Saturday I was walking around the corner of the house and spotted a hornets nest that was about the size of a gallon milk jug. There were several bees swarming around it, so I thought I had better back away from it for the day. I know from experience that the best time to kill hornets is after dark.

The wife, daughter, and I got in the car to go pick up a few things from the store. A brand new can of Raid Hornet spray was at the top of my list. At $5 a can the stuff definitely isn’t cheap, but it kills the little bastards on contact.

The hole was in the side of the nest, and I knew that all I had to do was spray the Raid into the hole. The bees would not be able to escape, and I would have very little risk of getting stung. So, I waited until dark, and then the massacre began. I used the whole can on the nest, and not a single bee escaped out of the hole.

Sunday morning I went out to examine the fallout. (I should have took some pics of the nest before I tore it down, but I forgot. :))

Here is about half of the nest laying on the ground after I ripped it from the eve:(click photos to enlarge)

A little closer:

Here is part of the comb. You can see one of the little bastards getting ready to emerge (off center to the right:)

One more photo of what they died trying to protect:

I dug around in the mess looking for the queen, the whole time thinking that she would be about twice the size of the other hornets. I never did find any one single bee that was considerably larger than the rest of them. I don’t know if I just overlooked her, or if she somehow managed to escape. I wasn’t very thorough in my search, so it’s very likely I just missed her. There is something about poking around in a pile of 100 or so bees that gives me the willies, no matter if they are dead or not.

Hey! Before you go, read another post. Monty Python’s Dead Parrot sketch, scammer style! Dead Alligator Found in Indiana Drain A Bear With HUGE Claws “Dead Like Me” is returning! Google Is Dead! One little fairy, dead in a ditch. Solving the Mystery of the Sheboygan Dead Horse Photo

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This entry was posted on Monday, September 10th, 2007 at 6:53 am and is filed under Home Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.