AIBU to not get rid of a wadp nest?

[CambridgeEntry2022]

I have got a wasp nest in the roof space above an extension off the kitchen. We can see them going in and out and can hear them below the ceiling.

I am I inclined to just leave them there. We don't need to access roof space. The roof space is sealed anyway.

DH thinks we should call someone out to get rid of them as he is worried they may cause damage in the roof space (chew electrical wires etc).

Would you get rid of them or leave the wasps as they are?

I would leave them.
Many years ago we had a wasps nest outside our lounge window. It was no problem and we would watch them come and go. At the time DC was about 3 years old. We kept the window shut and never had issues with them coming in.
Our neighbours (we lived in flats) were concerned about DC safety but we explained what we were doing.
We went away for the weekend.
When we got home, literally got through the door, neighbour rang to say they had got pest control out in our absence to get rid of the dangerous wasps nest as they were concerned for DC.
I was furious.

A wasp nest will die off on its own in the autumn, the queen will go off and hibernate somewhere else.
The only issue I’d have is that in aug/sept you’ll have drunk & bored wasps around, that’s when they start to get aggressive. Drunk because of all the ripe fruit they eat and bored because they’ve done the work they need to.
The empty nest itself should deter a new queen from building a nest near it next year so that’s a good reason to leave it.
They don’t eat wires, they will however strip wood to make the next bigger over the weeks.

I'm a member of several FB nature groups which are full of people doing exactly this it seems so yours is not an unusual approach. It's not one that I would take due to possibility of wood damage/impact on neighbours/aggressive wasp behaviour in late summer and into autumn but if none of these concern you then crack on.

If they're not causing you any trouble i would leave them be.

Oh yeah and I wouldn't want to keep windows closed throughout summer either, which is what you'd have to do including at night - an old neighbour had a wasp nest one year and they all used to come into my bedroom at night. They're active at night and attracted by light. I have to say that was pretty unpleasant.

I'd get rid of it, mainly because family members have a severe allergic reaction to wasp stings. The idea of hundreds of wasps being in close proximity does not appeal!

Like most interactions with nature, if you just leave them alone they will leave you alone.

I'm with your DH, I'd be worried about them causing damage to the property, they can chew through quite a bit if they're determined enough. I'd be phoning an exterminator, had to do that in the past when they made a nest in an air brick under the conservatory and I couldn't go out to hang the washing out without being dive bombed for being too near their nest.

We had one above our back door last year.
I got stung once and so did my son. We left them alone and they went in the autumn.

This is our second year of having a wasps nest in our loft. Inspected it in winter, the actual queen's nest itself was tiny and there was no damage to anything. They don't bother us and we don't bother them. They are pollinators and they eat lots of other bugs, so they're useful creatures!

We had one in 2019 - I looked online and we were advised just to leave it, as wasps will leave the nest in autumn and won't come back; nor will new wasps nest near an old nest.

So we left it, and the wasps eventually buggered off in October, and we haven't had any since.

We had one in the garden years ago, it was rather beautiful to look at. The only reason we got rid of it was that we had a dog and didn’t want her getting stung.

We got rid of a wasps nest once. I still feel guilty about it. It’s not the wasps fault that they’re a bit scary. The guy told us the would have chewed though out ceiling

I would check that neighbours are OK with it. Our NDN decided to leave his wasp nest alone one year because they weren't bothering him. We had quite a lot coming in through the windows and it was when DS was a toddler, so I wasn't overly thrilled!

We've just had one dealt with in the eaves. I'd probably have left it, except at night the bathroom was filling with wasps. I was the only one stung but felt a wally at an interview the next day with a puffy face (I was stung on the cheek). That said, they'd have destroyed the wood around the nest which could have proved costly late

I’d get rid of it. We didn’t know we had a wasps’ nest until they chewed through the ceiling in our bedroom! Woke up one morning to hundreds of wasps pouring into our room.

I’m allergic to them so id hsve has it gone without thinking I’m afraid.

@Pandamumium

I’d get rid of it. We didn’t know we had a wasps’ nest until they chewed through the ceiling in our bedroom! Woke up one morning to hundreds of wasps pouring into our room.

OMG! They can chew through the ceiling! I might have to rethink my approach.

They're wasps, not squirrels, so they won't chew plastic coated wiring and will be all gone by the end of September.

I lived in a top floor flat with wasps in the roof space every year for seventeen years. They had no interest in coming in or humans in general, they went about their normal waspy business of hunting pests. When I moved, there was a nest in a garage about 10 foot away from my garden wall - they'd come hunting in my garden, pick up a caterpillar and then go home, completely uninterested in me. Except when they wanted to extend the nest and would scrape their jaws over my shed door. Still ignored me.

There was even a nest in the roof space above the toilets at my DC's primary. Considering some parents went apeshit about 'danger' from stingless mining bees and sodding hoverflies when they saw them, it was remarkable how they had absolutely no idea there was a constant procession of wasps coming out from a gap in the roof tiles and flying about 3 foot over their heads. It did explain the stories of a ghost in the toilets, though, as it is a strange sound when you don't know what the noise is.

I'd leave them alone and then, around November time, look at potentially blocking any obvious holes or gaps they're getting in through for next year. No drama, no poisonous chemicals, no damage to the roof space that then has to be remedied at some expense.

I had one in the space above my former window and had intended to just leave them. However it got to the stage if us not being able to sleep due to the noise so got it dealt with

The wasp man said they would if eventually come through the plasterboard ceiling as the nest g s heavier, the same week there was a picture in a local paper of one coming down onto someone's bed... I'm glad I didn't risk it