# Wasp help!



## BlindHorseEnthusiast4582 (Apr 11, 2016)

If you get a good wasp spray, many of them kill on contact, so yes. Even if the wasp is just flying around, when the spray hits it, it should fall. 


Wasps will build in any kind of sheltered or shady area they can find. With that said, it's possible that the wasps are just starting the nest and you can't see it yet, which is why they're hanging around. I just found a nest of them in an old wooden dollhouse I'm fixing up. It was a small one, but there were 10-12 wasps (roughly) on it.


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

I found a nest under my mounting block the other day  I hit it with wasp nest spray. I think that if you hit them directly with insecticide, they will die. But there are also wasp traps out there. Can't tell you whether they work or not.


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## Mulefeather (Feb 22, 2014)

Wasp spray kills on contact, so it should work for a flying wasp. 

I cannot stand wasps, so I always choose the next-to-nuclear option. Try looking for holes in the ground, cracks outside, or try to see where they're congregating from. Check the eaves, floor, walls, any piles of tack that haven't been moved in a while. Wait until nightfall to spray, since the wasps will all be in their nest asleep and you can make the most effective kill. I like to put a piece of paper or duct tape over the nest hole to keep them from flying out, and make two small holes (only big enough for the tip of the sprayer) - one for the tip of the spray, the other to allow air inside the nest to be displaced by the spray. 

As far as your stings go, make a paste of baking soda and water and apply it to the stings, and let it dry. It helps draw out the poison and soothe your skin. Calamine lotion is also good.


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## Dwarf (Jun 26, 2014)

Also if you don't want to use poison, liquid dishwasher soap and water in a spray bottle works very well. We used to have a ton of wasps in our old house and every year my dad would head out with a spray bottle to fight the great fight.


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

Also, if you have any sort of ply board for hanging storage, nailed to the real wall, they will build nests behind that.

The spray will kill them but you want to spray them close to dark. That does two things:

1. You're more likely to catch them all at home.

2. You're less likely to have them come blasting out in a rage and come after you.


3. You could also try spraying your entire tack room with 3-4 cans of industrial strength wasp spray (at dusk). Buy the good stuff. Then close it up as tight as you can for the night

It's getting the time of year when they are more aggressive, so what was a "live in peace" situation, is changing because their instincts tell them time is getting short.

Even the house flies bite this time of year, where I live.


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## BlindHorseEnthusiast4582 (Apr 11, 2016)

Unless they're Yellow Jackets, I didn't think wasps lived inside the nest. We just dealt with one, like I mentioned, and all of those wasps were living on the outside of the nest.



As far as I know, only eggs are inside then nest. That is if they're paper wasps, not yellow jackets or something else.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

You need to figure out if they are ground wasps ('yellow jackets') or paper wasps, or something different than that. I often have small paper wasps nests around my garden shed door and as long as I open and close it carefully they are unaggressive and unalarmed. 

Yellow Jackets are the scariest thing in my woods and I take them very seriously. They almost killed my dog once, and if I hadn't had a small pond to drag her to and submerge her in, they would have. They have chased me for a quarter mile through the forest more than once. Just past a gate I ride through all the time to access a logging road trail, a horse a few years ago stepped in a nest and threw his rider, who broke her leg. No one went through that gate again until I started to this year (the nests die every winter). 

They are hard to get rid of. You must find the hole into their nest in the ground, mark it by gently laying a long pole down pointing to the exact place -- do not get too close to the hole yourself or they may very well pour out and attack you en masse. Then, when it is quite dark, creep in and quickly spray the entire contents of a can of wasp killer into the hole. Be careful -- if your flashlight wakes them up, drop it and run like hell, they will go for the light. 

But that does take care of most yellow jacket nests. 

A few years ago we had a nest with two holes about a yard apart, right near our front door. We tried the above treatment and others, without much effect and ended up going the cowboy way: kerosene poured down both holes at night. Don't light any fires nearby! The fumes killed the giant nest after about a week. 

I wish you the best of luck! Stay safe!


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## Wallaby (Jul 13, 2008)

I recently had some wasps [paper wasps] start building a nest in my feed room - luckily for me, they were strangely not angry and I never got stung even though I had to prepare dinner for my goats under their nest every night...

Anywayyyy, WD-40 totally did the trick for killing them and making their nest unusable. I was suspicious of WD-40 as a method, but it actually worked really well! 
The WD-40 I got was an aerosol can with a detachable "straw" - using the straw, the can was able to keep me at least 10 feet away from the nest while spraying and I was able to quickly bail, without getting stung or even having the wasps realize that *I* was spraying them.

I don't think that would work very well against a flying wasp - it did make them start flying around all angrily - but it worked much better than I was anticipating for sure.


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## horseponycrazy27 (Nov 15, 2015)

Thank you all for your replies and advice, really appreciated! Yes, someone in my family is going to get some wasp spray and find the nest, as my mom doesn't want me to get stung again, I agree!


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

I believe in live and let live -- I'm an intruder into an ancient ecosystem and I am respectful of that. Except when it comes to yellow jackets.


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## Greenmeadows (May 8, 2016)

Avna said:


> Yellow Jackets are the scariest thing in my woods and I take them very seriously. They almost killed my dog once, and if I hadn't had a small pond to drag her to and submerge her in, they would have. They have chased me for a quarter mile through the forest more than once. Just past a gate I ride through all the time to access a logging road trail, a horse a few years ago stepped in a nest and threw his rider, who broke her leg. No one went through that gate again until I started to this year (the nests die every winter).


:shock: That is so scary!


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

I'm a live and let live person, until their nasty little selves get too far into my personal space or that of my horses. 

