The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Wildlife => Topic started by: fiestyredhead331 on July 19, 2014, 11:05:44 pm
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started off the size of a golf ball a couple of months ago, hanging just inside the shed door but is now the size of a small rugby ball!!! Really wish I'd dealt with this sooner as I am terrified of wasps and I refuse to go into the shed now. Must admit though it is a thing of beauty, one of those papier mache type ones.
Have read best thing is to put a bag over it and pull it down and put it in a bucket of water? Anyone tried this or have any other suggestions?
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We had one like that in our garden shed and I simply didn't go in the shed until they all died off in the winter. Mr F doesn't mind such things, so if I needed anything, he fetched it 8)
When we got our boat out the other day (hadn't been used for a couple of years) there was a ginormous wasp nest in the bow, hidden by the cover. Fortunately it was last years, and my granddaughter took it to school.
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They are works of art, just in an inconvenient place ;D . If you leave alone, they will mainly be gone by winter and you can easily deal with it then.
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i would happily leave it if it wasnt right next to the house in the shed where all my freezers are.
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They are works of art, just in an inconvenient place ;D . If you leave alone, they will mainly be gone by winter and you can easily deal with it then.
Yes they die off as the weather gets colder and the food supply runs out. Exception was one we had under our kitchen floor, in previous house, accessed via an air vent. The space seemed to benefit from the house heating and they seemed to go on til Christmas ::)
FRH - maybe you should don full beekeepers kit every time you want anything from the freezer :roflanim: I agree, swarming wasps just there would be a bummer.
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They are a pain here, they always build in the most awkward place where you guarantee to annoy them and then you get stung.
As I have an allergy to bee and wasp stings they have to be dealt with. We have had 3 this week 2 small ones and one the size of a melon !
The easiest thing we have found is the cans of foam. You can spray the nest from a distance and run before any stragglers get you ::) Did have a scare when I disturbed a nest under the coal bunker lid, I didn't know it was there until it was too late and got stung 4 times. Twice on the face and twice on the arm I had a face like a bull dog :o
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We had one in the loft space above the lounge. John went off climbing on the one weekend when they decided to invade my privacy via the radiator pipes!
So I sealed them in on the outside with mastic under the eaves - doing about a foot at a time then running like stink, till it was all done. So those that were in, were in and those that were out couldn't get in.
Then I rushed over to the hardware store and bought a couple of cans of wasp killer. Went upstairs, opened the hatch, did a big whoosh, then closed it quick. Then went back an hour later and did the same again - no idea how many times but i emptied both cans. :innocent:
I sent John up to check as soon he came home on the Sunday night, didn't even get a chance to unpack his rucksack :roflanim: and he called me up to help clear away all the dead bodies - what a beautiful nest it was - just like lace. I almost felt sorry............ but not quite. >:(
I hate wasps!
Why are they in my world? :rant:
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I hate wasps!
Why are they in my world? :rant:
Why are we in their world?
They're not all bad, especially if you're a gardener, as they are diligent at finding and removing aphids and caterpillars from your crops. They only start to be a pest when they are getting ready to die and coming in to eat jam to keep their energy up.
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if you have to dispatch them, its safer to knock the nest into a black bag, then spray in flykiller and tie a knot pretty damn quick - than trying to drown them.
my body swells like mad if i get stung, we had them last year in the shed i kept my strimmer in so they zapped me as soon as i opened the door.
but yes the nests are amazing - but grow very fast so the sooner the better if you are going to destroy it.
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invested in a tin of foaming wasp nest destroyer today!! Works from 3 metres away not that I will be in within 300 metres when this is used mind you! :sofa:
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Our old house was a wasp paradise, warm walls with lots of cracks so we would get at least two nests a year, the biggest was nearly 3 feet long under the floor boards wrapped round a soil pipe. We only killed them if they were near doors. You wait till they go to bed and then put powder wasp killer along the exit holes of the nest, when they wake up they take the poison into the nest and kill it.
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this one is the size of a rugby ball and suspended beautifully from the roof of the shed.....will get a photo when I'm brave enough :-\
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ha ha wasps 0 - me 1 it did look prettier before it was sprayed with the foam stuff
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Yuk! I found a wee nest in the pullet house tonight, so that had to go. I used powder this time, but I did wonder, since the house is moveable, could I tow it a short distance away, and would that work? My hope was that the wasps would come out of the nest but then get lost and not be able to find their way back again (i.e. like hens, they'd go back to where the house used to be). Can anyone advise?