How to get rid of hornets? Hornets: how to destroy. In what case can the hornets return? Harm from proximity to predatory insects

From mid-April, when the air temperature warms up to +10 degrees and above, they wake up from hibernation representatives of wildlife that harm humans with their presence. And if you can still put up with the bites of the same mosquitoes, then “large wasps” (hornets) and “small wasps” (ordinary) are distinguished by particular aggression and toxicity of the poison introduced into the body along with the bite.

The hornet, if left untouched, rarely attacks a person

Hornet: as a source of danger

In fact, hornets (Vespas) are loyal, as long as they are not touched and the nest with the queen, larvae and worker wasps is not threatened. But, all the same, the neighborhood with poisonous hymenoptera is not so pleasant. You can’t put up with them even when children live in the country, in the house, capable of provoking hornets to aggression by their behavior. Even unintentional contact with an insect (accidentally crushed under a shirt, stepped on, sat down, etc.) causes a response. A strong body can cope with the action of the injected poison, but allergy sufferers have a very bad time. Dislike hornets and beekeepers. Those not only destroy the hives, but also exterminate the bee colony.

Nest: the main object of hunting

Hornets feed on nectar, juice and fruit pulp. For their larvae, they catch other insects, chew them thoroughly, turning them into gruel, and then feed the “young generation” with this substance. In hornets, special glands produce a sticky secret, with which they prepare construction material for a nest (it can be recycled rotten wood or thin bark of young tree sprouts). In crushed form, the material is mixed with saliva. Honeycombs are formed from it, which are then formed into a shell. Outwardly, the house resembles a large cocoon.

The hornets nest is built from top to bottom by adding more and more honeycombs. Over time, the outer coating dries out, becoming like parchment. Hornets nests vary in size and color. It depends on the type and breed of wood that was processed as a building material. The uterus, which has overwintered in frosts and is ready to lay eggs, chooses a place and sculpts the first cells on a special leg. Soon the house of the hornets grows, becomes "multi-storey" (multi-tiered), ready to accommodate the whole family. Here Hymenoptera breed, here they seek protection from bad weather and heat. It is not surprising that insects have a special relationship with the nest. At the first danger, working individuals try to attack the enemy and protect the queen with offspring. If the house is destroyed, the family breaks up. The surviving hornets are forced to leave this place in search of other queens. Given this fact, when removing hornets from a site or building, it is the nest that should be destroyed first, since all other measures (baits, destruction of individual insects, scaring away, etc.) will not be effective.

Photo of a giant hornet nest

Insects build their houses on hanging branches, under the cornice, above the window, in hollows of trees, in sheds, garages and bathhouses. You can find a hornet nest in an attic, in a smokehouse, inside a hollow concrete pole, or even in the ground. In a word, the most the best place for a nest where there are no drafts. Moreover, the dimensions of some "houses" are very significant and exceed the size of a soccer ball.

Attention! The hornets are very developed oral apparatus. Powerful jaws not only gnaw through bees, flies and other insects, literally dismembering them, but are also able to gnaw out large cavities in wooden beams, logs, log cabins, insulation. This is what they do when they build nests.

Various nest destruction methods

Option 1

You need to start fighting the dominance of hornets with the onset of cold weather (end of autumn - beginning of winter).

• Remove all old nests.
• Cracks, holes to close.
• Adjust doors to close tightly.
• Continue activities in the spring, try to find a nest.

Attention! All work on disinfestation is carried out in a special protective clothing. It consists of a hat with a veil covering the face, neck and head. Overalls or a jacket and trousers are put on, completely covering all other parts of the body. Boots and gloves complete the outfit.

Option #2

• Experienced beekeepers from April begin to monitor the appearance on the site of large, sexually mature females reaching 50 mm. Having taken a fancy to the place, the queens begin to sculpt the first honeycombs. This is the moment not to be missed. It is necessary immediately, armed with a shovel, a puller, to knock down a small one, the size of Walnut, cocoon and crush it (or burn it) with all its contents.
• At dusk, treat the nest with foam from a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher so that all combs get wet and their inhabitants freeze. Then remove the house mechanically.
• If a nest is found in an area hanging from branches, take plastic bag(possible for garbage). Spread it just under the hanging house. With tree pruning shears attached to a long pole, or otherwise trim the cocoon. Immediately send a stream of Dichlorvos, Hangman, Get or other insecticidal agent against flying insects to it. Quickly tie up the bag until the poisons have evaporated, then burn.

