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Hi Folks,

Looking for a bit of reassurance here. I was up in the loft the other day and to my horror I saw an enormous wasp nest. It's about 2 feet across at its widest point and is built into the corner of the loft. There were some dead wasps around it but there were a few still alive (although drowsy).

At least I know where all the wasps were coming from last year! My questions are:

Will the wasps in the nest survive until next year?

Will the nest be reused by the wasps?

If I need to get rid of it, what is the best way to do this without getting stung?

Cheers folks.

yes, they will survive.. yes i woudl get rid

personally I would get somene in to do it.. in UK would contact council

What usually happens is last years queen and enough workers lay dormant ready to start the nest again, sometimes making a new nest along side the old one.
As red has sugested, it's best to have a word with your local council

Contact your local council. The pest control officer will come and do it for you but there may be a charge - unless you are on certain benefits. If you really want to do it your self now is about the best time - while the wasps are drowsy. Wait until evening, when the wasps have all come home, spray wasp killer into the nest - it usually comes with a long spray tube attachment so you don't have to get too close. Leave it at least over night and when you are sure that the wasps are dead slip a bin liner over then nest, completely enclosing it and cut it off at the stem but that attaches the nest.
This may sound a stupid question - but are you absolutely certain that they are wasps? I used to work with the pest control officer and you'd be surprised how many people can't tell the difference between wasps and bees! I don't mean to offend it's just that it would be a shame to kill bees by mistake as people often do.

Yes I'm sure they are wasps (unfortunately). The local council don't do pest control here, so I guess it'll have to be rentokill or some similar company.

Thanks for the replies though coz I was just going to leave it hoping they would die off and / or abandon the nest. Now I know, I'll get onto it in the morning.

Thanks all.

Cligereen,

We have a huge wasp nest up in the attic too!

Hubby is going to try & take it down gently to preserve it as much as possible - I think we've established that we have no wasps left.... I, however, will be as far away as possible until he's made sure it's clear

They're a stunning bit of work though, aren't they?

Julie.

I could well be wrong here but I was under the impression that wasps made a new nest every year.
The queen goes off somewhere else to hibernate and the drones all die with the onset of colder weather.
When the queen wakes up in the late spring she builds another nest from scratch, so theoretically those nests should be empty.
But that is just my observation and could well be totally wrong.

Tony - if Andy goes up & starts interfering with the nest here, then gets attacked by thousands of angry drones, dies from anaphylactic shock, & I claim the life insurance, I'll let you know.....

They do usually make a new nest each year, but the smell of the old nest attracts them to the site, and lazy queens will reuse an old nest. We had a row of three hanging from the shed roof last year! As soon as the frosts killed most of the wasps off we destroyed them.

We burnt them, as advised by a bloke in the village who works in pest control. He told us a scary story of some-one who took an old nest into a primary school to show the nippers & over the weekend a new colony moved in. Yuk!

As we sleep in our loft (conversion) I hope there arn't any up there *goes to look*

MW

just a note of caution
when i was a nipper we had a wasp nest in the loft and as money was a bit tight my dad got hold of some stuff to spray into the nest to kill it . the distructions said poke nozzle gently in to nest ,spray wait 24 hrs and remove ; sounds easy . dad prods nest with nozzle nest falls off roof hits floor and splits in to lots of bits. wasps not best pleased at this decide to swarm and attack dad falls out of loft we spend weekend at nans house till pest control can come on the monday. still causes hysterics when story re-told at family gatherings some 25 years later