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Comment by ChrisMarshallNY | Hacker News Reader

This summer, we had a white-faced hornet nest, in a bush, a few feet from our front door, so it had to go.

Normally, hornets are great. They are nowhere near as aggressive as yellowjackets (unless you mess with the nest), and they eat yellowjackets, so you either have hornets or yellowjackets, but not both (but they also eat bees, so people who want to encourage pollinators, need to discourage them).

But that low on the ground, and that close to the house, they had to go.

I have heard too many horror stories about botched hornet removal, so I called in a pro. I have a friend in the business, so I got a break (but that was $150).

It was interesting, watching him do it. Took about 15 minutes. He had a special suit. It looked flimsy, but they couldn’t get through.

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I have good luck with low nests just buying a can of wasp spray (the ones that foam and have a claimed 30ft range, although somewhat less in practice) and soaking down the nest at dust. I usually put on some extra clothing and make a run for it but I haven't been chased. The can only cost like $15.

What I don't have good luck with is the nests built high up since I'm afraid of heights

Why didn't he just move it to another place? Hornets are a threatened species.

Not white-faced hornets[0]. They are everywhere on the East Coast USA.

They aren't actually real hornets. They are just big yellowjackets.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolichovespula_maculata

Which hornets are threatened?

The only hornets news I hear is that they're invasive and killing pollinators.

European hornets are protected in several European countries. The low population is also a reason we have too many wasps.

That said even though they're not particularly aggressive, I don't know anyone who would just leave a nest on their property.

My parents had a hornets nest at different spots on the house several times in a row (they typically don't nest in the same place). Nobody was ever stung (and I've been visiting with my two small kids). Hornets are actually fascinating to watch, they would fly into the winter garden/glass house (where we typically had breakfast in summer), catch the insects who were stuck and flying along the windows/glass ceiling and just fly out again. Super smart.

As a side note, destroying hornets nests (and wasps possibly as well) is illegal in many European countries because they are protected.

German wasps are invasive and afaik only Germany protects them under the same category as all other species of wasps, which is funny because Germany has a huge overpopulation of yellowjackets. You can still remove a nest on your property if you have a reasonable cause for doing so.

I think that some southern US households like to encourage them, as long as they aren't in an area where humans can disturb them.

They kill all kinds of nasty bugs, and are pretty standoffish (as long as you don't get near the nest).

Piss them off, however, and your life will experience whole new vistas of pain.

Right, by European standards even if you live in a detached house with a backyard, any location is probably going to be too close, as you probably don't want to be bothered when you eat outside or have people over for a barbecue.

Obviously if you live on a farm, it might be different, especially if you have fruit trees, which should keep them busy.

Around here, they usually set up, high in a tree. You often can’t see the nest, until fall.

Yellowjackets, on the other hand, dig holes; often quite near houses. They are also quite aggressive. You can easily disturb their nests.

Also, I don’t think hornet stings are as venomous as yellowjacket stings (they probably don’t need to be). Being swarmed by yellowjackets really sucks.

I’d pick hornets over yellowjackets, any day.

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