16 Aug 2007
We have a rather impressive wasps' nest in our loft space. It seems that the wasps (Vespa vulgaris) got into the loft via the ventilation holes in our wooden soffits1, and built the nest on the inner surface of the roof, near the junction with the wall. The nest is just above the window of our office/spare room, so as I type this, I can see dozens of busy wasps hanging around the entrance or going in or out.
When we first discovered the nest a few months ago, we had a bit of a dilemma: should we call in a pest controller and get them to destroy it (or try to do it ourselves), or should we just leave it alone? As far as I can determine from reading about them, wasps don't overwinter in their nests (unlike bees), so in theory, if we leave the nest until winter, all the workers will die, leaving only the queen to hibernate in the nest. It also seems that the queen leaves in the spring to found a new nest in a new location, so there isn't much danger of her founding a new nest in the same place.
Wasps don't have the good press of bees, but they are still beneficial for the ecosystem as a whole (and help to kill garden invertebrate pests like catepillars). I also dislike sloshing insecticide around unecessarily. So we decided to leave the nest alone, and clear it out once the colony has died. Apart from occasionally straying into the office when the window is open, they don't bother us much.
However, we still have a problem with the loft. We don't need to go up there much, but if we have to go and fetch something we've stored, it's a bit scary. When you open the hatch and turn the light on, they start swarming around the light and moving towards you in a rather threatening way. I've got to go and get a suitcase down now for my upcoming trip to Brazil at the end of the month, so if you hear the sound of a small, British blogger falling down a loft ladder, closely followed by an empty suitcase and swarm of angry wasps, please summon help.
1 'Soffit' is one of my favourite words at the moment, for some reason. ↑
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Techno_Boy_Hove: Yes, it refers to the boards covering the underside of the eaves. According to the Apple dictionary: "ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from French soffite or Italian soffitto, based on Latin suffixus 'fastened below'."by bsag @ 16/08/2007 6:59 pm • Permalink
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"A vespiary in my attic" sounds vaguely ecclesistical. Keep an eye on it, they have been known to get heavy enough to fall through the ceiling - Nighty night, pleasant dreams!by Jonathan Briggs @ 17/08/2007 12:26 am • Permalink
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Speaking as a recovering cnidophobe, If they are flying around freely inside the loft, I say get the nest dealt with. Things will get worse before they get better. As I understand it, you are right to say they don't overwinter as a colony. All the wasps die off, including the old queen, but not including the new queens, who leave the nest before winter (having mated, I think), and look for somewhere else warm to spend the winter. (Last year, one overwintered under my bed and I never noticed or disturbed her until she woke up in april. Two years ago, one chose to snooze in my living room curtains, but woke up rather irritably and found herself ejected into the cold in january.) Before the workers die off, they start living only for themselves, because they no longer have eggs to nurture and a queen to feed. This makes them hungry for sugary things, and more aggressive. It starts around about now. If the new queen chooses to spend the winter in some little nook in your nice warm loft, and you go in there and remove the nest when it has gone quiet, then unless you block up all the holes, you will have just made a new space for that overwintering queen to build her starter nest. If you're set on leaving it as it is, make sure you have not recently handled any food before you go up in the loft, and you'll make things easier for yourself. (As an aside, should you ever get bees nesting in your house, get that nest removed too, by a beekeeper. They may be gentler than wasps, but their nests can leave wax and honey in the structure of the building, which will make it attractive to all sorts of pests).by Michael Houghton @ 17/08/2007 1:39 am • Permalink
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I knew I shouldn't have blogged about this: Jonathan and Michael, you have just scared me witless now. I'm expecting the sky to fall in and deposit kilograms of enraged wasps on my head at any minute!by bsag @ 18/08/2007 7:01 pm • Permalink
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We had a wasps' nest in our roof last year and I was quite worried. This year, however, they seem to have disappeared, so hopefully the same will happen for you!7
We had a nest under the bedroom floor last year. Unfortunately, as described above, in the late summer/early fall the workers start fending for themselves, and get more aggressive. Then, when the weather turns cold, they don't want to go outside, so they find the cracks leading to your living space... we had a couple of hundred wasps in our bedroom one fine fall morning!!! The pest control guy dealt with the nest, but it was another week before half-dead wasps stopped appearing in our bedroom. My advice: get the nest dealt with now, before it gets cold outside!8
> Vespa vulgaris this is Latin for: "wasp that can't speak Latin" i've never understood Brits' terror of/angst vor wasps. they always give really clear signals if they think you're infringing, and if you give the same clear signals back they leave you alone. same as dogs. > soffit what a brilliant word!! thank you!9
We had a paper wasps next outside our garage, just above the garbage can. My wife is allergic to bee stings, so I had to get rid of them. After doing some research, I bought a can of brake cleaner at the store. The stuff worked like a charm. It must be some very, very nasty chemical, because as soon as it touched a wasp the wasp dropped dead. I sprayed the next until I was sure there were no more wasps, and then knocked the next off and soaked it in the brake cleaner. Then chopped it up and threw it away. I haven't seen a wasp since.by Jon @ 11/09/2007 10:51 pm • Permalink
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I have wasps, (I think they're wasps) in my bedroom window. My husband kills them and they are back in a few hours. They are moving slow like they are dying. I wonder where the nest is and how I should go about finding it? We can't really tell how they are getting in. It seems to be either from the window cracks or the ceiling.by Mary @ 16/10/2007 3:13 am • Permalink
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I also have wasps in my bedroom window, laundry room, which is in my bedroom, and a storage closet. We ignored them until one morning we had wasps flying over our heads, repeatedly, and about five or six in the window. We have sprayed where we thought the nest was, inside a wall in the laundry room; however, they are back with a vengence. Now we have what looks like hornets, reddish brown with yellow stripes. Should I call in a professional?by Roz @ 11/11/2007 7:10 pm • Permalink
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I don't know how many people today give any importance to the ecosystem.by Beneficial Associations @ 28/11/2007 5:23 pm • Permalink
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At the end of each year all worker wasps die off. Wasps survive as a species by producing thousands of new queens in late summer. When they are ready they fly off and hibernate after mating. Then when spring next year arrives, the emerge and look for new sites to build their nests for this year. For more information on wasps, bees or hornets visit our hints and tips page.
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by Techno_Boy_Hove @ 16/08/2007 6:33 pm • Permalink