Wasps

Never really have dealt with them before, and always never bothered about them..............until now! A nice huge nest in the eave above my front door. The mail man would not come up to the door yesterday! How did I miss this one?

Well anyhoo, there it is and I have to remove it. Is there a humane way? Can I shoot my hand held sprayer on the Jet Setting to rid these guys of their place? Don't want them running after me. :-(

Any tips appreciated. Thanks.

What ever you do, DO NOT DO AS I DID SEVERAL YEARS AGO!
I went to my mother's house and noticed a nice nest the size of a football in a bush in her yard, deciding that would not do, I took it upon myself to get rid of it... First I sprayed it with a wasp/hornet spray...unfortunately the critters were not happy about that and they were swarming all around...remembering a story that I had heard years ago about "smoking them out", I decided that I would do just that...I had just come back from a camping trip and had discovered that a flare, the kind you use on the road if you brake down, has the right amount of smoke to drive all the mosquitoes away...anyway, I decided to tape a flare to the end of a broom stick and after igniting it I placed it near the nest...did I mention that the residue from the wasp/hornet spray is very flammable? It was a sight to behold...luckily the flame extinguished itself quickly and we were left with most of the bush intact with the exception of a perfectly round hole in the middle...
OK if you must know that was well over 30 years ago...certain things you just do not forget...

Here's what I did at my church. I got the local volunteer fire Dept. to lend me a CO2 fire extinguisher. Then I got a couple of brave souls to help me out at night when all the wasps were in the nest. They held flashlights while I crept up on the nest and emptied the entire contents of the fire extinguisher into it. Froze the critters while they slept. Fortunately the nest was low enough that I didn't have to climb a ladder. DO NOT TRY SPRAYING THEM WITH YOUR HAND HELD SPRAYER UNLESS IT IS FILLED WITH SOMETHING REAL TOXIC. All you'll do is make them real mad. They'll chase you and they do not forget!

Oh, this is what I feared. Thank you Bob and Giorio. Me thinks a quick kill is needed here, and I'm really not happy to have to do it, but...........people need to be able to come to my front door! :-0

Not looking forward to it, Sue

I am astounded that you actually want to be humane about killing wasps. They certainly have no qualms about stinging the heck out of you if you disturb their nest, what's humane about that?!? I haven't had to deal with any big nests, but nighttime would be best as it is colder outside so they can't move as fast as during the daytime, and they are all in the nest so you should be able to get every last little bugger in the hive. Good luck!