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Wasps!

Black Hole

Black Hole

May contain traces of nut
I have some unwelcome visitors. Clearly there's a nest somewhere in my eaves space, and I can see a busy stream of the buggers going in and out from the outside, and now I've caught six in the kitchen, below where the nest must be (but very dopey for some reason, no trouble to dispatch). I presume they've found a route through an air brick or something.

This would have to happen after the shops have closed and I'm off first thing tomorrow for a few days.

Helpful suggestions welcome, any materials required should be from stock or available in a convenience store!
 
Black Hole said:
very dopey for some reason
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Probably because winter is coming.

It might be better to leave them be(e) until you get back and deal with them at leisure, or call a pro.
If you know where they are getting into the kitchen just plug it with some paper for now.
 
Black Hole said:
Have done so, but I'm not certain.
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If some get in while you are away most will be dead by the time you get back - unless you leave food out for them.
From a random website found by Google:
As autumn arrives and the weather gets colder, the wasp's food source diminishes. The remaining adult wasps and old queens die off due to starvation. By winter most average size nests have died, but occasionally a large nest will survive longer if enough food is available.

Apart from having to sweep up the corpses in the kitchen it shouldn't be a big problem. Once the nest is dormant/dead you can deal with it and the access over winter with little risk of getting stung. Falling off the ladder is the bigger risk :eek:
 
MikeSh said:
Once the nest is dormant/dead you can deal with it and the access over winter with little risk of getting stung
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That was my plan when I noticed the traffic earlier yesterday – it didn't bother me much until I had six to deal with indoors!

As to ladders, my roof voids are accessible without ladders (if they're accessible at all), and are consequently used as storage spaces. I've dealt with a nest in there before, but I suspect this one will be well hidden. Their route in will be more difficult to seal off, requiring setting up a crawlway across the conservatory roof.

If the flightpath is still active later this week I think I'll set up some traps nearby and try to deplete the population. That's an idea: I'll quickly knock up one to leave in the kitchen, in case of further invasion. Shame I chucked that mouldy jam away...
 
We have occasional problems with such nests. Screwfix sell a wasp nest foam that can be very effective if you can access the entrance. This can be difficult if the nest is in the eaves. It is not advisable to block the entrance in an active nest. Wasps will find ways out - even chewing through plasterboard if necessary - and this may result in large numbers of aggressive, pissed off (wasps are protective of their nests) wasps in the house. Having said that, nests are becoming less active at this time of year. They are usually abandoned by late Autumn/early Winter, depending on weather conditions, and are not reused the following year. I was sanding back peeling, varnish from exterior wooden gates about 2 month ago and dozens of wasps landed on the surfaces while I was doing so. They didn't bother me and weren't put off by the electric sander, even landing on it while it was powered on. I realised that I was just making it easier for them to chew off wood to maintain a nest. I tracked them back to the eaves but although the nest entrance was clearly visible it wasn't easy to get to. A visit from a local pest control specialist solved the problem for £65.
 
Score (on return yesterday afternoon):-

Buzzing in the window: 1
Dead on the windowsill: 1
Caught in the jam trap: 0

It's starting to get light, and Heathrow Runway 6 is operating.
 
You’re lucky. The neighbour in the upstairs flat has wasps entering a hole in the window frame to her entrance/stairs which is right next to my front window. People walking along the path can get bothered by the wasps. Worse is that she has complained about wasps getting into her upstairs windows. I haven’t had a problem except when gardening (spit! I hate gardening!). When you watch the hole it really is like Heathrow - so I get the point. It was nothing to do with me, so I don’t know the details, but some professional has been and squirted something in the hole and a few days on there’s only the odd lost sole landing in the general area. Job done?
 
Watching them, I saw they were carrying something small and white. I now realise what they're doing: taking out my cavity wall insulation (polystyrene beads)!

Right - destroyer squirty stuff it is then, I can aim it at the entrance by leaning out of a bedroom window.
 
Black Hole said:
Shame I chucked that mouldy jam away...
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You just scrape off the mouldy top layer bits and the rest is OK. Then keep it in the fridge as they tell you on the label.
Strangely it's only the commercial stuff that seems to suffer. Home-made seems OK (at least mine does) in the cupboard.

I'll have to take a picture of the nest in ma's house next time I'm there. It's quite large (the second one she's had) and it got left until everything died off. Must get round to removing it!
 
Black Hole said:
Watching them, I saw they were carrying something small and white. I now realise what they're doing: taking out my cavity wall insulation (polystyrene beads)!
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Are they going to insulate a new nest? Do they know more than the government about increasing energy prices? :D
 
prpr said:
You just scrape off the mouldy top layer bits and the rest is OK.
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Apparently this is not true. If there is visible mould then the 'roots' go way down into whatever has the mould. It may not harm you, but it is there nonetheless.
 
I've been known to trim the mould off cheese, remove a third of a mouldy tomato, or chop the corner off a mouldy slice of bread. Hasn't harmed me. :sick:
(Bloody spellchecker grumbling about mould.)
 
EEPhil said:
I've been known to trim the mould off cheese, remove a third of a mouldy tomato, or chop the corner off a mouldy slice of bread. Hasn't harmed me. :sick:
(Bloody spellchecker grumbling about mould.)
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Me too for many decades, though it wasn't a frequent event ... Once or twice a year maybe.
But research/an article I saw some months ago blew a hole in that idea.
It seems wasteful, but some of those moulds can be nasty, so I don't chance it anymore.
 
Well, after three squirts there are just a few stragglers about – and not carrying my insulation away any more! I didn't try hunting for the actual nest, I doubt it would have been accessible. No telling how much damage they did in the mean time. I wonder whether they thought the beads were failed pupae.
 
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