The hornets have taken over my hummingbird feeder.
They are keeping the hummingbirds away.
Any way to keep the feeder, keep the birds, but get the hornets to go away ?
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hornet spray or a HD fly swatter..
locate nest and eradicte the source of the problem...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Any suggestion of how to eradicate a nest? I have a nest about half the size of a football hanging from a window airconditioner. I waited til dark, and emptied a wasp and hornet spray can into the opening (from about 10 feet away. I didn't see any activity for a few days, but now a week later it's business as usual.
John
Middle of the night get a big trash bag over it and spray the can in as you quickly spin the bag shut.
We as exterminaters (in a past life) did it in daylight, but we had bee suits and better chems.
Dispose of by bagging again if going a trash pick up can, or burn it in a good hot fire.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
"If Brains was lard, you couldn't grease much of a pan"Jed Clampitt
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spray it again and remove said nest ...
trash it or burn it..
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
"Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"
I didn't see any activity for a few days, but now a week later it's business as usual.
That's interesting. The police morality squad says the same thing!
Runnerguy
Gramps walked up to them with an unfolded piece of newspaper, wrapped it around the nest and struck a match.
If you go late at night you can bag the whole nest and spray it with hornet spray. Seal the bag, and put it in something they cant get out of like a metal can. If they don't all die they can chew through about anything.
okay, lets pretend he didn't say he had a nest of hornets, just hornets at the feeder, any suggestions then?
I -have- gotten some entertainment value out of the hornets.It started out with just one. Then two. Now there are at least a dozen.They fight all the time, to be the one at what they percieve to be the best spot.Nothing really entertaining about that, other than the fact that they would all 'get their share', and would do so a lot more efficiently, if they would quit fighting...But what has been funny, is that one of them finally figured out that just because another one flys up, and pokes you, you don't have to fly off.This one started getting to that 'best spot'... Then every time one of the others would fly up, it would not fly off. It uses a couple legs to hold on. It turns around. And it boxes the intruding hornet about the ears. The intruder flies off immediately, and our intrepid hero turns back around and continues drinking.This morning, they seem to have finally learned that cooperation thing. One is drinking, another flies up, the first one moves over, and they both drink.I have watched them as they fly away. If there is a nest, it is WAAAY up in a tree. Too far for me to reach...I'm not worried, I'm curious...You are always welcome at Quittintime
Build yourself a trap for the yellow jackets.
Not hard to do , just takes some window screen and some small pieces of ply wood and some 1x1's
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
Just leave an open beer or pepsi around, they get in all the time and eventually drown if ya don't swaller them.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
"If Brains was lard, you couldn't grease much of a pan"Jed Clampitt
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Yep.. been nailed by some that way.
We used to build traps for em, fill up a 1' sq. x 18" tall trap with dead bodies in a week or so when the season was right . They get real nasty out here.
Bait was raw meat, spoiled fruit or beer/soda.
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
I had the same issue. Mapp torch with a turbo flame tip at dark. The wasps crackle when they burn. Kind of like pop corn. I enjoyed every second!DIA
Hang a piece of raw meat in another location... hornets will be attracted to the meat .
Not to mention the bears, Mtn. Lions and homeless guys.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
"If Brains was lard, you couldn't grease much of a pan"Jed Clampitt
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I've had bears on my porch in NC take down my feeders a couple of times this year.
There is a new wasp in our continent. It is a European wasp that got over here somehow.
From what I heard they hit the butterfly population pretty hard.
The good news is they are much less aggressive. Still a wasp though.
And if you are a butterfly they still get you. Just not as aggressive with people.
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05611.html
Will Rogers
I don't know how to keep your hornets away, sorry. I have wasps that frequent my feeders though. Actually, I don't know the difference between a wasp and a hornet.
We have so many hummingbirds here. They are just thick! I have 5 feeders up and have to fill them every other day. Love watching the circus/battle/ballet from the porch.
Make sure there isn't a crack in it that would be leaking to let out some of the liquid. All of our feeders have a wasp screen that prevents them from getting to the liquid, but if it drips, you'll have bees/wasps/hornets/ants all over it.
We hung so of those fake wasp nest around the house they have really helped cut down on the wasps here.
Never heard of fake wasp nests...I'm not worried, I'm curious...You are always welcome at Quittintime
That is exactly the problem. I noticed that, the other day.It's a red plastic feeder. With yellow plastic 'flowers', and white plastic centers to those flowers. (Tubes through the white part, are where the hummingbirds feed.)Everywhere where the plastic meets the plastic, there are tiny leaks. Not enough to run out and drip. Just enough to seep and 'feed' the yellow jackets.It's nearly empty right now.I'm going to clean it up pretty good, and then seal all those little leaks, before I fill it again...I'm not worried, I'm curious...You are always welcome at Quittintime
Is the feeder in the open sunshine?
I noticed I was losing some of the food, too and then it dawned on me that the direct sunlight was heating up the liquid enough to expand or maybe the air pocket to push the fluid out. I moved it to a shadier spot and it seemed to do the trick.
It's been a tad warmer out your way lately.
Mileage may vary....
I'm not flippin' you off.........just counting cubits
Your standard of living will eventually diminish to your standard of buying. Think about it.
I thought of that.It's empty now.I'm going to relocate it, after I clean it and refill it...I'm not worried, I'm curious...You are always welcome at Quittintime
If they are like the yellow jackets around here, the nest will be in the ground. If you can find it, spray the hole at night when they're all in there.