Option #3

Nest in the attic - hidden in a hard to reach place

Not sure how to destroy a hornet nest in the attic or shed? Everything is simpler than it really seems:

• Hang a bucket full of boiling water or kerosene diluted in water under the roof. The container is suspended so that the cocoon is completely immersed in the solution. Support the bucket with a homemade pedestal or ladder. Wait a day. Remove loose nest.
• Buy 2 or 3 cans of Karbofos, Dichlorvos, Executioner or other means that specifically affects flying insects (specifically hornets). From a safe distance, direct the jet at the structure and carefully process the house. Then inject the insecticide inside, through the bottom passage. Leave for a day. To enhance the effect on those who had time to fly out, before processing the hornets, act with the help of smoking. Check for live individuals. Repeat if necessary. Get rid of the nest.
• Can clog honeycombs mounting foam.
• First sprinkle the nest hanging from the branches with diesel fuel, gasoline from a spray bottle, then set it on fire.
• The discovered nest of hornets in the ground is filled with boiling water. Alternatively, make a fire at this place or, having dug out the entrance, burn out the insects with a blowtorch.
• Even in the "underground house" at night, kerosene or gasoline is poured, then set on fire.
• Hornets settled in the hollows of trees are poisoned with an insecticide. Often diluted poison is used for this. Colorado beetles. After that, the hole in the hollow is covered cement mortar or putty.

If independent measures do not lead to an effective result, you need to contact the pest control service. This should be done immediately if a child is bitten by a hornet.

In conclusion

Any of the nest destruction methods is used exclusively in the evening or at night. It is a mistake to believe that then the hornets sleep. They have a round-the-clock rhythm of life. Just in the evening and at night he is not so active. Therefore, there is no need to lose vigilance. Very selective use of a flashlight. Insects are very sensitive to sudden changes in lighting. All drastic measures against hornets must be justified. Nests should be destroyed only when hymenoptera really pose a threat to humans, bees or crops. In other cases, it is better to be with them in peaceful coexistence. Indeed, in some countries, "big wasps" have long been listed in the Red Book.

People are well acquainted with these insects, but they do not like them, rather, they are hated. They cause fear and panic. They are considered extremely dangerous. They attack people and sting very painfully. Their venom causes severe allergic reactions. Their multiple bites can be fatal to humans.

And at the same time they beneficial insects, wonderful architects and builders, moderately peaceful and not very aggressive! The whole question is how to treat them.

People call them winged corsairs or pirates. This is known to all hornets - Vespa belonging to the class of insects - Insecta, the order of Hymenoptera - Hymenoptera, the family of folded paper wasps - Vespidae.

• Around the world, 23 species of hornets and many of their subspecies are known.
• In Belarus it is found Vespa crabro hornet.

Hornets are predators. They kill their prey with a sting or tear it apart with their jaws. Flies, mosquitoes, beetles, gadflies, wasps, grasshoppers, caterpillars, dragonflies, butterflies, spiders, weakened bees become victims of predators. Hornets can also hunt for nocturnal insects.

• During the day, a large family of winged corsairs can catch more than 500 grams of insects. Hornets are useful for the garden and vegetable garden!

The hornets themselves prefer to feed on nectar, pollen, ripe fruits and vegetables. And they feed their larvae with chewed gruel from insects. The larvae secrete a sweet substance that worker hornets feed on in non-flying weather.

