# Bald face hornets



## pettibone (Jul 18, 2015)

Was wondering if any of you guys were familiar with bald face hornets. The other day was cutting some ash trees around the edge of one of the pastures which is a favorite as far as eating leaves go. I was standing ther watching the cattle eating and noticed there was a lot of these hornets flying around the cows faces and taking flies right off their face. Anybody with cattle always has a lot of flies so I'm thinking this is pretty good. So now I have a dilemma, want to cut up some firewood with my homemade firewood processor and it has 2 great big nests of those hornets. Usually would just spray them but now I don't want to kill them just think it's so cool to see them catching flies.


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## Ox76 (Oct 22, 2018)

I never knew that they ate other insects till just now. Those white hornets were a scourge to us on the farm and very aggressive. We'd have to knock them out of the air with ether and a spray paint tip on the can cause they'd fly straight at your face and the sniper tip on the ether cans aren't good for this. One needs a "shotgun" tip!

Haven't seen any around in several years now.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

We get some here every summer. They can be nasty but if they leave me along can be good. Wow they are tough. I have seen them catch and kill other hornets, yellow jackets and even bumblebees.


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## pettibone (Jul 18, 2015)

Was mowing hay a few weeks ago and had the back window open, along came one of these hornets carrying a fly, flew in the back window and then started bumping off windsheild and door got panicky and dropped the fly and flew back out the way he came in. Got my attention being a couple of inches away but didn't bother me at all. These hornets are mostly black but have a white tail but not all white


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## glasswrongsize (Sep 15, 2015)

Spent many 'o Sunday afternoon sitting on the porch and swatting flies for the hornets. I have a nest or two by the barn; I don't bother them and they don't bother me. It's pretty neat to have a "tame" one or two that will wait for you to swat flies for it.

Mark

It sure don't take much to amuse me, does it??!!


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## skyrydr2 (Oct 25, 2015)

Yeah..... I hate them with a passion! They will bite and sting many many times EACH! And fly off to come back another day! 
They get whacked at every sighting ! This time of year they are extremely aggressive too!


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## Hayjosh (Mar 24, 2016)

I'm allergic. If it flies and stings, it dies. A pest control company treats the house quarterly, after we had a basketball sized paper wasp nest hanging off one of the eves, a yellow jacket nest in the ground, and nests inside the siding. No more though after we've been treating for them.


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## glasswrongsize (Sep 15, 2015)

Hayjosh said:


> I'm allergic. If it flies and stings, it dies. A pest control company treats the house quarterly, after we had a basketball sized paper wasp nest hanging off one of the eves, a yellow jacket nest in the ground, and nests inside the siding. No more though after we've been treating for them.


I can reason with hornets, honey bees, and bumble bees.

Yaller Jackets and red wasps have absolutely NO sense of humor.


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## Ox76 (Oct 22, 2018)

glasswrongsize said:


> Spent many 'o Sunday afternoon sitting on the porch and swatting flies for the hornets. I have a nest or two by the barn; I don't bother them and they don't bother me. It's pretty neat to have a "tame" one or two that will wait for you to swat flies for it.
> 
> Mark
> 
> It sure don't take much to amuse me, does it??!!


So they would wait for you to kill a fly, see it, then fly over and grab the carcass and fly off with it? Would they come right back ready for more after putting the carcass in "storage"? What neat behavior. I'm not ashamed to say that would keep me occupied for at least an hour.


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## glasswrongsize (Sep 15, 2015)

Ox76 said:


> So they would wait for you to kill a fly, see it, then fly over and grab the carcass and fly off with it? Would they come right back ready for more after putting the carcass in "storage"? What neat behavior. I'm not ashamed to say that would keep me occupied for at least an hour.


The ones y'day, they ate right on the spot. Or at least, the spent quite a bit of time there before flying off. Have two hornets must be diabetic junkies; they keep hitting a snort of the hummingbird feeder right above the chair on the porch. Again, they don't hurt us and we don't hurt them. Nephews were over from St Louis and was gonna kill 'em; I told 'em iffn they take a swat at the hornets that they'd draw back a bloody stub.


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