They were all flying from here, to at least 40 feet up in a tree.Regular path of flight.I have left the feeder out there, empty.I'll leave it for a few days. Let them get used to finding their food elsewhere.I got some different feeders today.They aren't the flat pan type. They are still bottles. But they are very small bottles.I looked them over carefully, and there is no place for them to leak, except out the very tube that is there, for feeding.They were very cheap. Cheap enough to at least be worth a try.Also small enough that changing them and cleaning them twice a week won't be such a pain in the butt.If these prove a problem as well, I'll get the flat type.I am also going to put up a wasp and hornet trap, once I hang one of these out there...I'm not worried, I'm curious...You are always welcome at Quittintime
I have seen wasp traps in catalogs you can get that allow wasps in, baited with sugar water, I think, but they can't get back out and hummingbirds can't get in. I'd put some of those around the feeder and hope more wasps get trapped than don't!
Luka, we get hornets, big ones. Mrs'Snort lays in wait with a fly swatter, rolled up newspaper, FHB mag, whatever's handy... just wack 'em... and keep the feeders clean. It's 4;30 here, I just filled up our big feeder (there's 5 others of various sizes) for the second time today... I think the 2nd clutch is thirsty! Hope that made wane happy LOL.http://www.tvwsolar.com
We'll have a kid
Or maybe we'll rent one
He's got to be straight
We don't want a bent one
He'll drink his baby brew
From a big brass cup
Someday he may be president
If things loosen up
I saw a bunch of horseback riders and riderless horses going loco in
Georgia once. The riders were all welted up, kids crying, stung horses all over the place running amuck, and a total cloud of hornets in a jihad mood. Them's some downright wicked bastards from hell.
I use one of the pie tin/saucer types rather than the bulb/bottle types because they don't pump syrup when the sun hits them. The ones with the one-piece tops are easiest to clean.
This link shows some examples:
http://www.thebirdshed.com/b1.html
Those look like anything that does not have a long beak to get into it, cannot get at the water inside.Good idea.Thanks...I'm not worried, I'm curious...You are always welcome at Quittintime
I don't have lots of hummingbirds, typically 3-5 max, and I change the syrup/wash the feeders every 3-4 days, which here in NH seems to keep the mold problem under control. In that length of time they usually consume about 2/3 to 3/4 of the syrup and then I dump out the rest, wash the feeders, and refill. I typically put out 3-4 feeders on both sides of the house so that the dominant male who tries to keep others from the feeders, can't guard all the feeders at the same time. If I had lots of birds and thus needed lots of syrup, a bottle type of feeder would probably work much better. . The saucer type feeder has also solved the problem of ants, which for me was worse that the yellow jackets. With the bulb type of feeder, the afternoon sun would hit the feeder, warm up the air in the bulb/bottle, and pump out syrup onto the ground. The ants were attracted, went searching, and showed up in huge quantities on the feeder brackets on the side of the house and the porch posts and then to the feeder. Now I hang an ant moat to the hanger bracket and the feeder to the moat and rarely see ants.
I wuz usin .45 ACP on the hornets, found that a little heavy, and have switched to .22.
With the .45s, I examined some exit wounds on them hornets, and decided I wuz usin too much gun.
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"A stripe is just as real as a dadgummed flower."
Gene Davis 1920-1985
No joke, I have a customer that shoots carpenter bees with a BB gun. He hits em too. I saw the bodies and BB tracks all over his deck railing..thats how I found out what it was, I asked his wife.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
"If Brains was lard, you couldn't grease much of a pan"Jed Clampitt
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One summer about thirty years ago I was sitting at a little table in my apartment while drinking Almaden Rhine wine amd picked up a dart gun that someone had left there. It had the spring to shoot suction cupped darts and I started shooting at a fly about six or eight feet away on the window. Couldn't believe the sights were right, but decided they were. About that time, my friend came in and we decided to go out. I stood up, picked the dart gun off the table and casually aimed and nailed the fly--like I did that all the time. I was impressed with myself until I found out later that this guy's dad caught flies in his hands and threw them in the toilet where they swam around until he had enough to flush without thinking he was wasting too much water!
http://www.rescue.com/products/w_h_y_trap_for_wasps_hornets_yellowjackets.asp
They make very effective fly traps and yellow jacket traps. This one for wasps hornets and yellow jackets is their newest product.
Rebeccah
My uncle used to fix them a strong drink. Cheap cola and cheap booze. They are attracted to the sweet, but get drunk and fall in and drown. Don't know if it really worked, I was just a kid then and just took his word for it.
I'm sure the meat thing would work too. They LOVE meat!! I caught one once trying to tear off the plastic wrap on a package of hamburger!!
These fake wasp hives are just a grey paper shaped like a nest. You just hang them up and the wasps think they are in another hives territory and leave. We have wasp traps also cheap rum and coke of sweet fruit drink works great.
As for the .45 cal it think thats cheating how about a 12 ga with 00 buck shot.When I was building my shop we were insulating on a warm fall day. got cold for a few days and then we but up the vapor barrier. I just gooped the window frames with acusti snot and stapled them and would cut out the poly later. well it warmed up and hundreds of wasps went in the insulation and were trapped by the poly. AHHHH Sweet revenge.The wasps that got into the windows were trapped so I took a knife made a small cut in the poly and stuck the staple gun in and started pinning them. It was very theraputic to kill off many little stining ######'s
I have tried many ways to keep the hornets away from feeder, few of them works really well for me. You can try these methods also. Firstly keep the feeder clean regularly, as dirty feeder attracts ants and hornets. Put bay leaves around the feeder, as bay leave have a bitter taste and ants and hornets don't like bitter taste. This is how you can keep the hornets and ants away from feeder. Follow these methods regularly and there will be no hornet around the feeder.
I think you drifted into the wrong lane. Try a gardening forum.