Wasp nest

[Nick]

Have been ferreting around in the loft this evening, routing & clipping up ethernet & co-ax cables etc. At the farthest end of the loft space, which is about 12m from the hatch, there is a wasp nest attached to an end gable. No signs of activity, but I guess there would'nt be much at this time of year given the current temperature. It certainly wasn't there 2 years ago, so may well be live. Not a big nest, about 30cm in each vaguely triangular direction. Would I be safe to break this up whilst vacuuming it into an industrial vaucuum cleaner or should I pay for someone to come and do it? Major problem is that this loft is crawl space only. Maximum height is slightly under 1m. A racing crawl from the nest to the hatch takes the best part of a minute (tried it this evening and have the bumped head, knees, knuckles etc to prove it). I don't have appropriate ppc and am somewhat hesitant as a bunch of irate wasps will definitely be faster than I. The tiled roof has sarking rather than felt, I imagine this allows ingress for the little blighters. Any constructive suggestions would be much appreciated.

Nick.

[Sam]

[Mary Fisher]

There'll be nothing living in it and it won't be occupied again. I promise.

What you do it get a sharp knife - a bread knife is good. Hold a bin liner under the nest and saw through where the nest is attached to the timbers. It will be very tough. Allow the nest to go, gently, into the bin bag.

To make you confident that there is nothing living in it, tie the bag securely and put the lot into the deep freeze overnight. Next day take it out, saw down the nest - very carefully, parts are very fragile - and admire the architecture. If you have children show them too. Any insects left will be dead - they were dead before you cut it down.

You can do if you like but it would be destroyed and wasted before you can look at it.

Not unless you pay me :-) I've removed lots of wasps' nests when they've been very active - but only when I haven't been able to persuade people to keep them (when I charge the Earth) or when it's been absolutely necessary. The local council will charge a lot, even when it's not occupied.

That's deep enough.

There's no need to race, there are no living wasps in your nest. Please don't worry.

They can get in through very tiny holes. You can't stop them if there's any ventilation at all in your roof space no matter what the construction is.

I hope this is good enough. If not, either reply here on mail me - my addy is genuine.

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

's a sound natural history site but of no practical help to Nick.

Mary

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[Sam]

That's a sound natural history site but of no practical help to Nick.

Maybe you're right, perhaps the bit "At the end of autumn a number of eggs develop into new queens and males, which leave the nest and mate. The new queens seek out suitable places in which to hibernate, and the males and the old colony (including the old queen) die" would be a bit beyond his grasp, do you think? Or just yours?

Sam

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Sam" saying something like:

Bit of a wanker, aren't you, Sam?

[Mary Fisher]

> That's a sound natural history site but of no practical help to Nick.

[Seri]

Not much to add to Mary's sane and as ever sensible advice, except some things you might want to bear in mind: Wasps don't return to old nests, but the same things that attracted them to your loft in the first place are likely to continue attracting them. Wasps aren't particularly destructive, but they do use 'raw' materials to construct their nests, quite often these will come from outside, but it's not unheard of for them to eat wood (joists) or cardboard from within the loft space for this purpose.

Basically, there's no need to rush/stress/panic, but do try and find out how they made it in and then block their entry so they don't become an annual little 'visitor'.

Seri

P.S. don't fall for the misconception that wasps are bad, they're actually quite nice little buggers (unless they sting you).

[Sam]

Well I have in the past, not so much these days, what's it like in sore wrist land these days John?

Sam

[Mary Fisher]

> That's a sound natural history site but of no practical help to Nick.

Nothing on the site is beyond my grasp (I'm an hymenopterist). The new queens never hibernate in an old nest so the above is irrelevant and I certainly don't grasp your point.

I suggest that you hold your insults until you know others' qualifications and experience.

Mary

[Sam]

>> That's a sound natural history site but of no practical help to Nick.

Yes I wholly agree Mary, best post of your's I've ever read.

Regards

Sam

[Newshound]

Seconded.

If you do hear any buzzing or signs of insect activity, don't panic. It will be small black flies which have hatched out of dead grubs. (I took one out of a mothballed horsebox last year).

