Wasp Nest « Singletrack Forum

Chat Forum

[closed]

Wasp Nest

33 posts & 28 voices | Started 2 years ago by Ewan | Latest reply from samuri

Tags:

No tags yet.

Ewan - Member

Noticed a Wasp nest in the loft last night. Not entirely sure where they've got in, but the nest is about the size of a big fist hanging from the roof felt.

My current plan is to tw4t it with a hammer / slide a kife across the bit where it joins the roof and catch it in a bin liner on the basis they'll all be a bit dopey as it's so cold. Anyone know how well nests tend to be attached? The bit where it's attached is not borded so i'll be balancing on an inch wide beam and if I only suceed in annoying them i'll have no option but to MTFU and take it!

Posted 2 years ago #
woody2000 - Member

They'll probably all be dead and the nest will be empty. Probably...

Posted 2 years ago #
beanum - Member

so i'll be balancing on an inch wide beam

Any chance you could get someone to film you doing this? It could be a massive YouTube hit

From Wikipedia:

At a certain time of the year (often around autumn), the bulk of the wasp colony dies away, leaving only the young mated queens alive. During this time they leave the nest and find a suitable area to hibernate for the winter.

Posted 2 years ago #
david_r - Member

I thought all wasps would be dead now. Went outside a few nights ago to get some more logs to throw on the fire. Walking across the living room and the biggest mother of a wasp I have ever seen in my life flew out from one of the logs.

I did the decent thing..... and ran out the room like a girl whilst simultaneously instructing the wife to kill it immediately. In my defence, it was absolutely massive.

Good luck Ewan. My money is on you balancing on a joist whilst waving your arms around like a loony followed by crashing through the ceiling.

Posted 2 years ago #
teagirl - Member

Get some wasp killer from local DIY store and zap 'em through the opening. Quick solution. Then examine the nest, they are amazing structures.

Posted 2 years ago #
mrmichaelwright - Member

i have one to remove too, going to for for the sneaky drop it into a tub and stick the lid on quick approach.

Posted 2 years ago #
uplink - Member

Wasps won't come back to the same nest - leave it alone if you can

I thought all wasps would be dead now

Apart from the queens to start next year's colonies

Posted 2 years ago #
thepurist - Member

Nuke the entire site from orbit - it's the only way to be sure

Posted 2 years ago #
skidartist - Member

If its not an active nest just leave it be - partly because they are lovely to look at, but also (I'm told) because wasps are pretty territorial so the presence of a nest will deter others from nesting.

Thats the theory I'm going with so I'm leaving the one in the workshop be (mainly for the reason its nice to look at). If it die in some horrible beard-of-wasps-anaphalactic-shock-horror this coming summer its because non of you stopped me.

Posted 2 years ago #
jond - Member

If you've only just noticed it then it's not been much of an issue up to now and you may as well leave it. By the time we left our old place after 15 years, there were several nests in assorted places, and only one had been a nuisance. And that was only 'cos we had some rubbish louvre windows just below where the wasps used to enter the loft, so they'd occasionally go the wrong way.

FWIW, wasps are quite useful insects and predate on various gardens pests. There's a good chance another one will appear at some point, so it's not worth worrying about IMO.

Posted 2 years ago #
meehaja - Member

1: Soak it in petrol
2: add more petrol
3: set fire to nest
4: flick more petrol at nest to ensure "good burn"
5: call fire brigade

Posted 2 years ago #
GaryLake - Member

1: Soak it in petrol
2: add more petrol
3: set fire to nest
4: flick more petrol at nest to ensure "good burn"
5: call fire brigade

Now that... that right there is your youtube hit!

Posted 2 years ago #
CaptainFlashheart - Member

Nuke it from orbit.

Posted 2 years ago #
sv - Member

I set fire to a problem nest in the garden last summer - in the loft would be a different matter!

Posted 2 years ago #
joolsburger - Member

Cut it down carefully and stuck it in a plastic bag. Spray it generously with wasp killer cut in half they make an excellent show and tell bit for school kids that's what I did with mine.

