Questions & answers about wasp nests
Jordan asked:
I have just found a small wasp nest in my loft (mid may), killed the queen as there was no other wasps present and removed the nest. Is there any other action that i should take.
Paul Sweet replied:
Hi Jordan, if you are confident that you have killed the queen, that will be the end of it. You don't need to do anything else. If it were just a worker wasp that you killed, the queen would build a new nest, but probably in a different location (i.e. some other loft).
Peter Lewis asked:
I've had a nest in the soffit and it is now presumably inhabited by a hibernating queen. Should I bung up the entrance now or wait until April when the queen will have moved out?
Paul Sweet replied:
Hi Peter, there will be no queen hibernating in the nest, they usually find somewhere like a shed or loft in which to hibernate. Once the nest has died off at the end of the autumn the new queens leave the nest. So you may as well block up the entrance now or before the coming spring to prevent another nest being built within the soffit area. The nest that is already there will not be used again, but there is a chance that if there is enough space to fit another nest alongside the old one, then a new queen might make the most of this opportunity. I hope this helps. Regards Paul Sweet.
Laurence Hall asked:
I have a large Hornet's nest (2.5ft x 1.5ft) inside the ridge of my roof space, too high up to reach. Large quantities of Hornets died off during October and November, the last living ones seen at the end of Nov. There is no activity I can see now. The house is in France and we have recently suffered temperatures of -10. Is this nest dead, and should we try to remove it before Spring? What action can we take to prevent a new nest being built next to or near this one? Thanks in advance!
Paul Sweet replied:
Hi Laurence, what you have witnessed is normal, the hornets die off through the autumn, and the new queens leave the nest to hibernate, once this has happened then that is the end of that nest. Most nests die off by late November/early December; only a huge nest will survive until the end of December. Your nest will be dead now, and you have a choice of leaving it where it is (they won't use it again, and over a year or two it will degrade and fall off on its own) or if it is bothering you then you can knock it down now without worrying about getting attacked. The only advice I can give to prevent further nests being built in your loft is: try and block up all entrances where they can get in. A monumental task granted, but it is the only way that you can stop this from happening again. Don't forget that a wasp or hornet can squeeze through the smallest of gaps. I hope this helps. Regards Paul Sweet.