I have been watching hornets for about fifteen years. And all because they chose my attic to build their nest. country house. With enviable tenacity, every year from mid-May to October, they "lodge" with me. The hornet family does not give us much concern. But in the evenings, if you do not close the exit to the attic, when they see the light in the room, they fly in to circle around the electric light bulb. But the hornets are always only interested in the light bulb. Insects never pay attention to people. Yes, and we always tried not to disturb their usual rhythm of life. Everyone peacefully went about their business. For all the time of acquaintance with the hornets, they bit me only once. Once a hornet flew into the hallway in the evening, and decided to wait out the night right in my boot. In the morning, putting on my shoes, I stepped on a hornet and, of course, got what I deserved. The pain was severe enough, the leg was swollen up to the knee.

The hornet will never fly to a table where there is sweet, will not persistently climb into a jar of jam or sit on a fragrant pie or grapes. In this he differs from annoying wasps and always tries to fly away from a person and not collide with him.

Hornets attack a person only when there is a real threat to their home. If you accidentally or deliberately damage their nest, do not expect mercy. They will fiercely defend their offspring from uninvited guests. Unlike bees, the hornet stings repeatedly, as long as it has enough poison for this.

Like all insects, hornets do not transmit alarm signals to each other. In the room where predators could fly into in the evening, flypaper for flies hung next to the electric light. The hornets circled around the light bulb, sat on the Velcro and, of course, stuck to it. They furiously tried to break out of the trap, flapping their wings incredibly fast, buzzing loudly, but more and more bogged down in the adhesive. And the newly arrived hornets repeated the mistakes of their predecessors, seeing and hearing the torments of stuck relatives.

Hornets are excellent architects and builders. They make their nest from rotten wood, which they chew and mix with saliva. From the resulting substance, the hornets build honeycombs and the shell of the nest, using their saliva as glue. The dried shell of the nest strongly resembles corrugated paper. The color of the shell depends on the type of wood from which it is made.

Hornets never use their nest for the second year. In the spring, after wintering, the hornet queen finds a convenient place to build a new nest. She attaches a small leg to the ceiling, on which she makes the first honeycomb cells.

The queen lays eggs in the honeycomb, from which the larvae develop. Gradually, the honeycombs increase in size, the first working hornets appear, which are included in the construction of the nest.

The nest grows from top to bottom, while the number of tiers with combs increases and a multilayer nest shell is formed. The more tiers of honeycombs will be laid, the more hornets will live in this nest. The shell of the structure up to 8 centimeters protects the larvae of the hornets from the summer heat, accidental cold snaps and drafts.

• According to the literature, big family insect nests reach a diameter of 1.5 meters! Perhaps such huge structures are built by hornets of other species that are not found in Belarus.

For many years, "my hornets" built nests the size of soccer balls. Under the roofs of abandoned buildings, I found their old "houses" even larger. But this summer, the hornets built a real work of architectural "hornet thought"! Maybe because two recent years I did not give them the opportunity to climb into the attic of my house, having previously carefully caulked all the holes through which they made their way there.

But the hornets really liked living with me! They gnawed through the rags and construction foam under the very roof and calmly began to build their nest, which I discovered already in the midst of construction. According to my estimates, by the beginning of September, about 500 hornets lived in it. Obviously, the summer of 2011 was very favorable for the reproduction of insects: they had enough food to feed their numerous offspring.

In the photographs, you can see how the hornet nest increased tier by tier, how the shell around it appeared.

The paper nest has numerous pockets - vents. At the very top, the hornets made a gate, through which they crawl from the street to the nest, and then go down to the entrance.

Being in the nest, the hornets emit a lot of liquid, which flows out of the structure in drops. So that the ceiling insulation does not get wet, I put a container under the nest. Behind life cycle hornet family had to endure almost two buckets their waste products. And at the end of September, the hornets began to actively throw out undeveloped larvae.

Until the very frosts, life is in full swing in the nest of insects. By mid-October, all working hornets die, and young queens will find sheltered places for wintering with slight temperature fluctuations, where they will stay motionless until spring, waiting out the severe winter cold.

And yet, no matter how excellent builders the hornets are and no matter how peacefully they behave, we must try to keep them away from humans.

Get rid of hornets the easiest way is at the very beginning of summer, when the young queen is just laying the future nest. At this time, there are still very few insects, and a person can cope with them.

