Evening all. First post on here, thought I’d start with a practical question as the advice on here seems to be pretty top notch.

Just moved into a new house (we live in Belgium), first-time-buyers and all that. We’ve noticed a load of wasps and they look like they are already (or could soon be) building a neat among the roof tiles.

Any advice about getting rid of them before we get a colony?

Got 2 small kids so pretty keen to get it sorted ASAP.

Thanks!

Ant powder containing Permethrin. Nasty stuff, but very effective. Sprinkle it (without breathing it in) where the wasps are coming and going. They will carry it into any nest on their bodies and kill it. Make sure it is wasps and not honey bees before you do this.

it is usually very cheap to buy, and way more effective than more expensive wasp nest destroyer type foam etc.

Last year i read that getting a brown paper bag, tieing it at the top and hanging it up somewhere nearby keeps them away as they think it is a nest of another colony.

We hung a couple around the garden last summer and it seemed to work (i think). Worth a go for a zero cost solution.

I will offer up a standard stw answer. MTFU and kill then with fire!

Nuke their slippers from bombers in orbit.

Cheers – will try the paper bag option first (never heard of that approach) followed by the nasty-sounding ant killer, if that fails I guess fire and/or targeted missiles are worth a shot…

Hoof them in the slats.

I will offer up a standard stw answer. MTFU and kill then with fire!

That’ll do it.

Of course, there’s the other time-honoured STW option open to you…

😀

are you sure tthey are wasps it’s very early have just seen
First masonry bees active today which are normally at least a month before wasps would not think Belgium is much different , masonry bees are harmless and best left alone.
Wasps will be in and out of one spot masonry bees in and out of different spots

We had a massive wasps nest in a house we moved into a few years ago. Got a pest control guy out, he said it was the biggest one he’d ever seen (nearly 3 foot across) and used a blower thing to kill everything with an exoskeleton in the roof space. Charged us about sixty quid I think, but sorted the problem straight off. If you’re worried about it get a professional in.

Although stwhannah’s suggestion is pretty sound too:

Ant powder containing Permethrin. Nasty stuff, but very effective.

It’s not *that* nasty. I mean, don’t sprinkle it on yer chips like, but it’s also a standard medicine available over the counter in UK pharmacies for slapping directly onto your skin for certain, er, infestations – if you read the instructions and do what you’re told it’s not likely to kill you…

There was a story on here once about a bloke who climbed up into loft dressed in his carpet slippers and underpants, and used a spatula to knock a wasps nest off the roof onto his wife’s best cushion before carrying it down step ladders to the bin.

Try that, but please get someone to film it. Thanks.

As a pest controller I would say it is too early in the year to be wasps and is most likely a honey bee colony getting ready for the coming summer.

It is always best to leave bees alone if possible but they aren’t a protected species and can be dealt with if you think they will end up posing a problem. Do you for example want a large colony producing honey within the structure of your home? Personally I wouldn’t but if they are out of the way and you are happy to live with them that is the best policy.