You just have to be patient, and peck away at them in the evening when they aren’t active. Now if they had a nest in a hole in the ground in the yard, I’d just tell the kids to go get them. Give ‘em bug bomb, some gasoline, a hose hooked up to the faucet and some really thick winter clothing. It’s great to see kids in 95 degree weather in thick down jackets, doing battle with nature. They soon learn what’s most effective.
They used to love fashioning (relatively) bee-proof helmets out of old plastic pails with taped-in screen, etc. It hurts like H@ll to get stung, but one soon learns to avoid that :)
I had a nest of fire ants that just wouldn’t die until I drove a copper ground rod into the hole, dropped a split-ring truck rim around it, and built a charcoal fire in it. I think I steamed ‘em.