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Original poster

found a wasps nest

27 replies

ambereeree · 03/06/2022 21:08

Hi everyone I found a wasps nest today right next to the back door while I as tidying up the garden. It's in a box thats been there a while and right next to my kids play area on the patio- I saw a two wasps trying to get in after I placed something on it.
I picked the box and put it in a bucket of soapy water but I now have around 10 confused wasps flying around looking their bloody nest and 3 managed to get into the house. They are only quite small.
How long do they normally hang around for and is there anything I can do to speed up their departure? Does eucalyptus or mint deter them?

OP posts:
ThreeLittleDots · 03/06/2022 21:10

:(

DelilahBucket · 03/06/2022 21:12

Are you sure they are wasps? Only a pest control person or bee keeper could confirm. You may well have just killed a lot of bees. Wasps aren't small.

DeanStockwelll · 03/06/2022 21:14

Poor wasps.
I know some people are scared of them but unless someone in the family has a allergy to them I would of left them alone and just told the DCs to not touch them .

Bryonny84 · 03/06/2022 21:14

Suggestion from a person that completely freaks with wasps. Get in pest control. The council don't deal with wasps nests now, you have to pay a company but do it right away. Don't try and do it yourself in case they swarm and invade your house, your neighbour's house, your shed, your kid's play house. Do not mess with the wasps.

Cheesecakeandwineinasuitcase · 03/06/2022 21:20

DeanStockwelll · 03/06/2022 21:14

Poor wasps.
I know some people are scared of them but unless someone in the family has a allergy to them I would of left them alone and just told the DCs to not touch them .

Did you read the part where the OP said the nest is right next to their childrens’ play area? 🙄

Philisophigal · 03/06/2022 21:22

This reply has been deleted

This has been withdrawn at the user's request.

ThreeLittleDots · 03/06/2022 21:24

Did you read the part where the OP said the nest is right next to their childrens’ play area

OP managed to pick up the box that had the nest inside, and managed to put it in a bucket of soapy water. She should have just moved it further away from the play area IMO.

Bintymcbintface · 03/06/2022 21:26

Oooh watch for waspizzz

MelonsMelonsMelons · 03/06/2022 21:30

We had a nest in the extension roof, they got in under the fascia boards. The local council came round and sorted it - it cost £40. That was last year.

Benjispruce4 · 03/06/2022 21:43

You can get decoy wasp nests cheaply on Amazon to stop new nests being made.

MayBeee · 03/06/2022 21:48

We had a wasp next in our loft last year , they were getting in near the porch at the front door . Yes it was a bit of a pain making sure they didn't come in when we opened the door , but they never gave us any trouble so we left them.
Once Autumn was here dh went up into the loft and got rid of the empty nest.
I feel sorry for yours.

Nutellaspoon · 03/06/2022 21:52

I'd have got rid of it too if it was near the kids play area. Wasp nests can have thousands of wasps when they're full size and you don't want to annoy that with a stray football. Although best bet is to use wasp powder near the entrance if you can get to it safely (and get away quickly!), but otherwise call someone in

woody87 · 03/06/2022 22:05

Christ. Only on Mumsnet are people called unreasonable for wanting to get rid of a fuxking wasps nest.

OP most places you can get pest control in to take it away for £40ish. It's more difficult if you know you have wasps but don't know where the nest is but since you can see it then it should be straightforward enough.

mumda · 03/06/2022 22:06

I'd normally catch a wasp nest in a jar whilst the queen was on if it's already got worker wasps it might have been too big for that. Got two right now. The queen's are killed with a drop of isopropyl alcohol put in to the jar.

Fly swap the remaining wasps if the best is gone.

decayingmatter · 03/06/2022 22:09

Would I fuck just leave a wasps nest alone. Some posters live in a different dimension.

stayathomegardener · 03/06/2022 22:20

Well done for dealing with it!
Stray wasps will reduce over the next few days.

