Dear all,
Just settled down on a cold february evening to read and been disturbed by a large, sluggish wasp which bounced around on my couch for a couple of minutes making a real din until I whacked it with a magazine.
Is it normal for queens to be out and about at this time of year? is it anything I should worry about? It looks like a queen judging by pics I've found online - quite large with a visibly hairy bit above the abdomen.
Anyone else seen anything like this in Feb?
Sky
It is quite common for them to overwinter indoors and to emerge thinking it is spring. The do much more good than harm however you want them outside rather than in!
Peter Crosland
snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.uk
That would spoil it day.
I don't see a need to give it the benefit of the doubt. It's big, it has yellow and black stripes, it may be a queen. I don't see a need to deliberate too long on whether it lives or dies.
Yes.
I've seen a couple in the loft.
I will be buying the insecticide spray tomorrow.
Why ? as has been previously said they are better outside than in, but that is no reason to kill them. An insecticide spray will perhaps do far more damage than a stray wasp, queen or otherwise.
Because I don't want them there.
If there were a quick, efficient and safe way to do this then I might consider it. As it is, a quick spray in the area achieves the same result - i.e. loft without wasp.
I doubt it. I've never been stung by an insecticide spray.
If there's a warm and sunny spell queens can come out of hibernation. Perhaps she was snuggled in curtain folds or other well insulated place.
No, especially as she's now dead :-(
That sounds more like a queen bumble bee - all the above apply.
Yes.
Mary
The bee is quite different, and it's hairy all over - wasp queens look like large wasps, with a bit more hair. Another possibility is a hornet - but I wouldn't expect to see a queen this early on...and there'd be no mistaking it from its sheer size.
I've seen half a dozen or so queen wasps in my workshop this month - which is about average for the last few years.
Regards,
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