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I keep finding wasp's in the bedroom and bathroom, can be up to 7 per day. They are pretty docile so are easy to deal with. I think that the nest is most likely in the loft, do need to deal with it or will they naturally die out as the weather becomes colder? Also are they likely to return next year?
They will eventually go and they wont be back. Just leave them unless its causing a problem. We had a nest last year and just kept the nearest window closed, that was all
Think yourself lucky they’re not Asian bastad hornets outside your bedroom door/window.
my neighbour made be laugh when he came out with a tennis racket, shoulda said game for doubles as that would be what would be required if dealing with hornets as once one is down, another and another come a flying.
Phone call went a bit like this:
Kim- Ambrose, I've got a wasp's nest in the shed, any ideas?
Ambrose- FFS DON'T hit it with a stick.
Kim- What should I do then?
Ambrose- Call the council maybe? Perhaps Rentokil? Dunno really, out of my remit. Fancy a pint?
Kim- Sorted, see you in a bit....
time passes....
time passes....
Kim- you remember that wasp's nest?
Ambrose- You hit it with a BIG stick didn't you?!?
Kim- I'm never doing that again.
Dumbass!
We had a similar problem last year. The council sorted it for less than £100. We only had to wait for a day or two for them to come to the house.
Unless it's causing a real problem, leave it. The wasps will have died in a month or so and you've unknowingly managed several months without issue. They won't re-use the old nest
They might reappear in the same space though, so when they've died find and block any openings. That's one of my jobs for November so that I can paint the rest of the front of the house next year...wasps' nests have some benefits 🙂
Doesn't the normal STW wasp removal technique involve a Laura Ashley cushion?
We had a wasps nest in our chimney over the summer and were getting lots coming into the house. I guy some rentokill smoke pellets off Amazon, lit them in the fireplace, a load of dead wasps fell down over the next day and then they stopped appearing.
We kept finding the odd one, and upto 4 a day recently. Worked out it was the neighbors and the wasps had nested in the bathroom extractor fan 'tube'. Wife sent a video of them swarming once the pest controller had been.
If you know where the nest is, wasp nest destroyer foam works very well, but wait until after dark (and a few glasses of beer) before spraying (wasps will be in the nest), If you can see an entrance hole in brickwork, puff ant powder into the entrance - they will walk this in.
I'd only do this if the nest is somewhere it's causing an issue, otherwise leave alone. I had one year where I had three nests in and around the garage.
I had four nests this year, two in the shed and two within the walls of the bathroom dormer. All left to live out their natural lifespan, the final colony is just dying now.
Easy to tolerate with a bit of respect. No problems at all, other than having to move gardening equipment from the shed to the garage. Toughen up and stop persecuting insect that are as important to your ecosystem as bees, unless they are in a really awkward place like at a used doorway.
Yeah, leave alone unless genuinely causing an issue.
If needed, the DIY sheds sell wasp powder. This is all the rentokil guys will use (although they have a stronger version). Squirt a cloud of it around the entrance (making very hasty retreat). Most I've removed need a second go a few days after to deal with the larvae that were still hatching after the first go.
TBH they haven't been that much of a bother this year, lots of foliage and stuff to keep them busy so haven't been searching for human food. They'll die out quite soon.
I had one in the loft last year. I have read that they can get more aggressive as food gets scarce and that seemed to tally with my experience. I seem to be developing a more severe reaction to wasp stings, and after getting stung twice mowing the lawn I decided it was time for them to go. A can of foamy wasp nest killer sprayed into the entrance seemed to do the trick with a second application a couple of days later put a stop to the last couple of hangers-on.
I read up on the web on dealing with wasp nests. It said: "before you start, check that your escape route is clear...."
I read up on the web on dealing with wasp nests. It said: “before you start, check that your escape route is clear….”
We had one between sleepers in the garden which made a retaining wall next to the path along our drive. They would attack every time we we out or came back home, so we got the local pest controller out. It turned out his preferred method was turn his van round, leave the door open and the engine running, blow in the poison and run like billyo!
Interestingly they returned the following year, contrary to all received wisdom, so we had to have it done again. I filled the hole with expanding foam after summer and that was the end of it.
We get them every year. I get stung every year until I realise where they are coming from. Ant powder works well. But as above do it at night and after a few beers.
Don't try and knock it into a firepit with a big stick and set fire to it. Only a fool, ahem, would do that.
Kill them. With fire. Always.
On more helpful advice, we got a local chap to come out who, for £50, took a fancy contraption that looked a bit like a huge fishing rod, with a metal cylinder at the end full of wasp powder, a bike CO2 cylinder and a remote actuation lever at the other end. He manoeuvred it so the end stuck into the eaves where the nest was, pulled the lever and there was a blast of white powder. Best of all, the nest then sends out an emergency signal, so the wasps rush back to defend it and all get covered in more powder as they enter the nest.
They were dead in two hours. A glorious sight, I can tell you!
(If you hadn't already gathered, I *hate* wasps!)
Cheers for the info, the escape route down the loft ladder isn't great and we don't have any laura Ashley cushions so I'll let them be then although one of the little ****ers stung me at 2am the other night.
Just so you know where the cushion thing is from: https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/when-you-spray-a-wasps-nest-how-fast-do-the-little-bs-come-out/page/2/#post-6344494
Also, I'd have left 'our' nest alone but we were getting 30 pee'd off wasps a day trapped in the living room so they had to go. If it was in the (never used) loft then I'd have ignored it.
we got a local chap to come out who, for £50, took a fancy contraption that looked a bit like a huge fishing rod, with a metal cylinder at the end full of wasp powder, a bike CO2 cylinder and a remote actuation lever at the other end.
I found an alternative route slightly more acceptable:
several lengths of 2x4 gaffer taped together, enough to reach the nest, obvs
offcut of garden hose taped along the result
insert dose of wasp powder to one end of hose
hold other end
aim the powdery end at the nest entrance
blow like crazy down hose
purchase £50 of beer
That laura Ashley story tickled me... definitely won't attempt that method!