Wasps nest - advice please

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Noticed lots of wasps coming and going through an air brick at home. If I cover air brick with plastic will that kill them or will they find another exit?

What's best way to tackle it?

thanks.
 
I have used Raid wasp nest destroyer spray with some success in the past.
Stand well back and blast that through the holes should do the trick.

Did disturb a wasp nest raking up at the back of my garden wilderness and the bastards went for me.
Took cover in the shed, not before a good few got me on the arms, had to go and have them lanced as some of the sting sites turned nasty.

Just scars now and wouldn't hesitate using the Raid spray, make sure you are covered up just in case
 
Just because they are coming and going through the air brick does not mean that is the site of the nest

Local councils usual have information on their website on how to deal with wasps nests, some even offer a free/cheap removal service

@Cobra is, I believe, a pest control guy so he may have some useful information on dealing with them
 
Had this many years ago in a previous house. Was advised to wait until nighttime when they had returned to the nest. To spray through air brick and then block air brick and leave like that for a few days.

Good luck.
 
BBR said:
. or will they find another exit?
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Indeed they will, they will even chew through concrete to get out.

Keith W said:
Just because they are coming and going through the air brick does not mean that is the site of the nest
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Correct (y)
They are in the cavity somewhere but *usually* no more than a foot or so away from the entrance.
tijuana taxi said:
I have used Raid wasp nest destroyer spray with some success in the past.
Stand well back and blast that through the holes should do the trick.
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And do it at night, that is once they have all returned to the nest.
BUT make sure your arms and face is / are covered, you make look silly, but they will react in a milli second and that will be the target area.

Be very careful, there are two main types of wasps, the yellow with black stripe, and the black with yellow stripe, almost indistinguishable, the yellow on black are
"German wasps" and far more aggressive than the usual type.

In all honesty find a local pestie, cost around £35-£40 and they should guarantee the job too.
(ie will return for free if it doesn't work, but 99.9% work within 24 hours.)
 
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Wasps chewed through a wall to exit a blocked access at my dad's.
Sadly that new exit led into his kitchen.
Bloody nightmare. :(
 
We had a large (as in football size) nest under the eves that we discovered a week ago. Used Rentokill wasp killer powder, applied after dark around the landing area so they carried it into the nest, and 2 days later there was no activity except for one dopey wasp that found its way into the kitchen. We've used this stuff before, and it's been very effective, but if you have a nest with open access and many routes in then it won't work so well.
 
If they are not causing a problem leave them alone.
They will all die off when the weather turns -except for the queen of course.
Blocking off access will prevent a reocupation next year.
 
Wasps are generally a bad idea in buildings: they will tunnel though mortar and chew up timber, sometimes creating new entrances into rooms where they are unwelcome. It's fine for them to be in hollow trees etc, but they will cause damage to buildings.
 
ancient_mariner said:
Wasps are generally a bad idea in buildings: they will tunnel though mortar and chew up timber, sometimes creating new entrances into rooms where they are unwelcome. It's fine for them to be in hollow trees etc, but they will cause damage to buildings.
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Exactly, I have them drop through a ceiling, into a family living area, where they had built a nest mainly from rafters and plaster board.

btw those that don't know, there will be circa 5,000 wasps in a single nest by the autumn.
The queen then lays half a dozen eggs that will become new queens, these leave the nest late autumn to find a nesting site, where they hibernate until the following spring.
 
A few years back I saw them flying in and out of the roots of a tree so I got a can of wasps nest destroyer ,as per instructions I waited until it got dark so they were all inside having tea and pounced.

Sneaky little bastards had covered the entrance up with leaves so I got a long stick to open it up , that's when it all went downhill as the back door I didn't see opened and a lot of angry wasps started dive bombing me

My wife had a right laugh as I came running down the garden like Norman Wisdom
 
Well folks, two cans of raid later and they seem to have gone. Thanks for the advice.

Wife and daughters had a great laugh watching me dressed from head to tke in heavy clothes and wearing a midge net. They filmed me and thoughtfully put it on their Facebook page:mad:
I actually thought the wasps seemed quite docile, felt a bit sorry for them actually.
 
Pleased you have sorted this out.
I have found the easiest way is to use Rentokil wasp powder, just puff some around the entrance and as they come and go it kills them.
 
Wasps only nest in one place once then move on. So next year they move on
 
wave01 said:
Wasps only nest in one place once then move on. So next year they move on
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Cobra said:
The queen then lays half a dozen eggs that will become new queens, these leave the nest late autumn to find a nesting site, where they hibernate until the following spring
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The workers die, at the end of the season, if she's lucky the queen will survive, go into a torpid state until the spring, and start the process all over again.