Posted 2 years ago #
ratcatcher - Member

It will have no live wasps or grubs in
as above school show n tell there will be no need to spray
promise....

Posted 2 years ago #
joolsburger - Member

They are dead interesting, it's amzing how they make them.

Posted 2 years ago #
Ewan - Member

Too cold to go in the loft tonight.... i'm currently going with this option...

That said I didn't realise they didn't come back to them year on year...

Posted 2 years ago #
missingfrontallobe - Member

Some local councils will sort these out for free. Mine does. Ring environmental services and ask.

Posted 2 years ago #
Ewan - Member

I think they'd laugh when they saw the size of it!

Posted 2 years ago #
bassspine - Member

An ex-girlfriend of mine found a wasp nest in her old doll's house in the attic in her parent's house. It was one of the most surreal things I've ever seen, I wish I'd photographed it.

Posted 2 years ago #
Underhill - Member

david_r - sounds like you found a Wood Wasp. They're **** massive, one scared the crap out of me when I was washing the bike one day. Huge sting on them too. But turns out it's useless cos they're harmless, no danger from one of them unless you take a heart attack when you see it

Posted 2 years ago #
sweepy - Member

The wasps wont reuse the nest and as someone else said, it deters others from nesting there. Leave it where it is.

Posted 2 years ago #
scraprider - Member

leave it till summer . you shount be up there in this cold weather anyway,

Posted 2 years ago #
Midnighthour - Member

They will all be dead by now and the new queens will have moved off to new locations. Wasps only live a season. They dont reuse the same nest or site generally.

A couple of years ago there was one in the roof here and they were just great to watch - so busy, and lines of them going in and out like a motorway. They had no interest in the house or garden, just flew at roof level out into the nearby woods to hunt other insects. They can be noisy when building their nest though.

If we had them come here again, we would be happy to leave them as they were no trouble at all, and as I said, amazing to observe.

Posted 2 years ago #
CaptJon - Member

I think a combination of suggestions would work well:

joolsburger - Member
Cut it down carefully and stuck it in a plastic bag

meehaja - Member
1: Soak it in petrol
2: add more petrol
3: set fire to nest
4: flick more petrol at nest to ensure "good burn"

ratcatcher - Member
...school show n tell

Posted 2 years ago #
windowshopper - Member

Part of my attic space was blocked off by a fire-wall and had been for the 30+ years since the houe was built. I recently put a hatch in the ceiling to get in there and found several nests. All are probably "dead" as the council killed off the last lot in the summer (for about £30 IIRC) before I put the hatch in.

Consequently I wouldn't assume leaving the nest there will avoid further new nests being built nearby if it's a good spot for the little blighters.

Posted 2 years ago #
aleigh - Member

i have a wasp in my downstairs loo somewhere - i presume it would be dead by now?! my daughter said it was huge....no chance of it being a queen is there?!

Posted 2 years ago #
uplink - Member

no chance of it being a queen is there?!

every chance

Posted 2 years ago #
dmiller - Member

i have a wasp in my downstairs loo somewhere - i presume it would be dead by now?! my daughter said it was huge....no chance of it being a queen is there?

Do the queen wasps not sneak around the plumbing and pop out in different rooms? Do they not also stalk you at night? Infact can they not breath under water and sneak up on people in other bathrooms and sting them on the bum when they are on the pan?

Posted 2 years ago #
lowey - Member

FWIW, wasps are quite useful insects

Maybe, but I still think they are the Nazi's of the insect world. Sting you for the fun of it.

Posted 2 years ago #
aleigh - Member

but it wouldn't sleep in my house would it?!

Do the queen wasps not sneak around the plumbing and pop out in different rooms? Do they not also stalk you at night? Infact can they not breath under water and sneak up on people in other bathrooms and sting them on the bum when they are on the pan?

Posted 2 years ago #
samuri - Member

lol @dmiller

I don't think so, they're only nazis, not ninjas

Posted 2 years ago #