How do you know if you have them ?
Wasps normally make nests in air vents, in lofts, on roofs, under guttering in the eaves and under flat roofs to name but a few places. If the wasps are going in and out of particular hole on a regular basis it is likely you have a wasps nest. Wasps also visit dustbins and dead animal bodies which can lead to the spread of disease and contamination of foodstuffs. You should not attempt to treat a wasp’s nests by yourself as it is likely to be difficult and potentially dangerous. On no account should you remove a nest from the roof space, this job should be carried out by a professional pest controller. The main hazard is the risk of ‘anaphylactic shock’ which can arise from even a single wasp sting, which may lead to death.
Habits
The wasps are colonial insects living in social groups, each colony is established in the spring by a queen which makes a nest by mixing wood and her saliva.
The colony and the nest grows throughout the summer and may produce thousands of wasps, the workers feed on nectar, sweet materials and at sometimes even on insect larvae.
The colony develops males towards the end of the summer to mate with the queens who will start a new colony the following year.
How do we control wasps?
Wasp’s nests can be controlled by applying an insecticidal dust into the entrance of the nest at high pressure. Once this has been done the wasps will distribute the dust naturally around the nest, killing the queen and the rest of the wasps, this will normally take about twenty four hours.