Wasps like to build those little paper mâché nests behind the kick boards in the stalls. This time of year they start taking offense to Rusty rubbing his butt against those kickboards.

It's ok for me to take offense at that itchy tail routine but I don't need Rusty getting stung so they end up dead.

I've been stung by a "herd" of Yellow Jackets twice in my life; I must have a pretty good tolerance to them by now. They also ended up dead. One year they did such a good job cleaning their nest out, the front wheel of my lawn tractor fell in the hole because the ground was undermined so bad.

Mud Daubers (the Blue bees that are built similar to wasps), are good neighbors and always friendly. I've had them bump into my face and say they're sorry. From what I've read, they're the only thing that is able to kill Black Widows, which we have some mighty big ones in my area of Middle Tennessee.


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## ChitChatChet (Sep 9, 2013)

I dont like yellow jackets or bald faced hornets.

Wasps and mud daubers are ok as they arent normally out to get me.

Finding a nest of yellow jackets out in the woods is not my idea of a good time. I am allergic to them.  Poor horses when they find a nest.....

Earlier this year I came off a pony and am pretty sure it was due to a bee. That pony... I have never seen anything so fast. One second everything is hunky dory and then next second I am up in the air thinking there is nothing I can do to save myself.


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## its lbs not miles (Sep 1, 2011)

Not all wasps are created equal.
If the wasp you have are the stictia carolina please don't kill it. Try to catch them. I'll pay you $5 per wasp and cover the shipping cost (or dive to pick them up if you're within a few hours dive). They're every cent. Greatest horse fly predators on earth. One female will kill dozen horse flies (or more) for each of her eggs. I wish I had dozens of them flying around here, but I'd be happy with however many I could get. I haven't seen one in over 20 years, but would love to reintroduce them to the area. Use to be common, but ignorant people started killing them.


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## horseponycrazy27 (Nov 15, 2015)

Avana: If the wasp weren't in or right outside my tack room then yes I would let them live, but not now. 

Also, when my younger sister was having a lesson a wasp stung my horse and bucked my sister off; the result a broken wrist. I am definitely not going to let any of my horses get stung again!


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

Ok, I had to look up the Stictia Wasp.

Bug Eric: Wasp Wednesday: The "Horse Guard"

*Lbs not miles, *. I swear I have seen a couple of these and no I didn't kill them.

I have horse flies but never have had them in droves; Deer flies are the worst invaders of my horses personal space.

Anyway, now that I know what they are, I will probably never see another one. I remember thinking, at the time, what kind of strange crossbred wasp was THAT? Now I know.

We learn something every day - thanks for your post


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## horseponycrazy27 (Nov 15, 2015)

Lbs not miles: the wasp are not stikia (sp?) wasps; the're the regular wasp. I have to get rid of them. 

walkinwalk: no problem, I didn't even know there are different types of wasp either! Thanks for the link!


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

horseponycrazy27 said:


> Lbs not miles: the wasp are not stikia (sp?) wasps; the're the regular wasp. I have to get rid of them.
> 
> walkinwalk: no problem, I didn't even know there are different types of wasp either! Thanks for the link!


There are thousands of species of wasps. Most are benign and beneficial. Many are tiny parasites of other insects (this is what "fly predators" are). There are only a few that attack with little or no provocation, like yellow jackets. And chase you, stinging all the while. 

Okay, now I have to calm down . . .


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

Flame thrower is the best way to get rid of bees of all stripes! Bonus, you get the scary spiders too if your bees are anywhere near your buildings.

When nothing else is handy I just use water, wet bees have a very hard time flying. Once on the ground I just ever so gently CRUSH them. Water is also a good way of getting the paper hives down off the hard to reach areas too. Good soaking and they just fall off.

As for Yellow Jacket nests, man have I had a few run in with those. I've dove into a couple creeks to escape those ******s.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Darrin said:


> Flame thrower is the best way to get rid of bees of all stripes! Bonus, you get the scary spiders too if your bees are anywhere near your buildings.
> 
> When nothing else is handy I just use water, wet bees have a very hard time flying. Once on the ground I just ever so gently CRUSH them. Water is also a good way of getting the paper hives down off the hard to reach areas too. Good soaking and they just fall off.
> 
> As for Yellow Jacket nests, man have I had a few run in with those. I've dove into a couple creeks to escape those ******s.


I hope you aren't killing real bees. They're having a hard enough time as it is. Without them we would just be eating grasses and pine trees. 

And spiders are entirely beneficial unless one of the very few poisonous species happens to contact you. 

Yellowjackets though. Creek just isn't close enough to us, otherwise I'd have done that too.


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

I only kill bees that will not leave me alone as I go about my daily life or have built a nest where it will lead to conflict. I don't particularly enjoy getting stung. Heck, I haven't killed a honey bee on purpose since I was a kid.


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

Bees are not aggressive. They will not sting you unless you happen to sit on one or something. They are very important to our food supply and entire ecosystem! I commonly walk through entire fields of flowers with bees buzzing all around me and have never been stung by one.

I did, however, get stung twice today by some kind of very small, but very aggressive wasp. Maybe a common wasp? I don't think it was big enough to be a yellow jacket, but I walked the paddock perimeter to see if I could find a nest just in case. They made the horses miserable on our ride too. They sting more than once (the same darn one got me twice and try as I might, I couldn't swat it - they fly really fast!). I'm at a loss as to what to do to keep the horses comfortable while we're riding. At home, they can seek the shelter of their stalls when things get too bad, but in the woods, it's all out war. Bug spray doesn't seem to help. I'm thinking about getting fly bonnets for the horses because these things go after their ears and poll. I don't mean to hog this thread, but if anyone knows how to get these flies to leave the horses alone while we're riding I'm all ears!!!


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