top of our RV residents

[addy1]

I was actually cleaning out a back room, looked out the window and saw some new residents living on top of our RV.
Rainy day, why not clean!

Boldface hornets which are related to the yellow jacket wasp, not as aggressive , they actually eat the yellow jackets.
If they eat up the yellow jackets they are welcome to stay until we need to drive the RV. Yellow jackets fight the bees and invade our hives in fall.

 

[sissy]

yikes still be with stingers and do not want to make them mad

 

[addy1]

They are big and nasty looking but have not bothered us at all. It is near our front door.

 

[MajorDan]

Until the day they do, then watch out.

 

[carolinaguy]

what a wonderful, if nerveracking, picture. thanks.

 

[Lisak1]

Bald faced hornets are extremely aggressive. They will sting with little to no provocation. They also build nests very, very quickly - that nest will grow exponentially.

 

[addy1]

Bald faced hornets are extremely aggressive. They will sting with little to no provocation. They also build nests very, very quickly - that nest will grow exponentially.

Well we can suit up in our bee suits and take care of them. right now not a issue, but I sure they will become one.

 

[GBBUDD]

we call them white faced hornets, and being a field guy yes they are aggressive but only when provoked the problem is they are smart and curious. as they come to investigate what's new in the area they often get attacked buy people and the game is on.

 

[addy1]

I have seen a few flying around, they basically ignore us. We have more issues with the guarding honey bees. They get right in our face, out in the yard.

 

[Lisak1]

We had a bald faced hornet nest start in an awning over our living room picture window many years ago. I thought "oh, this will be cool - the kids will get to watch them building their nest and coming and going from the safety of the house". Day one the nest was the size of a golf ball. Day two - softball. Day three - basketball. Day four - it was four feet by four feet and there were thousands of hornets. That's when I got nervous and called an exterminator. The first four companies I called refused to deal with it. The guy who finally agreed to come had some special kind of spray gun that he could use from like 20 feet away. He started spraying and he hornets started dropping out of the nest in clumps. When he was all done, the pile was 3 feet high - not even exaggerating. He pulled the nest off the awning and that's when we discovered they hadn't built around the awning - they had eaten a hole straight through it. We were missing 1/3 of an awning. It was quite the lesson in the power of nature!

 

[addy1]

hummmmmmmmmmmmmmm we will keep a good eye on it. Right now we will need a ladder to reach them with any spray. We will be in bee suits. Well hubby will, knowing him he won't let me be out there. I react bad to wasp stings.

 

[Lisak1]

@addy1 the same exterminator told us that he had gone to court to testify for a client. The man had found a bald faced hornet's nest in a tree and called him to come deal with it. Before he could get there, a neighbor boy discovered it and took a swing at it with a baseball bat. The boy almost died from the stings. The parents sued the neighbor for not dealing with a "known hazard". His client won the case because he could prove he was acting on the situation.

We had a nest start in our tree a few years ago - the exterminator we called wanted almost $300 to deal with it. It was hanging from the tree branch, easily accessible, less than 10 feet off the ground. My boys (both grown men) put a trash can under it and one cut it out of the tree with our extendable pruner and the other one slammed the cover on the can. Such brave boys! haha! (And no - they didn't get the 300 bucks!)

We had another start in a magnolia bush last year - I got stung in the face by one of those when I was attempting to trim the bush. Left it alone until the first freeze and then got my revenge! ha!

Here it is the day I cut it out. That's a five foot round table, for reference.

 

[Tara]

I would take the bald faced hornets any day over any other yellow jacket. A least if they are left alone they seem to do their own thing.

 

[addy1]

I would take the bald faced hornets any day over any other yellow jacket. A least if they are left alone they seem to do their own thing.

They hunt yellow jackets................makes my friend sort of

 

[Lisak1]

I would take the bald faced hornets any day over any other yellow jacket.

Well, technically they are basically the same thing. Bald faced hornets are known as aerial yellow jackets.

Yellow jackets nest in the ground and scavenge for food, which make them more annoying to humans as we come into contact with them more frequently - we call them garbage bees or picnic bees. Bald faced hornets nest in trees so they tend to stay out of the way of humans, and as @addy1 said, prey on other insects.