Yeah, definitely do it at night or in the early morning. If you are sure they are yellow jackets (or whatever) and not honeybees (which are very likely protected by law) just get the wasp spray (you want quick knock down stuff) from Home Depot or Lowes and go at them with it. They get super pissed and will be agitated so the quick knock down spray is what you want unless you can apply the powder and not go near them for a few days.
Malathion or Diazinon. Kills the little suckers dead. Wasp and Hornet spray should also do the trick, and the stream will go about 25 feet. Home Depot has cans of the stuff for pretty cheap. Malathion and especially Diazinon work even better, though, provided you can get close enough to the hive without getting your backside stung off. Or just mix a little in sugar water and leave it in foil pie pan or similar near the hive. The bees will take it back to the hive and then they will all bite the dust. I once used a garden hose with a twist nozzle to get rid of a bee hive. It created a cloud of thoroughly pissed off bees for awhile, but they left a couple days later. I used three cinder blocks to hold the nozzle fast and aim it at the hive, then went around the side of the house, turned the water on and the bees got a bath. It isn't the quickest method, but does not involve any pesticides.
Here’s the update; 1) They are yellow jackets. 2) Wednesday night, we opened the container, to let the heavy rain do a lot of the work. 3)In between downpours, I added some liquid dish detergent (having read that a dish detergent solution could kil them) 4) So far, today, I have only seen one bee.
Yellow jackets in a box? I have only seen yellow jackets make their hives in a hole in the ground, but yours might be a different species. Opening the container should get them to leave, as mother nature would then do the soaking for you.
Here’s where we stand now. Yesterday, my husband (using a reacher) Emptied out the container, throwing out most of its contents. We could see remnants of the nest/hive or whatever and there were still a few bees hovering around. Thankfully, they were not moving to sting my husband. The container is really not salvageable, but that’s OK. I can replace it cheaply enough. Once we dispose of it, I want to give the deck a good scrubbing to get rid of any traces of pheromones. OK also, it just needs cleaning anyway.