There is an opinion that a large hornet nest can be destroyed at night by placing it in a plastic bag or by spraying insecticides on the nest. But in a large nest, it is difficult to spray poison so that it acts on individuals in its entirety. In addition, few people know that hornets never sleep, well oriented in the dark and will easily attack a person at night. And it is also known that hornets stay overnight where the night found them. Arriving in the morning in their destroyed nest, the hornets will sting everything that moves. A fun life for a couple of days will be provided to you!

If you find a large nest of hornets in the attic of your house, try not to touch it. And since you are unlikely to find a specialized service for the destruction of these insects, tune in to live peacefully with them until the first frost, watching their life. Simple Rules human behavior with dangerous neighbors: do not get too close to the nest, do not make sudden movements near it, do not make noise, do not destroy insects near the nest. BUT late autumn try to close up all possible cracks through which the hornets can climb under the roof of your house.

When you see something flying above you, you think: “What has technology come to, have drones really become so tiny!” And it becomes scary when you realize that it is huge.

Remember, Maria Semenova in "Wolfhound" from the lips of Ermintar the words sounded: “The hornet claws - I itch for a week”? How right it sounds! does not bite - he stings, how, how he can sting.

They can be located in different places: in hollows of trees, sometimes in, even beehives, often in old abandoned wooden ones. And they do not turn away from new modern buildings with balconies, although they may well be satisfied with depressions under the roots and even places under heaps of deadwood.

What do hornets and their larvae eat?

Adults are content with the pollen of flowers, nectar, they love mature ones and sometimes spoil them. The bark of young twigs is also to their taste. They can harm apiaries if they are next to.

Such a diet is not suitable for larvae; they need animal protein for growth and development. For them, adults catch large ones and, even smaller ones, chew them, creating minced meat from. This is food for the larvae, and they, in turn, are very polite, and treat the adult generation with sweets, which are released in the form of droplets. And they love sweets.

The order of family life in hornets

Interchangeability is the motto. All individuals are able to perform any work "at home" and do what is necessary. And they fly alone for food.

Types of hornets

common hornet (Vespa crabro) is the largest, lives more often in the forest. It is usually active during the day, although it can perform work at night. Habitats - the entire European part of the country, the Caucasus, Siberia, the Far East.

Oriental hornet (Vespa Orientalis) although he lives quite secretly in buildings, he is a frequenter of bazaars and "canteens": places where food is usually prepared. Here their thievery is manifested (as people tend to think), such a hornet is quite capable of carrying away small pieces of meat and even food. Can get food in landfills where food waste is stored. He is not particularly aggressive, but defends with a large army.

Asian giant hornet (vespa tangerine) is the largest (up to five centimeters long) and the most aggressive. It is dangerous to people and animals.

Hornet Dybowski (vespa dybowskii) is aggressive, does not like the presence of a person nearby, attacks to escort the alien. This hornet can pick up the dead for minced meat, even take body parts from fallen animals.

Real aggressiveness

Fear always has big eyes. Hornets rarely sting people, only when there is a real threat. Therefore, when you see it, you don’t have to wave your arms, drive it away. It is enough just to wait until this helicopter flies away. You need to be careful, inspect your buildings well, look for

Hornets are natural predators that can significantly reduce the number garden pests. However, the neighborhood with such insects makes a person constantly worry about the possibility of being bitten. Often hornets create their nests in close proximity to human dwellings: in attics, in gazebos, verandas. Such a neighborhood is generally life-threatening. Therefore, you need to know how to properly destroy dangerous insects and destroy entire nests.

Peculiarities

Rarely enough, complications arise from wasp stings in humans. Such bites are accompanied by pain, which passes quickly enough. But it is unlikely that it will be possible to avoid more severe consequences when meeting with a hornet. The attacks of these insects are very scary, especially for young children.

The bite of a hornet is considered one of the most painful. It can cause a fairly severe allergic reaction. Swelling and inflammation at the site of the bite is not the worst thing. There are often cases when hornet venom leads to powerful poisoning of the body. In this case, a person feels a rapid heartbeat, severe headaches, hemorrhages. If a person has a high sensitivity to poison, it may develop anaphylactic shock. Hardly without medical care here you can get by.

