hornets in the chimney ?

[rustynut]

have a pretty heavy amount of hornets in the area and was wondering if anyone has had a problem with them nesting inside the stove pipe durring the off season ?
did not have any problems in the other house but their are quite a few in the area here...........
hoping that the smell of the smoke takes care of things
what do you think ?
rustynut

 

[BrotherBart]

Two years ago I had a nest of the African hornets in the space between the tile liner and the brick in my double flue chimney. They got in through a hole in the mortar outside. They also found a way out into my basement office. Not fun to be sitting working and have one of those nasty suckers land in your lap. The next year they built a big bag nest in a tree twenty feet away. A twelve gauge shotgun and a magnum load of number eight shot took care of that one. :coolgrin:

I have never found any in a stove pipe or liner. Yet.

 

[jadm]

Never had the problem.

Usually I just pay attention to where I see nests being built and let them be as long as they are not in a 'high traffic' area.

Last summer I had a nest in our shed that was close to my clothes line. I ended up putting up those traps that have bait in them and that took care of a lot of them but not the shed ones which I had to spray.

I do not like doing this. FIgure the outside is their place but they were just too many and too close to where the children and I are.

Read on the traps that if you set them out early in the spring you might be able to get the queen and then no colony will develop. Haven't tried that so I don't know if it works or not - could be a sales ploy. I know that the yellow jackets and hornets around here always seem to be building.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We have that problem every summer. They just seem to be drawn by the smell evidently. It usually doesn't pose that much of a problem though and if they get nasty, so do I. If they leave me alone, I leave them alone.

 

[LeonMSPT]

I got a deal with the hornets, bees, skunks, bears, neighborhood cats, kids, and whatever else might along that could be irritating, agitating, or present any other sort of problem for me.

They stay out of my yard, away from my house, and me, and we get along real good.

Other than that... nope, never had a problem.

have a pretty heavy amount of hornets in the area and was wondering if anyone has had a problem with them nesting inside the stove pipe durring the off season ?
did not have any problems in the other house but their are quite a few in the area here...........
hoping that the smell of the smoke takes care of things
what do you think ?
rustynut

 

[rustynut]

humm,
lots of different situations here...............
i have pretty easy access to my chimney top
thinking i might make up some type of screen bag to close it off for the off season
better leave myself a note inside the stove though
get a bit of that CRS going from time to time
lol
rustynut

fyi: i do most of my hornet hunting well after dark, with the spray cans, if the nest location is known
that usually gets them all
if all you can find is the entrance you can use a product nicknamed "tracking dust"
great stuff, they carry it into the nest on their feet and it kills the entire nest
can be found at your local pest supply store
dont know the exact name of the stuff but the guy at the counter will know what you are after

 

[Bobcatter]

double post

 

[Bobcatter]

Never had anything get in my Metalbestos chimney. Never saw anything on the cover up on top probably the black residue keeps them away. I have noticed a big swing in the wasp population around here from year to year, so maybe it will get better for you.

My weapon of choice is the foam type wasp spray they have at Ace hardware. It sticks to the opening, they can't fly through it. I have an old aluminum screen house pole that will each up about 10 feet, and I used a pipe clamp to hold the can. Added one of those long barn door hinges to catch the spray button and a rope. I wait till dark or early morning when it is still cold, I can reach up near the eaves, aim, pull the rope, and cover the nest with the foam.

Yeah, I don't even hardly have to run any more..... :roll:

 

[ihookem]

Never had bees but I had a dozen bats once in the cabin. The got in the stove and couldn't get out and screached all night. Next morning a bunch of paper and a small fire did it. Later, ihookem. P.S. darn glad the wife wasn't up that time!

 

[gyrfalcon]

I did have that last fall, but not in my metalbestos stove chimney, in the older SS-lined masonry chimney a couple feet away that serves the oil-fired boiler in the basement. At the time, the boiler was still powering the "hot water on demand," so it was going on a couple times a day. My sweep discovered a huge nest in the chimney just up from the basement clean-out door. I kept my distance while he was dealing with it, so I don't know what they were, but I suspect yellow jackets, which are a real pain the neck here. He said they looked mostly dead, but some were moving around a bit, so I gave him my can of non-toxic wasp spray and he sprayed the bejesus out of them, then scooped them out into a paper bag and put them in the trash.

He's a pretty experienced guy but hadn't run into this before, so had nothing to offer about what enticed them in there or whether the occasional operation of the boiler had mostly killed them off or what.

I sure hope they don't try it again, since I've switched to an electric water heater and won't be using the boiler at all until real winter cold sets in again next year. I'd sure hate to lose a good sweep to yellow jackets!

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I had some yellowjackets take up residence in a chimney on top of a potbelly. A fire did the trick.

Matt

 

[billb3]

I've had them in metal (air) vents. . dry and that metal must get nice and hot in the sun
I get them under the eaves at the roof peak horizontal vents. dry, not exactly hot, but the hot attic air may be attractive.
I have not had them under the oil burner cap .
I have not had thm under the used wood stove cap.
I have had them under an unused (no fire yet) wood stove cap.

I have never had them Winter over in thier paper nests.
I have found them Wintering over in the gutter downspouts.
A shot of hornet spray at the top of each downspout at the gutter drain hole yielded close to a dozen hornets at the bottom of each drain tube.(in Jan / Feb )

My Summer hornet population dropped to almost none that first Summer after finding thier Winter hiding spot.
These are the hornets that build the flat exposed comb nests.
They look just like the ones that build the covered upside down cones which may just be thier way of staying dry when they build in a damp place. Could be a different hornet, too.

We also get mud-daubers and straw daubers which I leave alone. Thier (mud-daubers) stings hurt, too.
I'm pretty sure the daubers are technically wasps.

 

[rustynut]

bobcater,
i'm liking your idae
sure would be nice to do my after dark hunting with out the ladder.......
dont forget about that tracking dust
it works good
little bottle of powder goes a long way
rustynut