Questions & answers about wasp nests

Hi Steve, the nest will not be active next year. If you cannot see any wasps coming to and from the nest now, it has already died it is safe to remove. Or leave it there, it will degrade over the winter and will drop off on its own. Wasps always build a brand new nest every year. I hope this helps.

Hi there, if you are asking how long after a nest is treated does it take for the wasps to die off? We usually advise customers that all the wasps will be dead by the end of the day. In reality, it usually takes an hour or two for all the wasps to return to the nest and come in contact with the insecticide, as soon as this happens the individual wasps are history. Occasionally one or two wasps do not make it back to the nest that day for one reason or another and arrive back at the nest the next morning, but they very quickly enter the nest, and the insecticide will get them. If you are referring to wasps or hornets in general, they usually start to die off when the frosts arrive, but there are no hard and fast rules, so we cannot predict precisely when there will be no more wasps this year! The nests we are treating at the moment are still very active and very much alive. A couple of years ago I treated a nest one week before Christmas. It was still active!

Hello there Laura, I am not sure if the wasps you have in the states are the same as we have over here and each species will have different behaviour traits. I can only guess that if this mysterious lone wasp sat on top of the nest is much bigger than the rest of them; then it is the queen. However, quite why she would be doing this is unfamiliar to me. If it is the same size as the rest of them, then my best guess would be that it is on guard duty. Wasps defend their nests from other wasps and predators, and if any potential visitors haven't got the proper identification documents, then they are not coming in! The weather and temperature can affect the activeness of a wasp nest, if the day is bright and warm, then the wasps will be active, however, if it is cold or raining then the opposite will happen, they stay inside, and activity will remain to a minimum. This is why wasps are most active from July till September (the hottest months of the year) The wasps you see flapping their wings could be young wasps that have recently emerged and are building their wing strength up ready for foraging duties. I hope this helps answer some of your questions.