Small wasp nest in loft (picture) - what to do with it?

[1000piecepuzzle]

I initially thought it might be some sort of awful spider chrysalis but thankfully googling suggests its just wasps!

Nothing buzzing around - but could there be a queen hibernating inside? Its pretty tiny.

Should we spray it with something to kill the queen then bash it to bits? I would quite like to get it out intact to show kids / school who are doing a "homes and animals" topic. Any ideas? Thanks!

We had similar in our loft. I scraped it off with a knife into a tupperware box (in case a hoard of wasps made an appearance - they didnt). I left it for a day to be sure there were no hiding wasps then the kid's had a look.

Our builder found one about ten times the size of that above a ceiling we had removed. If you have not seen any live wasps near it, it has probably been abandoned.

I'd leave it, it's not harming you.

Do knock it down because otherwise they will recolonise it next year.

That looks to me like the nest that the queen hibernates in

To give you my story, I left mine, and when my ceiling started getting hot to the touch and vibrating, I called pest control.

The nest was approx 1.3m wide, and we don't know how deep as we couldn't reach the end of it eithout removing roof tiles and baton. At a guess, 20 thousand wasps and the 4th biggest the pest control company had ever seen.

I'd get rid

Yes, its definitely coming out one way or another. monkey 20,000 wasps no thank you!!! Thanks for the box idea attheendoftheday will do that.

Wasps do not return to the same nest.

If there is a queen please just put her somewhere where she can be safe, wasps are pollinators.

The last queen from the nest in our tree that fell down in a storm came and sat on my arm after the tree had been cut up and removed, her home was gone. I put her carefully behind the garage wall and hope she was OK. I had wasps landing on me all season when I got too close to the tree, I stepped away and blew on them until they flew away. Have had nests outside my window a few times (different houses) and just put up netting to keep them out but the ones that have got in have never stung me.

It may have larvae inside in which case you need to remove quickly. I found one in our shed and disposed of it before they developed. Came out to find myself face to face with a confused queen wasp. Felt mildly guilty about removing the nest but it was me or them...

Your council may put you in touch with the pest control experts, who can do the removal in safety. They charge these days though.

We had a wasps' nest removed by pest control contractors some years ago in the attic. They told me the large variety I had was German wasps but in case of causing offence these days they must be referred to as Continental wasps.