Hornets are social insects that will do anything to protect their nest. Even a sign of any threat puts adults on alert. Peace-loving these insects are called only by those who saw them from afar. Don't get too close to their nest. Hornet attacks in many cases are connected precisely with the fact that insects protect their homes.

If you destroy individual individuals, you are unlikely to be able to solve the problem. After all, insects will continue to multiply, bringing out new offspring. To get rid of dangerous neighbors, you must completely destroy their colony. If you do not see a nest, and hornets constantly fly around the site, you need to do everything possible to find a lair. To do this, you can try to catch one individual, tie a thread to it bright color. By releasing the insect, you can trace where the thread goes. This will at least roughly determine the place where the nest is located.

However, practice shows that it is hardly possible not to notice a large accumulation of fairly large insects. If in doubt, carefully inspect attics or under awnings. Here you will surely find the home of the hornets, which looks like a large cocoon.

Regardless of how you decide to exterminate dangerous insects, you must use the means personal protection. There are several fairly effective solutions to the problem. All of them are time-tested, and have repeatedly confirmed their effectiveness:

1. Dip the cocoon in a bucket of boiling water or diluted kerosene. The bucket must be suspended in such a way that the nest is completely immersed in the liquid. In a day, the nest will go limp, and its inhabitants will die.
2. Purchase several cans of Dichlorvos, Hangman, or another drug designed to fight flying insects. Stand at the maximum safe distance from the nest, pointing the spray at the cocoon. Carefully process the bottom entrance so that the product gets inside. In this case, insects will die almost instantly. Processing is recommended to be carried out until all individuals are destroyed.
3. Honeycombs, entrances and exits can be blown out with mounting foam. It quickly expands and freezes, preventing insects from leaving their home.
4. If the nest is on a tree, it is enough to pour diesel fuel or other flammable liquid on it. After that, set fire to it.
5. Often, hornets equip their nests in the ground and old stumps. In such situations, the dwelling of insects can simply be filled large quantity boiling water. You can also make a fire here.
6. Hornets that have settled in the hollow of a tree are poisoned with insecticidal preparations. After their use, it is recommended to blow out the hollow with mounting foam or cover it with cement mortar.
7. If there are hornets in the attic wooden building, it is hardly worth using fire. It is recommended to apply smoking here. To do this, it is recommended to use a sulfur checker, which must be placed in a metal container before use.
8. There are situations when it is not possible to get to the hornet's nest. Here you need to be patient. It is necessary to accustom insects to feed in a certain place, luring them here with pieces of minced meat. Then the bait can be in a small amount add chemicals. Working individuals, bringing poisoned food into their homes, will destroy not only the uterus, but also the larvae. This way you can prevent the appearance of new insects. From the use of poisoned bait, working individuals will gradually die out.

Each of these options must be used at night or in the evening, when all individuals return to their home. In addition, insects are not as active in the evening, so the likelihood of an attack is significantly reduced. You also need to understand that you should be very careful when using a flashlight and other lighting fixtures. Hornets react negatively to sudden changes in lighting.

1. One of the most popular drugs used to kill insects is Dichlorvos. Dispersed in the air, the active ingredients immediately enter the respiratory tract of insects. This leads to paralysis and suffocation within a few seconds. But to achieve high efficiency of this remedy is possible only if the drug gets on insects. Individuals that the remedy does not fall on will react angrily to your actions. That is why you need to watch out if the hornets fly out of the nest, they also need to be sprayed with poison.
2. Also, smoking with a sulfur bomb shows high efficiency. This agent quickly spreads poisonous smoke, which leads to suffocation of insects. If a individuals if they manage to fly away, they will not return here soon. And by that time you will be able to completely remove the cocoon.
3. Make bait from watermelon peels, which must be processed with any chemical agent designed to combat the Colorado potato beetle.
4. If you find a nest that is just starting to develop, you can consider yourself lucky. Only a few workers and a queen live here. It is enough to open such a nest with a stick and put inside a rag soaked ammonia. The uterus will die, which will not allow further development of the colony.

