Philadelphia Voice
Philadelphia may have a Darwin Award candidate who’s either in a world of pain or about to be.
Last Thursday night, a thief stole a vacuum from the back of a Ford pickup truck that belongs to Don Shump, owner of Philadelphia Bee Co. The 11-year-old business specializes in relocating honey bees from their nests and removing various species of wasps from properties where they’re not wanted. The stolen vacuum contained hundreds of European hornets. More
I had a european hornet nest in my roof soffit about 15 years ago. I researched them and decided to hire a pro. He got into what looked like a space suit and then climbed ladder and shot a bunch of chemical powder into the soffit. He said I could go up and remove the nest in a few days. I waited until January…
They also don’t sleep at night. The colony is active 24 hours.
They can hollow out an apple right on the tree in one day, leaving the skin dangling by the stem.
@Jethro — Heh! That apple story conjured up a vision of the vacuum thief’s skin draped across a cheap recliner. Gary Larson could have drawn it well!
Watch – the thief will sue the exterminator.
Take a fully charge CO2 fire extinguisher and freeze the nest with it. Wait 5 minutes to see if there is any activity and hit it again if necessary. Take a large 6 mil trash bag and collect the nest. Tie off the bag and leave it the steps of your worst enemy.
I remember back in the late 70’s when big ass high end speakers for you stereo were the thing, a guy had reported to our local police department that two large speaker boxes were stolen out of the back of his truck…he didn’t want them back because they contained a lot of stored dog shit from his kennels and he was taking them to the dump when he parked at the restaurant. He just wanted to warn the authorities before someone just dumped them on the side of the road.
got stung (or bit) by a European Hornet one night. was on my back deck about to come in the house when the biggest frickin’ bee I ever saw landed on my left arm just below the elbow. I’m not skittish about bees so I just brushed it off w/ the back of my right hand.
Ho Lee Crap! that durned thing rolled down my arm & somehow bit into me all the way down my arm to the back of my hand. stung like fire! my arm swelled up so much it looked like a Popeye Arm. no other effects, just an arm on fire for about a 1/2 an hour.
like Jethro said, those things are nocturnal & attracted to light … like from your back deck! hung a big bug light that I borrowed from work & it zapped about 30 – 40 a night. turned on the lights in the back room & closed the back slider screen & would wasp spray another 30 – 40 hanging on the screen every night. finally called the pro’s & they removed the nest.
these buggers like to make their nests in the hollow of a tree, or a stump of a big, broken off tree branch. we had a huge beech tree that was over 10′ in circumference & every so often had big branches break off … & there they were, big nest in the hollow od a branch stump. (beeches are soft wood & break off branches a lot)
https://extension.umd.edu/resource/european-hornets
never saw one less than an inch long … big buggers