It takes a whole season to build a nest roughly the size of a football, at best, small beach ball size. The larger nests take more than one season.
2 personal records for me, one a hornets nest that had taken over the whole roof space of a small apartment, ( probably 20 x 20 feet) as I opened the loft hatch, I tore through the nest,
BTW Hornets get upset at this type of thing happening.

A wasps nest in a 5 bed detached house, had covered the whole internal wall of the gable end.

MWHCVT said:
1 gallon of unleaded and a match is usually fairly effective...
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The minute the petrol or anything else "foreign" for that matter, touches the nest, wasps go on the attack, I wouldn't recommend that tbh :D
 
Cobra said:
The minute the petrol or anything else "foreign" for that matter, touches the nest, wasps go on the attack, I wouldn't recommend that tbh :D
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I'd think that would depend on whether the match was applied before or after the petrol touched the nest, however, 'after' is not recommended for reasons unrelated to the wasps. :p
 
18c3b3b1-fb47-4023-9b0c-d4a39e3916a6.jpg
 
sirch said:
Commin' over 'ere, nickin' all our British wasps jobs, Brexit'll sort 'em out...
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The first time I was acquainted with the little darlings was about 20 years ago.
I'd just injected a Neurotoxin under the (low) roof tiles of a barn conversion.
The wasps "Exploded" as they normally do, when you hit the spot, stepping back about 20 feet to watch them spiral out of control, dropping little fighter planes from WWII is generally sufficient
and a safe distance to remove the veil.
Erm, not 50 feet, 100 feet, 100 yards and the barstewarts were still coming after me!
I put the veil back on PDQ I can tell you :D

That was my first encounter, ever since then I have been a little more careful ;)
 
When we had them I went to the local council and they sorted them
 
Tori_T said:
(With apologies to Snoopy)

Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more
The Bloody Yellow Bastards chased Cobra out the door
Eighty wasps died tryin' to end that spree
Of a Big Pink snake against Germany...
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:lol: :lol: :lol:
 
Nikon Ken said:
Had this many years ago in a previous house. Was advised to wait until nighttime when they had returned to the nest. To spray through air brick and then block air brick and leave like that for a few days.

Good luck.
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Having been there done that, next day we shoveled up half a bucket of the little "insects" best way to go but dress up like a terrorist they can still get a bit cross!
 
Paddysnapper said:
best way to go but dress up like a terrorist they can still get a bit cross!
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Not many people realise that dead wasps can still sting, don't stand on a dead one in bare feet :D
 
Cobra said:
The first time I was acquainted with the little darlings was about 20 years ago.
I'd just injected a Neurotoxin under the (low) roof tiles of a barn conversion.
The wasps "Exploded" as they normally do, when you hit the spot, stepping back about 20 feet to watch them spiral out of control, dropping little fighter planes from WWII is generally sufficient
and a safe distance to remove the veil.
Erm, not 50 feet, 100 feet, 100 yards and the barstewarts were still coming after me!
I put the veil back on PDQ I can tell you :D

That was my first encounter, ever since then I have been a little more careful ;)
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Sounds like you need to trade in one of them hawks for a Bee Eater :D
 
sirch said:
Sounds like you need to trade in one of them hawks for a Bee Eater :D
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LOL It'd be so fat in a few seconds that it wouldn't fly for a fortnight :D
 
sirch said:
Commin' over 'ere, nickin' all our British wasps jobs, Brexit'll sort 'em out...
Click to expand...

German wasps are okay as long as you don't mention the war.
 
Cobra said:
Not many people realise that dead wasps can still stink, don't stand on a dead one in bare feet :D
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A large quantity of dead wasps in a wall cavity could cause a bit of a stinK. You probably wouldn't notice a few decomposing but a whole (or even half!) nest full of the buggers will make your eyes water.
 
gm43uk said:
German wasps are okay as long as you don't mention the war.
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All you have to do is poke them, that's enough :D

Nod said:
A large quantity of dead wasps in a wall cavity could cause a bit of a stinK. You probably wouldn't notice a few decomposing but a whole (or even half!) nest full of the buggers will make your eyes water.
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Actually no they don't. the minute amount of "meat" is contained within the Chitin shell and this eventually just turns to dust.
 
Having had a load of dead bees in a blocked off fireplace, I can assure you that they do hum a bit even when they're ex-wasps/bees!
 
Nod said:
dead bees in a blocked off fireplace, I can assure you that they do hum
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That's different, Wasps nest are made of spit and wood, and contain no honey ergo nothing to smell.
 
The bees were out of the combs which were at the top of the chimney, it was just the thousands of tiny corpses that whiffed.
 
I once had a nest built around a hanging piece of string in the garden shed. So being a plumber I had in my tool kit a pack of smoke bombs for testing flues, no messing I lit one in the shed, closed the door and that was the end of them.
 
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