1. From plastic bottles do homemade traps. The lid is cut in the form of a cross. Places with a cut are bent inward. In the bottle you need to put the bait in the form of beer, sugar or any other sweet. The hornet will climb here without problems, but it will not be able to get out. Also from the bottle can be cut upper part, and insert it with the reverse side.
2. Fast and effective option- drowning the nest in a bucket of boiling water. However, you need to determine in advance whether the cocoon can fit in the container. You also need to consider how the bucket of water will be fixed in limbo.
3. Fire also refers to the physical options for the destruction of insects. However, it is used away from buildings and if there is no danger of forest fire. Having found a nest of insects in a hollow in your area, it is enough to lower the set fire paper into it.
4. With the help of a long hose of a vacuum cleaner, just suck up insects. Place the end of the hose into the socket. Hornets will certainly begin to attack him. But insects will simply be absorbed. In this case, a slight bend should be made on the hose, against which they will hit. Of course, this will not kill them, but it will make them less active. After the end of the procedure, the bag should be removed from the vacuum cleaner and trampled or burned.

(Video: "Hornets and a giant cocoon Dealing with killer bees")

Prevention of the appearance of hornets

If hornets often build nests in your area, without preventive measures not enough. There are many options to prevent the arrangement and development of nests of these dangerous insects:

1. At the end of autumn, remove all old nests. Also try to close up all the holes and cracks in the attic. Make sure doors and windows are tightly closed. As you know, hornets look for secluded places without drafts for wintering. Don't let insects get into your attic.
2. Preventive measures continue in the spring. At this time, there is still no large colony, and there are only a few individuals in the newly created nest. If you find and destroy it at this time, you can prevent the development of insects.
3. Particular attention should be paid to the appearance of hornets in the apiary.. Having noticed sexually mature females that begin to sculpt the first combs, it is necessary to immediately take measures to destroy them.
4. In the spring, you can use traps to catch hornet queens. Sweet or sour bait is added to a bucket filled with water. Soap should also be present here. Once in such a liquid, the uterus will not be able to get out.
5. Other traps made from plastic bottles are also suitable for catching queens. It is in the spring that the queens begin to show their activity, so it is quite likely that they will be caught.

These options will help to avoid the appearance of colonies in spring period. By summer, all the queens are already equipping their nests, so the risk of new queens arriving in your area is sharply reduced.

Hornets' nests are found in the natural environment and on the territory of a person's possessions (summer cottage, attic or other secluded places of construction). The size of the insect shelter is gradually growing. The construction is laid by the female in the spring, when the air temperature warms up to +10 degrees. Initially, the nest consists of several cells. Then the first generation of adults appears and the duties of building a shelter, feeding and protecting the colony are shifted to them. These are working insects and over time their numbers increase.

The pest is different large sizes(3.5-6 cm, depending on the species), bright colors (black and yellow). It does not pose a danger to humans as long as it is far away. It is generally accepted that the hornet feels threatened if the object is closer than 50 m from the insect. For this reason, it is not recommended to approach the insect. If the shelter is suburban area or in one of the buildings, then observe this condition problematic.

The nest of the hornet colony is always guarded. When something threatens him, the insects become active. Being far away, at the sight of danger, the pest will prefer to fly away, will not attack. In case of direct contact, the hornet bites, and severe pain is felt.

In the summer cottage, the insect brings a lot of benefits, as it destroys harmful insects that amaze cultivated plants. However, if the hornet attacks the hive, then the number of bees will drop sharply.

Left - wasp, right - hornet

How to find the nest yourself?

The destruction of individual individuals is inefficient, since the reproduction process will not stop, and more and more pests will appear. It is necessary to remove the nest of hornets, the only way to get rid of the uterus, which reproduces new generations and thereby increases the size of the colony. However, finding a shelter for insects is not easy, especially if they fly to the site from afar. In this case, pest monitoring will not give results, since the shelter may be located in a forest belt.

Exist effective method, which allows you to find a nest at any distance. To implement it, you need to catch one pest. This is easy to do near the apiary, when an adult flies up to hunt bees. It is recommended to catch an insect in a tight glove, preferably a leather one. Such a measure will protect a person from contact with the sting of a hornet.