HeArInGhandsgirl11 · 04/06/2022 09:56

We had one on out children's play house. Absolutely understand why you got rid OP

Brendabigbaps · 04/06/2022 10:10

It’s still early in the season for a large nest.
queen wasps hibernate over winter, they emerge early spring and start building a new nest and having babies so the nest gets bigger and bigger.
wasps don’t tend to be aggressive until later in summer, at the moment they have a job to do. The problems arise when, in late summer, they’re basically waiting to die, they’re bored and go out and get drunk on apples etc.

we had issues for years in our loft, a new next every year, it didn’t matter if the old one was removed or left to try and deter. We were told by an old school pest controller that if we catch the nest when it’s small in spring it’s easy to destroy which nest destroyer that you can buy. So now we start checking the loft and spray anything we find.
if you see any large wasps in early spring, do all you can to kill it, it’s the queen looking for a nice place to build her new home!

more importantly, learn the difference between bees and wasps, it’s quite obvious if you compare photos. Wasps are very vivid in colour and smooth looking with a very very tiny waste. Beas are dull and fuzzy looking.

Mally100 · 04/06/2022 10:44

woody87 · 03/06/2022 22:05

Christ. Only on Mumsnet are people called unreasonable for wanting to get rid of a fuxking wasps nest.

OP most places you can get pest control in to take it away for £40ish. It's more difficult if you know you have wasps but don't know where the nest is but since you can see it then it should be straightforward enough.

Exactly. We had this and got in pest control who found a few more and i think they smoked them out or something like that.

CornishPorsche · 04/06/2022 10:54

Imagine thinking only pest control or a bee keeper could identify a wasp 😂😂😂 The difference is enormous and immediately obvious.

OP, I'd contact a pest control company and ask them tbh. I'm allergic to wasp and bee stings which increases my fear of them, but even I'd not be worried about bees. Wasps on the other hand are just evil bastards.

ManateeFair · 04/06/2022 11:28

So as I understand it you have ‘about 10 wasps’ now that you’ve destroyed their nest?

That’s nothing to worry about. They’ll die or move on soon, now the nest is gone.

They also won’t sting you if you leave them alone - if your kid grabs one or sits on one it will sting, but if they’re just flying around they have no interest in stinging. Wasps are also much more likely to be a problem in late summer / early autumn than they are now - late summer is when they get dozy and start looking for extra food, which means they’re much more of a nuisance and more likely to get accidentally caught on clothes etc.

I have wasps nesting under my eaves and they’ve never caused a problem (and I’m someone who gets an ‘extreme local reaction’ when stung!). I can understand why you wanted to get rid of the nest, given its location, but the few remaining wasps aren’t something you need to worry about.

DelilahBucket · 04/06/2022 14:37

@CornishPorsche imagine thinking that the average ordinary person can tell the difference. How many times have you heard someone shouting "it's a wasp" when it's a bee?? I've seen countless times people saying they've got a wasps nest when it isnt. People seriously do not know the difference, they just assume everything stripey and buzzy is a wasp. OP has probably killed a load of bees. If in doubt it is always best to get pest control in.

CornishPorsche · 04/06/2022 16:49

I've corrected a few morons over the years who can't tell the difference, but fortunately with the magic of the Internet in 2022, it's possible to bring up pictures to compare with reality and check your understanding.

I'm pretty sure most people are competent enough to Google what they have seen and act accordingly.

goodplanbatman · 04/06/2022 17:13

My DH once had a swarm of wasps attack him, all he'd done was start the hedge trimmer close to where their nest was (we didn't know it was there). It was awful, they were all around him stinging him and followed him into the house. He had a really nasty reaction to the stings and took ages to heal. On his arm, head, legs, loads of them.
We killed that bastard wasps nest and all the fuckers in it. Absolutely no remorse, they were so aggressive and I would hate to think what they could do to a child if it accidentally disturbed them.

goodplanbatman · 04/06/2022 17:14

OP we bought the stuff to kill them from somewhere like Screwfix or B&Q as I recall.