...to be cross with the local Council?

[HappyAgainOneDay]

I have a wasps' nest in the house. They get in through a hole high up in a spot of mortar - near the bathroom.

I came home from holiday (I always close internal doors when I go away) only to find the kitchen awash with dead wasps and live ones trying to get out of the kitchen window - hot weather while I was away, I suppose. I think they get in somewhere near the washing machine or above the gas boiler. There were some in the bathroom as well but a lot fewer. None in any other room. This is the first time I've noticed any.

I was advised to contact the Council's Pest Control Department so I did only to be told that they don't 'do' pest control any more. What do I do now. I'm forever vacuuming picking up dead wasps and letting out the live ones.

Try a private service ?

Call a pest control company?

You need to call out rentakill or something along these lines. Council's have all had their budgets slashed and have had to scale back. Pest control was one of those things to 'scale back'.

Look in the yellow pages for pest control.

Did you expect that the Council were going to do the job for free? Our Council provides a pest control service but it is chargeable at commercial rates. Just look up pest control in the Yellow Pages and get someone round.

I guess it's just something you will have to pay someone to look at. We had a bees nest and I was going to call someone but was told they would go by September anyway but they seem to have moved on already.

It's not the local authority's job to dispose of your dead wasps... Maybe they'd prefer their super slashed budgets to go on more pressing issues such as adult social care and child protection?

Google pest control in your local area and book a private company. Hardly rocket science.

We had a wasps nest a few years ago ... by the eaves at the corner of our bungalow. Initially I was a bit apprehensive (I hate wasps), but a brief internet survey suggested to leave them, as they aren't a problem.

Sure enough, we saw a few, and had them buzzing in and out, but no harm done, so we left them (much the the MiLs disgust, but that's for another day).

HOWEVER ... wasps can re-use old nests (apparently bees don't). So in winter, you may want to smash the old nest up, to discourage a return in spring.

We had our roof done earlier this year. They found 10 wasps nests ... we had no idea ;)

Do people really expect the council to sort out every problem for them?

OP - is it a council house? Is that why you thought they should do it?

It's not a council house. I just thought that it was one of the services that the Council Tax went towards. Do I live in the past?

I'm not scared of the wasps and don't mind clearing up the dead ones or opening the windows for them to get out. I don't want to spend money I'll say I'm mean before one of you does.

For the time being, I'll follow LurkingHusband's advice and leave them. I can't get at the nest if it's in the cavity between the brick and breeze block walls.

Thank you.

You can get powder stuff to pour in and kill them and you can seal up the bit they got in so it doesn't happen again. if your can get the nest out go get a can of petrol and burn it.

Oh, Lally I'd never get a wasps' nest out of the small hole that they've made in the mortar and I wouldn't trust myself with petrol and a match. There was a programme on Hotel Inspector a couple of years ago when the hotelier had a wasps' nest on show for guests so, if mine's anything like that size, I'd have to remove several bricks in the house wall to get it out!

If you can see the hole then fill it!

Leave the nest, they do not reuse them so having an old nest prevents new wasp issues.

Can you not fill the hole to prevent them coming in?

Are you serious? It wouldnt even occur to me to expect the council to do something, I'd Google a pest control and sort and pay for it myself. Yet another sign of the complete dependant, acopic, entitled population we now have. I despair.

Council tax pays for roads, schools, waste services. You know PUBLIC services not personal ones. I find it hard to believe it was ever a service they provided.

I just googled wasp nest, hundreds of local companies came up, and a couple of wiki do it yourself, did you think of doing that.

YABVVVU.

Pay for a private pest control company. It's not what the Council is there for unless you want to pay £1000 a month in Council Tax.

Yes, it costs a lot of money to pay for private pest control. I've had to shell out lots for it in the past few years.

Our council does this but you do have to pay - I never imagined they'd do it for free. Wishful thinking! We've just paid for them to take away some large items that can't go in the bin!

council used to deal with this thing i rang them and they told me the same thing the just dont "do" that anymore and im allergic to wasps so how on earth was i supposed to put the powder down to kill them i had to play dodge for WEEKS leaving my house and i had to lock all the doors and windows!

yes - in the past you could have phoned your council for this and many things, but really things have moved on so...councils and other tax-funded institutions have been the forerunners of equality; when all the 'entitlements' to maternity and paternity pay, sick leave, pensions, etc were just being formulated into law. They had to get there first to show everyone else how you can pay for it all (when it's impossible in the real world).

Unfortunately, that isn't feasibly possible, so:

...a few years later that's about all you'll be paying for, are the entitlements for the council/public workers - now all councils do are the barest minimum and 'signpost' for the rest. Best you can expect is a 'recommendation/signpost' to yer best wasp-killer.

They did used to many years ago. They sorted one for DM.

These days it's climb up a laser with a can of wasp killer attached to an interestingly shaped piece of narrow copper pipe and open fire. The wasps like the hardest to get to gap under the eves.

Touch wood, we haven't seen them this year.