In the narrowest place, a thread of bright color is tied to the body of the pest. The stock in the coil should be large enough, as the shelter is sometimes located far away. The thread-marked insect is released. The hornet will return to the nest, and the tied thread will allow you to find it. When on the site or near the house appears a large number of pests, this may mean that the shelter is very close. In this case, it can be detected by carefully observing the insects.

Search and destruction of the dwelling of stinging insects, it is better and safer to do it in a beekeeper's protective suit

What harm do hornets do?

The bite of a predator is poisonous, but not fatal. Usually, upon contact with it, an allergy manifestation (swelling, redness) is observed. In addition, adults can undermine garden trees, they are attracted by the thin bark of young stands. Damaged branches later die and fall off. However, the damage caused by this is negligible.

The situation with beekeeping is much more serious. Considering that hornets feed on insects (flies, spiders, caterpillars, etc.), bees also enter their diet.

They feed on nectar, juice and fruit pulp. For their larvae, they catch other insects.

Pests can destroy entire hives, as well as exterminate honey families. Insects feed on the larvae of a large hornet, this is the only source of food for them. Once near the apiary, a group of pests of several dozen individuals destroys hundreds of bees.

Hunting for bees is a great opportunity to feed insectivorous larvae.

How is the nest set up?

The shape of the shelter is different, it all depends on what site it is built on. Initially, the nest resembles a pear or a ball. However, as the population of the colony grows, the configuration changes greatly. In some cases, the original form is preserved, in others it is greatly expanded. The average size of a hornet shelter is about 40 cm wide and 70 cm high.

Inside there are many cells, chambers, passages and even floors. For construction, insects use the thin bark of young plantations. It is chewed, then mixed with saliva.

It resembles a large fruit, the width of which can reach 40 cm, and the height - 70 cm. Light gray design.

In this way, a sufficiently plastic material is obtained, by means of which nest cells are built. In autumn, it empties naturally. This happens because some of the hornets go in search of a warmer shelter during the wintering period, the remaining majority die.

There are separate floors in the nest, they are interconnected by very strong pendants.

Overview of Hive Destruction Methods

The easiest way: the shelter is destroyed in winter period when there are no insects inside. However, this option has a significant disadvantage - you will have to endure the presence of pests throughout the spring and summer, waiting for their natural death in the fall. In addition, the uterus is unlikely to return to its original place, because it does not live longer than a year, which means that the grown females will start looking for a new place for shelter. When deciding how to clean the nest in the warm season, it is recommended to consider the following methods:

Drowning

Such option is suitable for cases when the shelter is in a hanging position. It is placed in a bucket. You do not have to remove the nest, you need to place a container with water of a suitable depth directly under it. It is important to ensure that the entire structure erected by the hornets is completely immersed in the liquid. It is better to do this at night, as at this time the activity of insects decreases.

If the nest is in the ground, you can fill it with boiling water. The home of the hornets can be large, you will need a bucket of water.

Burning

First, the shelter is doused with a moderate amount of combustible substance (kerosene, gasoline), then set on fire. The method is suitable for situations where the nest is located on a base made of non-combustible material.

Poisoning

Any toxic insecticide is used: GET, Executioner, as well as similar preparations. The substance is sprayed into a polyethylene bag and wrapped around the hornet's shelter.

Spray a plastic insecticide (Get, Lambda Zone, Executioner) in the plastic and wrap it around the nest.

If the nest is built in a recess, such as a hollow, you can pour the insecticide inside. In this case, the entrance must be closed. Shelters that are in the ground are poured with boiling water.

Interesting video:Methods for destroying hornet nests

Security measures

When deciding how to destroy a hornet nest, you must first consider your protection against pests. It is recommended to wear a beekeeper's mask, closed clothing and thick gloves. If the shelter has a complex configuration, it is unlikely that it will be possible to quickly process it. When a hornet appears, you need to leave the nest immediately, it is advisable to move to a safe distance. In this case, you can not make sudden movements.