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Safe to remove dead wasps' nest?

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zico
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Safe to remove dead wasps' nest?

#401631

Postby zico » April 4th, 2021, 2:11 pm

We have a wasps nest in our loft that was treated by a pest control firm last autumn, so all the wasps should be dead.
Does anyone know if it's safe to remove it myself? The pest control guy said it would be OK because wasps never return to a nest where the wasps have been killed, but would be good to have any experiences/views on the subject before I try it.

AsleepInYorkshire
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Re: Safe to remove dead wasps' nest?

#401638

Postby AsleepInYorkshire » April 4th, 2021, 2:26 pm

zico wrote:We have a wasps nest in our loft that was treated by a pest control firm last autumn, so all the wasps should be dead.
Does anyone know if it's safe to remove it myself? The pest control guy said it would be OK because wasps never return to a nest where the wasps have been killed, but would be good to have any experiences/views on the subject before I try it.

Put a strong plastic bag around it and pull it off so it falls into the bag.

Wasps don't return to old nests.

AiY

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Re: Safe to remove dead wasps' nest?

#401640

Postby ReformedCharacter » April 4th, 2021, 2:27 pm

zico wrote:We have a wasps nest in our loft that was treated by a pest control firm last autumn, so all the wasps should be dead.
Does anyone know if it's safe to remove it myself? The pest control guy said it would be OK because wasps never return to a nest where the wasps have been killed, but would be good to have any experiences/views on the subject before I try it.

I used to keep bees and consequently some people assumed I'd be qualified to deal with wasps and I have removed a few nests.

I think the pest control person is probably right, apart from anything else the nest is presumably still toxic to wasps from whatever treatment was applied. If you don't see any wasps flying around near the old nest you should be fine. I'd put the nest in a bin bag and then on a compost heap if you have one. Wear gloves, it won't make much difference but at least you'll feel more confident :)

RC

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Re: Safe to remove dead wasps' nest?

#401643

Postby Midsmartin » April 4th, 2021, 2:36 pm

I know that sometimes they do have to be removed if they are right where people live, or if someone is liable to allergic reactions, but remember that wasps are great little animals.

We had wasps nesting in our roof space this year, and it never occurred to me to get rid of them. Sometimes I could hear them above my desk. I unscrewed the light fitting and some antennae waved back. I left them to it.. they were doing no harm. A couple of years ago we had a colony of wild bees in the roof too, but sadly they didn't return.

88V8
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Re: Safe to remove dead wasps' nest?

#401649

Postby 88V8 » April 4th, 2021, 3:07 pm

Last year we had half a dozen nests in and around the cottage. And some underground.

Wasps are quite territorial, and those near a path eventually had to be zapped. As this is a regular event, I invested c£250 in professional dusting equipment with a 10ft wand and some very toxic powder.

If they have to build the nest from scratch, the classic ball shape, it's true that they don't return whether they've been killed or not.
But beneath our bedroom window they come every year and the previous owner said they were already in situ before 1993; they slither in under the tiles and nest in the wall cavity between the tiles the thatch and the wattle & daub.
Their honey has seeped out over the years and stained the daub in the bedroom.
Last year I attacked them with the powder so that may be the end of that site at last as the powder persists.

Their nests are a thing of beauty. Frail as gossamer but they can last for decades. There is a huge old nest in one attic, must be 2 feet across, just hanging there though it has not been occupied for many a year.
There is no need to remove old nests.

Wasps are important in the garden, eating pests and recycling rotten wood.
I just wish they were more careful in siting their nests.

V8

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Re: Safe to remove dead wasps' nest?

#401659

Postby XFool » April 4th, 2021, 4:15 pm

88V8 wrote:Wasps are important in the garden, eating pests and recycling rotten wood.
I just wish they were more careful in siting their nests.

I just wish they'd mind their own business and get on with it. Like bees do.

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Re: Safe to remove dead wasps' nest?

#401671

Postby bungeejumper » April 4th, 2021, 4:44 pm

88V8 wrote:the previous owner said they were already in situ before 1993; they slither in under the tiles and nest in the wall cavity between the tiles the thatch and the wattle & daub.
Their honey has seeped out over the years and stained the daub in the bedroom.

