Dancing

[RC]

So, I went out yesterday morning to check on the bees. It was already hot and I had on shorts and a tee shirt, which is my normal summer garb. I started out with a couple of nucs, without a veil, just shorts and a tee shirt. Everything went fine, so I moved on to the other hives. All the bees were calm, no issues at all. Until the 12th and last hive. I got the top off and pulled the first frame and got popped on the calf. I backed out and smoked them a little more, went back to the hive and got it again, this time on the knee. I again backed off and smoked my legs, hoping to cover the scent. I walked back to the hive and guess what? 4 times on the legs. By now I was dancing like John Travolta and using unsavory language.I stepped back under a shade tree to scrape out the stingers and couldn't find any.
Lo and behold a nest of paper wasps had built a home under the bottom board of the last hive. And the more I smoked, the madder they got. I just glad they didn't get up my shorts. I think there's a county ordinance against running around naked and screaming.

[BeeMaster2]

Now that's funny.  :lau: Sorry, I'm not laughing at you. But I can see my self reacting the same way not thinking I had another type of bee fighting me. I did strip down to briefs my first year with my daughters and grand daughters and neighbor right there laughing their heads off. Now I just wait for the sting. The last few times they fell out of my pants on their own.
Jim

[Steel Tiger]

My yard is a magnet for wasp. Every month I have to do an inspection and come up with a dozen new nest, which gets sprayed.
 A couple years ago, the dogs where by some bushes and started yelping. I couldn't tell what was swarming them, I just yelled at them to get into the house. I went out 5 minutes later to figure out what it was. I took several minutes to finally spot the grapefruit sized bald face hornet nest. I let loose an entire can of Raid in it.

[RC]

I'm sure it was comical to watch. I couldn't find any humor in it at the time.
I have these nests everywhere, I'd just never thought to expect them under the hive.

[Michael Bush]

Use dish soap or bubble soap on wasps.  Smoke has no beneficial effect...

I find paper wasps in empty equipment all the time...

[gdog]

got any tricks for the naked face or white faced hornets?

[RHBee]

got any tricks for the naked face or white faced hornets?

I've heard of people waiting until night then baging the nest Iin a heavyweight trash bag. Cutting it loose and spraying starting either in the bag.
Never tried it myself. These are pretty mean insects.

[RC]

I know dish soap works on wasps but I don't know if it works on hornets.
I knew a fellow who found a big hornet nest in the woods. He bagged it at night and sprayed some ether in the bag. The next day he shook out all the dead hornets, sprayed the nest with shellac to make it purty and hung it up over the fireplace in the house. Imagine his wife's surprise when she came home a few days later and all the baby hornets that survived the ether had hatched out. She didn't think that was funny but the exterminator did. 

[Michael Bush]

>I don't know if it works on hornets.

It's a matter of getting the soap on the hornets.  Some hornets have enclosed nests and it's difficult to get the soap on the hornets.  If you get it on their spiracles, they will suffocate.

[Palouse]

got any tricks for the naked face or white faced hornets?

We had a nest of bald face hornets that was about the size of a basketball in a crab apple tree a couple of years ago. We left them alone, and they left us alone. They do a great job of munching on flies. As foraging gets harder later in the summer they can get touchy, but the first hard frost puts them out of business.