Wasps at the top of a capped chimney

[nothanks]

Today I noticed a large swarm of very very active wasps at the top of one of the chimney stacks. This stack has 3 pots, two are capped and the third is in use; the wasps seem to be buzzing around the centre (capped) pot. I'd be tempted to leave them but some are venturing down to the bedroom windows and generally being tedious, plus they are unusually active. The house is tall, the stack is tall, and the roof pitch is about 60 degrees ... so I'm not inclined to try getting to it from a ladder. I don't think there's a solution but thought I'd ask the (ahem!) "hive" mind for suggestions ...

[Jeff Layman]

If you're patient, the first frost should see them off.

Do you know where in the house the capped chimney flue originally opened? Perhaps there is a small hole in the cap and the wasps are interested in entering it. Has a queen already entered and started a new nest? It would be very unusual at this time of year. If you need to get something done, a professional pest controller would perhaps be the most likely to get a quick and effective result.

[Chris Bacon]

On 08/10/2021 22:01, [e-mail] wrote: > Today I noticed a large swarm of very very active wasps at the top of > one of the chimney stacks. This stack has 3 pots, two are capped and the > third is in use; the wasps seem to be buzzing around the centre (capped) > pot. I'd be tempted to leave them but some are venturing down to the > bedroom windows and generally being tedious, plus they are unusually > active. > The house is tall, the stack is tall, and the roof pitch is about 60 > degrees ... so I'm not inclined to try getting to it from a ladder. I > don't think there's a solution but thought I'd ask the (ahem!) "hive" > mind for suggestions ... It's much too late for wasps. Were they wasps, they'd buzz off now, the workers will die at the first frost, or before, queens will fly off and find somewhere to hibernate. They do not re-use nests, so won't be a problem next year.

I would be inclined to leave whatever insects they are to get on with whatever it is that they are doing, and await events with kindly interest.

Yu can alwys do something about it later, if the "problem" persists.

Photos woud be most interesting. I use imgbb.com.

[Steve Walker]

We had a wasp problem. The wasps were coming in through any open window and we were ending up with dozens a day. We put up with it for a month, but had to deal with it eventually. I too dis not fancy trying to squirt something into the hole in the mortar that was the entrance to their nest, so we called someone in.

He used an extending pole with a nozzle and squirted killer in to the hole (just below the eaves), while standing on the ground. Similarly, such a system should allow treatment of a chimney, while staying at the top of a ladder far from it.

[nothanks]

Yes, I'll try leaving them for a short period and see what happens.

From looking at the 1930s architect's drawings it's either to an ex-fireplace in a bedroom or to where there was once a stove in a downstairs inner lobby, probably the former. There aren't any vents in the rooms but the caps are vented. I guess I could drill into the flue and spray something in ... hmmm, I've just remembered that there's a removable access plate in the attic but I think that's for the stove flue - investigation required. If you need to get

True, but I can't see how they would solve the access problem without a cherry picker (££££)

[nothanks]

They were definitely wasps.

There isn't a suitable vantage point to take a worthwhile photo - the top of the chimney is (not unsurprisingly) the highest point.

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

When you say capped, I assume you mean it has a mesh or louvered cap on it just to keep it aired and keep the rain out? Where exactly does it start from and can that area be accessed. You may be able to get a person to put poisonous gas in from there and let it rise up and kill the wasps. I had to do a similar thing indoors with a nest between floors to stop having to pull most of the bathroom suite out some years ago. Just cut a couple of floorboards. Then I had the air vents capped with a very fine mesh to stop them getting back in somewhere else. In your case that latter fix is going to be hard to do though. It would be a good idea during the treatment if all life forms were not in the house while its being done and all windows and doors are open afterwards, as we don't really know, apart from smelling foul, how harmful the mixture is to other forms of life. I did notice fewer spiders for some months afterwards! Brian

[Chris Bacon]

You could try a question on wildlifebytes, in the insect and invertebrate -> bees and wasps section. I can't think why wasps would behave like that, unless just perhaps it was due to queens flying off (and mating as they go), and causing some sort of colony disturbance, or indeed some other sort of disturbance (e.g. part of the nest falling off whatever it was stuck to, or some sort of predator, e.g. hornets).

[nothanks]

The chimney cap is probably 35-40 feet (vertically) from the ground - a very long pole or a precarious perch on a ladder.

[nothanks]

I've just found a couple of photos from when some (brave or, perhaps, foolish) chaps fixed the flaunching:

[newshound]

As others have said, I'd be amazed if the problem does not disappear very soon. I had to gently shoe a queen wasp out of our living room yesterday.

I only discovered a couple of days ago when I replaced a light bulb for the winter that we have had a wasps nest in our stables all year (melon-sized). There was no sign of significant wasp activity around the yard, even though the nest was within touching distance.

[nothanks]

A couple of months ago I found one in an old house martin nest. I'm tolerant of nearly all insects, but wasps are an exception.

[newshound]

Flies can be a real problem if you keep horses. I have nesting boxes for swallows / housemartins, but have not yet succeeded in attracting any. I guess our wasps were feeding on the flies. But we hardly ever see wasps there, even when we have visitors with sticky buns. I recognise that phobias about snakes, spiders, insects etc. are real.

[TimW]

Yes, if wasps they will all be dead in a few weeks. They don't overwinter in the nest, only the Queen survives to next year by hibernating elsewhere and the nest is not re used next year.

So chill,

TW

[John Rumm]

At our previous place, a neighbour often had this going on in his chimney. His also had been capped, but the person who capped it (with tiles mortared over the hole), had swapped out one of the bricks with an airbrick so the stack had some ventilation. End result it was easy for the critters to enter and exit.

(made it a bit more "interesting" when he asked me to put a new aerial up on the stack!)

[John Rumm]

Depending on the layout, it might need a long ladder past the eves, roof ladder up the slope, then a pole for the final reach. (or a cherry picker!)

[Chris Bacon]

That's up in the stratosphere. I'd be inclined to ignore it.

[nothanks]

If they stayed up there I wouldn't mind, but they seem to be exploring the bedroom windows. As someone else suggested, I'll "chill" for a while ;-)

[nothanks]

In an earlier reply I put a link to a photo of how some guys got up there to repair the flaunching a while back: a 3 (or 4?) stage tower to get part way, then remove tiles and climb the battens - a bit like a mountaineering expedition. The inside of the roof has diagonal sarking boards (not just felt) so there was no risk of falling through. I'm far from being risk averse but I won't be trying it!

[newshound]

At this time of year the normal wasps are struggling to find food, while the queens are looking for somewhere protected to hibernate for the winter. You probably want to deter the latter from coming in, but both types are likely to be slow and dozy and not very likely to sting.