Honey? Wasps?

I'm with you about the need to zap wasps' nests sometimes, though. It depends on the location and the temperament of the colony, which can range from dozy to organised kamikaze. I think I've said this before, but I prefer those aerosols that send a thin jet of foam eight or ten feet. If in doubt, tackle the nest at dusk when they're sleepy and too disorientated to fight back.

We did have terrifyingly aggressive bees once, though. We have two colonies in one of our chimney stacks, and one year the little buzzers were coming down to our patio every morning, in battle formation, looking for somebody to kill. :shock: It seems that the whole colony gets its behavioural cues from its queen, and a beekeeper in that situation will "de-queen" (i.e. kill the queen and replace it with another, more docile one.) Whereupon the whole colony will instantly become friendly.

That wasn't much of a comfort in our case, though. Our bee colonies are more than 50ft up from the ground. Nothing we could do but avoid the area till the next year. :(

BJ

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Re: Safe to remove dead wasps' nest?

#401678

Postby ReformedCharacter » April 4th, 2021, 5:45 pm

bungeejumper wrote:
We did have terrifyingly aggressive bees once, though. We have two colonies in one of our chimney stacks, and one year the little buzzers were coming down to our patio every morning, in battle formation, looking for somebody to kill. :shock: It seems that the whole colony gets its behavioural cues from its queen, and a beekeeper in that situation will "de-queen" (i.e. kill the queen and replace it with another, more docile one.) Whereupon the whole colony will instantly become friendly.

That wasn't much of a comfort in our case, though. Our bee colonies are more than 50ft up from the ground. Nothing we could do but avoid the area till the next year. :(

BJ

Yes, that does sound pretty bad. Bee breeders do have a scoring method for bee temperament, including proclivities such as how close you can get to the colony before they get aggressive and how far you can move away from the colony before they give up attacking you, etc. And it does depend on the queen's genetics. Honeybees are interesting in that respect because the workers (female) come from a fertilised egg whereas the drones develop from an unfertilised egg. That means that male honeybees have no father because their entire set of chromosomes come only from their mother, the queen. But they do have a grandfather, because the queen, a female, was the result of a fertilized egg. It is supposedly possible to 'tame' aggressive colonies by placing something that attracts their attention near to the colony, such as a dark unwashed t-shirt, that will move in the wind. The idea is that they will either become accustomed to nearby human presence or perhaps kill themselves by stinging the t-shirt. I haven't tried this myself though.

RC

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Re: Safe to remove dead wasps' nest?

#401683

Postby Lanark » April 4th, 2021, 5:58 pm

ReformedCharacter wrote:I'd put the nest in a bin bag and then on a compost heap if you have one.

If it is full of toxic chemicals then that will also kill your compost.

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Re: Safe to remove dead wasps' nest?

#401689

Postby ReformedCharacter » April 4th, 2021, 6:24 pm

Lanark wrote:
ReformedCharacter wrote:I'd put the nest in a bin bag and then on a compost heap if you have one.

If it is full of toxic chemicals then that will also kill your compost.

Good point, but not necessarily, it depends on the chemical. I don't know what professional pest controllers use but Pyrethroids are often used in household treatments, a similar compound to the natural Pyrethrins, which are produced by the flowers of the Chrysanthemum family and are unlikely to do any harm to plants, especially after composting.

RC

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Re: Safe to remove dead wasps' nest?

#401690

Postby csearle » April 4th, 2021, 6:29 pm

ReformedCharacter wrote:I don't know what professional pest controllers use but Pyrethroids are often used in household treatments...
I had those once. My GP lanced them for me. C.

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Re: Safe to remove dead wasps' nest?

#401692

Postby ReformedCharacter » April 4th, 2021, 6:33 pm

csearle wrote:
ReformedCharacter wrote:I don't know what professional pest controllers use but Pyrethroids are often used in household treatments...
I had those once. My GP lanced them for me. C.

Next time try Pilewort (Lesser celandine) :)

RC


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