Super Wasp Nests in Alabama

Mr. Barron immediately retreated, and later sprayed hornet killer on the nest with his son. He said that just angered the yellow jackets, the highly aggressive wasps that live in such colonies. Mr. Barron was stung 11 times.

Charles Ray, an entomologist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, drove to Mr. Barron’s home and confirmed the colony was a “super nest” — one that survives into a second year. He told Mr. Barron there were probably 15,000 to 18,000 wasps in the smokehouse.

Officials Warn of Wasp ‘Super Nests’ in Alabama

Didn't they know to spray them at night when the wasps are sleeping. That is a lot of wasps, it could of killed them. One yellow jacket can sting you many times. Unlike a bee that can only sting once.

I never knew a yellow jacket was a wasp. These are not the kind of yellow jackets I knew growing up. I used to see yellow jackets living in nests in the ground.

Is this the ME at play

This is what I always called a wasp.

And this is a yellow jacket.

That nest looks more like a super hornet nest.

I am generally fearless. I laugh in the face of any and all danger...

I cry and scream and shriek bloody murder in the face of wasps as I run away in terror

a reply to: LookingAtMars

My question is, how the heck do you allow a nest to get that large in the first place? I noticed a small nest on my house years ago and like you mentioned, I sprayed it at night, when all the wasps were inside the nest. Two days of spraying did the trick, which allowed me to knock down the nest attached to my soffit with a broom. Problem solved.

a reply to: shawmanfromny

lol, I know. Look at this quote.

“You don’t think about looking at the roof,” Mr. Barron said. “It’s just now really showed up, and it’s gigantic.”

How do you miss that even if you never look at the roof. Sounds like they didn't knock it down either.

“Sometimes you just walk out there and they won’t do anything, but the next time you leave as fast as you can because they’re out there stinging,” Mr. Barron said. “They’re really dangerous and not predictable at all.”

originally posted by: shawmanfromny
My question is, how the heck do you allow a nest to get that large in the first place?

It's in the second sentence of the article:

When James Barron went into his smokehouse in southern Alabama to grab an ax, he was alarmed to see a giant wasp nest about seven feet wide extending along the wall. It had been two months since he had last stepped foot inside.

I get a super spray that hits them from 25 feet away. Drops them right out of the air. I have never gotten stung.
They build nests on the ceiling of my porch that I have to keep knocking down.
When I spray the nest little white blob babies fall out.

I have never seen a nest get that big. Must have been very warm in Alabama this winter.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

I think it took longer than 2 months to build that nest, but I'm not a wasp expert so who knows.

ETA - And it's sure looks like it is outside, not inside... That doesn't look like a smokehouse either. I think the pic is not the nest from the story.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

That nest is big, but hardly anything unusual in the south.

This one here is the stuff of nightmares. I bet you can't watch it without your skin itching.



Yellow Jackets are the spawn of the devil. Flying azzholes.

a reply to: Edumakated

That is crazy! He has that little can of spray. I would have to have a flame thrower!

Dude needs elons flamethrower

Best insect killer will have CHEVERONS logo on the can must contain extra death

originally posted by: LookingAtMars
a reply to: Edumakated

That is crazy! He has that little can of spray. I would have to have a flame thrower!

I would have nuked that mofo from orbit.

Check this one out...

I can't help but imagining Steve-O from Jackass sitting in the chair...

a reply to: LookingAtMars

In Oklahoma I had one get in my pants and sting me on my butt.
Not cool

Geez that was crazy! Hornet Blitzkrieg! I can't help but think that guy kept wondering, "is that one inside my suit?"
Those ground yellow jackets are no joke either! Watched a doc on them and they take genuine fighter jet assault formation when attacking and the first few fly and spray pheromones onto target while the next wave targets the pheromones flying into target with abdomen/stingers pointed forward, Twas crazy in slo-mo HD.

Ran across this fine example of "how not to destroy hornet nest." He sets his guitar/amp up and serenades them with some Black Sabbath...Hahahaha Guy at 5:15..oh man...

originally posted by: Lucidparadox
I cry and scream and shriek bloody murder in the face of wasps as I run away in terror

While I appreciate that people are irrationally scared of wasps, we need to celebrate the good they do to the natural environment. They are fabulous insects, and very misunderstood.

originally posted by: paraphi

originally posted by: Lucidparadox
I cry and scream and shriek bloody murder in the face of wasps as I run away in terror

While I appreciate that people are irrationally scared of wasps, we need to celebrate the good they do to the natural environment. They are fabulous insects, and very misunderstood.

Screw that... yellow jackets can die a slow painful death two times. How many millios of picnics need to be ruined before the world does something. Forget global warming.

I am deathly allergic to wasp stings. Most wasps are pretty docile. Don't screw with them, they won't screw with you. But yellow jackets? Nah... they are bullies. They are just itching to sting a mofo.

When we got back to Camp Pendleton from Iraq in 2003, late August. Bees had made a nest that covered the entire wall of our quanset hut/warehouse.

Had to be 30 ft wide and another 15 - 20' high. It was nuts, we got stung a lot messing around with them.

We always messed with wasps and bees growing up.

We'd catch them with big leaves so we didn't get stung pull off their wings and get them to fight other large beetles and stuff in buckets.

I agree with the OP about the yellow jackets usually being ground dwellers, maybe in tree hollows as well. That picture of the wasp looks more like a hornet/wasp but that long section isn't something I'm familiar with though.

I have seen a huge wasp or bees nest like that before. I do not know what kind of insect made it, I just backed off when I saw the big swarm and did not go back in that area anymore.

Many wasps are not a problem if you leave their nest alone. Some are even real docile. but there are a few radical groups and kinds of wasps and hornets that get all fired up when they see anyone.

originally posted by: rickymouse
I have seen a huge wasp or bees nest like that before. I do not know what kind of insect made it, I just backed off when I saw the big swarm and did not go back in that area anymore.

Many wasps are not a problem if you leave their nest alone. Some are even real docile. but there are a few radical groups and kinds of wasps and hornets that get all fired up when they see anyone.

It looks like some sort of deformed hornet nest to me.

However, it could be a plain ole yellow jacket nest. They will pretty build a nest in anything although in ground is the most common. There are several videos of them with nests in walls. My guess is that it may have started out in a soffit/gutter and as the colony grew, it expanded outside into the shape in the picture.