If you have do deal with a "live" one in the season because it is somewhere

*very* inconvenient, the aerosol sprays from hardware shops (less than a fiver) are easy to use and not scary. They spray a jet of foam containing insecticide about 10 feet or so, you block up the opening and then cover the rest of the nest and leave them to die.

[Mary Fisher]

They need a dark pace which is easily defenable (i.e. with a small entrance) and of sufficient size. All roof spaces satisfy those demands and are very common places for queens to start nests.

They *might* use roof timbers, although it's more likely that they'll fetch it in from outside because they're 'programmed' to forage outside. But even if they do use roof timbers they're not going to weaken the framework of the house.

To show this, if Nick (or anyone who takes a nest as I suggested) weighs the nest they'll see how light it is. Generations of wasps, if they exclusively took roof timbers, wouldn't make any impact on them during a human lifetime!

You can't block every possible entry, it's impossible. If you do you're courting disaster in losing ventilation.

People tell me that dogs are nice but I've been bitten by them - and their bites have been far worse than any insect stings (to which I sometimes have a general reaction and could, in theory, die).

Wasps are beautiful, clever and wonderful predators on many of what humans consider pests in the garden. Without them we'd be ankle deep in creepy crawlies.

Mary

Mary

>

[Mary Fisher]

But they can also have an effect on humans. I wouldn't use any of them except in extreme circumstances. Mostly I do without my fee and persuade householders to let the colony run its course. I don't like spreading poisons of any kind.

Mary

[Sam]

>> That's a sound natural history site but of no practical help to Nick.

Well I've had a few hymens in my time but to be honest pulling rank in usenet is just HaHaHaHaHaHa!.

The OP is obviously totally ignorant of wasp lifecycles or a troll, either way my original post was not invalid. So sod off!

Sam

[Mary Fisher]

Oh dear, Sam, you're really showing your ignorance now. I suspect you didn't read the website.

It was invalid because he asked how to deal with the nest, not for the lifecycle of the insect.

Over and out.

Mary

[Sam]

Oh I would say woosh, but yawn is a better reply.

Well I guess your attitude of "Oh I'm clever I'll tell what to do, down to what sort of knives should be used" Is the current usenet theme, rather than the "hey look here I'll gently give you an idea of where to get a clue" of old, but hey the world changes, broadband comes, web forums rise, we go away, you're pleased, all left are dull trolls and idiots. |Well enjoy.

goodbye

[Nick]

The OP is totally ignorant of wasp lifecycles and is not a troll. That is why he posted here. You being hermaphroditic, Sam, might care to foxtrot oscar and mind you own business. Nick.

[John Stumbles]

I have vacuumed out a wasp's nest - at arm's (plus vacuum cleaner extension tube's :-) length. It was in a loft I was boarding up (and in the way of the new floor) and I wasn't confident that it was dead/empty even though it was winter and I'd been assured - on this very group - that it would be harmless (which it was, as it turned out). Next time I would like to extract one whole to look at: they really are beautiful, even just from the outside.

I'm sure the nest isn't _full_ of living wasps, but I wouldn't be sure there aren't any live ones around. I got stung by a wasp about 5 weeks ago (mid-December). The wasp was lurking on an indoor windowsill on our stairway, but since we'd had a nest in our attic (which, under Mary's influence, I hadn't done anything about!) and had just had the loft hatch open I'm pretty sure it came down from the attic. In other years and/or in other houses I've also seen large wasps flying slowly around in the attic in winter. Maybe oop North they do all die in the winter but in the soft South a few can obviously live on well past their sell-by date.

[Nick]

Thanks Seri,

I don't believe they are bad; I don't want to have to live with them in the house with my family and pets. All of us have suffered stings over the last few years, nothing disastrous but painful at the time. This isn't a knee-jerk reaction, believe me. In my OP I said that the roof has sarking and not felt. This means that there will be small spaces under most rooftiles that might allow ingress. A rough calculation gives 130,000 roof tiles. That's a lot of small spaces. Probably time to consider re-roofing the whole lot but where to find someone to cope with this lot. Listed buildings, tythe barns etc.

Many thanks for your advice

Nick.