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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To worry about the hornets flying around my back door

21 replies

nepkoztarsasag · 13/09/2014 22:20

3 of them there now. They are definitely not wasps because they are 10 times larger! Shock We've had 3 others who have wandered into the kitchen over the past fortnight when the back door was open - never seen any here before ever (we are in Kent).

I know they are nocturnal and attracted to light but why have they suddenly appeared? There's no reason they'd have built a new nest nearby in September is there?

Have 4 DC so wondering whether I need to be concerned. Hoping a knowledgeable person can reassure me. Confused

OP posts:
NeedsAsockamnesty · 13/09/2014 22:22

Perhaps they fancy meeting you because they are feeling sociable

Original poster
nepkoztarsasag · 13/09/2014 22:24

The feeling's not mutual!

OP posts:
gertiegusset · 13/09/2014 23:12

Perhaps they have a nest in your back passage.

BramwellBrown · 14/09/2014 01:11

There seems to be a lot about this year (I'm in Kent too).

Sorry to say that its about the peak population time for female hornets and that if they have run out of space small groups of worker hornets will look for new sites in order for the queen to start producing males for a big hornet orgy in a few weeks time, so yeah spring and late August-mid September are key hornet nesting time. (I'd hope learning as much as i can about evil buzzing things would cure my phobia, it hasn't, its given me fears i hadn't even thought of before)

and YANBU, worrying about hornets is never unreasonable.

HeartShapedBox · 14/09/2014 01:26

phone the council/ pest control and get the buggers smoke bombed- providing you can find a nest that is.

Original poster
nepkoztarsasag · 14/09/2014 02:15

Thanks Bramwell and Heart!

How do you find the nest though? They only ever seem to appear at night...

OP posts:
HeartShapedBox · 14/09/2014 02:35

watch and see where they come and go from... this summer we had a massive wasps nest embedded in the foundations that gained access through one brick of several hundred thAt had maybe eight design holes in it, each no bigger than the average pencil circumference- thank fuck we're council and our dept funds it it was horrendous!

Bulbasaur · 14/09/2014 03:27

Me and my cousin have been destroying these nests hoses and hockey sticks since we were kids. One time we had to run, jump over our neighbor's fence, and dive into his pool. Good times.

Unless you're sure you're not allergic, I'd get a professional to take them away or wait until winter. We had a huge nest on our house when I was a kid, and my dad took it down during winter when the bees had left, and I got to take it in for show and tell, which was pretty cool. I gave it to my teacher who used it later for science lesson on bees and pollination.

Bulbasaur · 14/09/2014 03:29

*With hoses and hockey sticks.

The bees can't fly past the water stream. Until they can.

Original poster
nepkoztarsasag · 14/09/2014 23:18

Bulbasaur - thanks, but they're not bees, they're HORNETS. Bees are nice. They don't try to get into my kitchen at night-time and aren't the size of sparrows.

Neighbour says the only way to deal with hornets in your house is to turn all the lights off and turn on the gas rings (because they'll head straight for the light and fry). I would but I've got an electric cooker!

Update: we've located the nest. Bee-keeping neighbour is coming all tooled up tomorrow to exterminate them. Bee-keepers are no friends to hornets because hornets are carnivorous and love to eat bees...

OP posts:
BramwellBrown · 15/09/2014 10:05

probably goes without saying but make sure all your windows and doors are firmly shut before bee keeper friend comes round, last thing you want is an angry hornet hiding in your house.

Bulbasaur · 15/09/2014 17:27

Bulbasaur - thanks, but they're not bees, they're HORNETS. Bees are nice. They don't try to get into my kitchen at night-time and aren't the size of sparrows.

Yes, sorry, I need to stop categorizing all wasps/hornets/bumble bees as just "bees" . They were yellow jacket nests we destroyed. We also had a problem with ground bees (technically yellow jackets too).

Our science teacher used our wasp nest as a prop to teach about honey bees and passed the nesting combs around and the paper outside so everyone could see what the inside of a nest looks like.

BramwellBrown · 15/09/2014 20:01

Aren't yellow jackets what we call wasps though? so half the size of European hornets (still evil little fuckers though)

londonrach · 15/09/2014 20:06

Arent wasps and bees might to be rare this year (unhelpful as these are not hornets)

Guadalupe · 15/09/2014 20:17

I understand your fear. We had a nest in the CHIMNEY of our holiday villa in Corfu end of August.

It took a few days for the removal to be organised and we were quite on edge in that time. They are massive. And Loud. One evening there was an enormous one trying to pull a grub along the floor that had obviously fallen down the chimney!

Can you watch them and see where they are flying to? We has as many round the pool in the day to be honest, so it was easy to see where they went. It was just at night they flew into the house.

Original poster
nepkoztarsasag · 15/09/2014 21:50

Update: neighbour had something else on today, so the hornets live on. Sitting inside with all windows and doors shut waiting for deliverance Shock

OP posts:
bodhranbae · 15/09/2014 21:55

It seems to be a big year for hornets - we've had several in the house over the past fortnight.
At least you can hear them when they invade!
Terrifying things. Roll on winter and kill the buggers off.

Peonysandblueglass · 16/09/2014 10:38

We've got this problem too we're in Northamptonshire we did sone research and found that they're the gentle giants of the insect world and very useful to have around. (asian hornets are vicious) but the ones in the UK are fine. So don't worry. If they come in switch off all the lights and keep an outside light on so they stay there all night. Funny how this year they're so prevalent.

NotOneThingbutAnother · 16/09/2014 11:10

Whilst we're on about it,does anyone know the current thinking on lack of wasps this year? (very scared of hornets as I live in Kent)(will they come and get me even if I just read the thread?)

BramwellBrown · 16/09/2014 12:08

NotOne, God finally answered my prayers, realised wasps were a stupid invention and decided to bump them off.

or more sensibly, 2012 the wasps were tricked by February being warm and came out of hibernation early, then died because it was too cold, so numbers were already low last year, then last year the summer came later so there wasn't enough time for them to make baby wasps before the cold came back and killed them, then we had the floods which will have killed some of the hibernating queens an then August was cold and wet, which will have stopped them breeding too well this year, with luck we'll get snow soon and then they will pretty much die out :D

I wonder if the increase in Hornets is linked to the decrease in wasps though, I mean they compete for food so less wasps means more food for hornets plus hornets will eat wasps.

Original poster
nepkoztarsasag · 16/09/2014 23:08

No wasps here this year either. I think the hornets have eaten them all.

I'm willing to believe they're gentle giants, but please God keep them out of my kitchen!

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