it from penetrating the nest - this morning they were happily buzzing in and out.

If it were metal or wood I'd use this as an excuse to buy a propane weed burner and go at them, but I really don't want to deal with burning plastic - and my county is the land of giant pussies vis a vis open fires.

If it was just freestanding I'd dump the thing over or rip the plastic up/off, but I made sure it was "secure" (damn my engineering instincts.)

The entry hole is horizontal, so boiling water will just bypass.

Hence my need to get close and stay close for a bit, either to dismantle the plastic, spray the insecticide through the 1/2" holes, or go apeshit and attack it with a cultivator attachment for my string trimmer powerhead.

I will say I use a tyvek suit when tending honeybees, and it works for that. I can't say for sure about yellow jackets.

Good luck

A plastic tarp and one of those bug-bomb foggers an hour or so before daylight.

WD-40      

Is it small enough to be covered by a black plastic yard clean up bag?  Or several?

If I remember correctly, you can bake them to death with a bit of solar power.

Shop vac nozzle at their entrance.  

Set it up at night since you know where the entrance is.   Wait for the heat of the day to kick in when they are most active.  Plug it in and watch.  


You know when you're winning when they start coming out with their grubs in their jaws.  


Takes about an hour and a half.  

Can you drive up close to it?

I have had to get rid of several yellow jacket nests in the last few years and I have come up with a pretty good method.

Get a 2 gallon pump up spayer and fill it with a liquid insecticide/water mix.

Set the spay nozzle to send a stream as far as possible.

Drive up close and stick the wand out your window with it rolled up most of the way.

Cars don't seem to attract them and I have yet to have one try to fly in or even really get close.

Hose them and the whole compost bin down. If you get enough in there they will be gone in a day.

That whole thing about late in the day is not really safe in my opinion. I have watched them fly in and out of nests until it was too dark to see anymore.

Good luck.

As long as the tyvek isn't tight on your skin it should work.  If the tyvec is touching your skin they can probably sting through it.

ORLY?  Read on...
IJWTS I had a completely new experience in the woods yesterday.

I was ground-truthing some road networks on a tract up in the hilly country, and came upon a water hole in the road.  Now, seeing as how I about buried the trusty Tacoma in a mud hole last week (and had to hike out to find a kind soul for a tow), I've taken to getting out and testing how deep the water is before charging on through.  The hole was definitely within the Tacoma hydro specs, so I went back to the truck.  

As I was getting in I noticed a strong buzzing in my ears.  Then a sharp stinging pain on my arm.  And another.  Now, if you've spent any time in the woods, and you suddenly hear buzzing and feel sharp pain, you can pretty much figure there's bees or hornets or yellowjackets nearby.  So, I go tearing off down the road, swatting at the little bastards, getting only 4 stings.

About 75 feet from the truck, I look back and see the Tacoma in a veritable cloud of pissed off yellowjackets.  I also see my driver's window open.  And my radio blaring away.  And my engine running.  Did I mention the cloud of yellowjackets?

Shit.  The truck is running, and the heat and noise are agitating the buggers.  I sneak back to the truck and see that the nest is literally 2 feet from my truck (in the ground, yellowjackets like subterrainian nests), and looks chewed up around the hole, as if a raccoon or something had been digging at it.  I also see that many of the bugs had decided that there must be something *inside* the truck that's a threat.

So.  The situation is this:  Running truck, blaring radio, 3 zillion pissed off yellowjackets, me, and 5 miles to a public highway.  Just what am I going to do?  First step is to shut down the truck.  Thankfully the passenger door was unlocked, so I sneak back, ease the door open, dart in and yank the keys out of the ignition, and haul ass down the road.  

After 15 minutes or so the lack of further signs of life from the truck result in a high degree of calming of the yellowjackets.  Now, all the ones that were outside buzzing around have pretty much gone back to nest patrol;  alert but not flying around all pissed off.  Of course, the open window means that bunches are inside.  I sneak up and start counting, giving up at 50.  Now I've got 50 plus fairly calm yellowjackets in the cab of my truck.  I figure the next step is to get the drivers window up so no more will fly in, which I accomplish with no additional stings.

OK.  Now, how am I gonna get 'em out of the truck?  Ah HA! sez I.  Bug spray in the toolbox!  So, I stealthily open the toolbox, get my can of Cutter's out, gingerly open the passenger door, pop the seat back, and let loose with the spray (they were all congregated on the inside rear window).  Good plan, but before you try this at home make sure you've got some *spray* left in your can of *bug spray*.  "Pshhhht.....".  Uh oh, set a new record for the 50 foot dash.

It must have had some effect, because now there's only 15 or so hanging out on the glass.  I can handle them, particularly since they're all calmed down now, so I get some work gloves out of the toolbox and carefully start squishing them in groups of 4 or 5 until they're all puddled jelly on my window.  I'm finally able to get in the passenger side, jump the gearshift, get behind the wheel, and move the truck for a more careful yellowjacket inspection.  All clear!  And shoot, it only took an hour and a half to become bug free!

The moral of this story is, of course, to LOOK outside your window before opening the door.  And CLOSE your window before testing the depth of your local mud hole.  And maybe TURN OFF your engine (not to mention the radio) before doing so.  Oh yeah, make sure your bug spray that actually HAS SOMETHING IN IT.

Holy shit, that sucks.

I would have just set the damn thing on fire and walked out.

The up side of my method is that I already know where the nest is and try to not piss them off while killing their little yellow evil asses.

I was working on a plan to use a yard vacuum I have, but I'm really looking the black garbage bag idea. It's too big for one bag, but I can duct tape panels together. We're expecting the hottest days of the year here this weekend. So by Monday they should be crispy.

On the other hand I also have some clear plastic as well. Insolation ftw?

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I like the idea of covering the compost in with a bi plastic trash bag and baking/suffocating them.

I've had success killing them in ground nests by dumping a pile of viper insect dust on their hole and covering the hole with a big rock.

I had not been home in two weeks, and a friend said did you see what is being constructed on the back of the barn.
Well low and behold this was not there two weeks ago. Busy little bees to say the least.

As much as I wanted to burn them, fire was not an option. I thought about shearing it off into a pail of gasoline, but given it was
16 feet in the air, coupled with the fact that I am allergic I had to go old school. I fought them the with two half cans of wasp spray and one can of Raid.
I won this battle, but given there was a slight breeze coming back at me I breathed in half of the poison. So I most likely lost in the long run.    



It was the largest nest I have ever seen in person and I still cannot believe they did it in under two weeks.

R2point0- Did you get a chance to try cooking them with the plastic?  How did it go?

Awaiting AAR and video.

I lost my free labor for the week (kids are with their Mom) before I could get to it. I'm going to have to build a much bigger bag than I thought.

If I go with the El Destructo method, I'll be sure to have the kids filming.

Thanks.  I'm sure we'll have more brutal heat in this area like this past weekend.

Buy a roll of thick black ploy film @ home depot It opens up to like 6-8 feet and is 100 ft long. Cut off a sheet large enough and during the early AM go and stake it out around the nest then toss a few bug bombs in and smack the side of the compost heap to piss them off and fly into the fog of death.

Hit them with super soapy water.  They can't fly then.

I have a roll of translucent poly/visqueen for an aborted greenhouse project.  I like the combo "Marinate/bake" method - I may give that a whirl.  One problem is that the bin is surrounded by pavement so no staking.  Though this might be the excuse to get the power load setup I've been wanting.  Cover the pile and then shoot down some wood lath to keep the little buggers from going under.

 
I also use a tyvek suit when tending my bees.