When do wasps die for winter?

Pennywise · 11 October 2016 at 9:41AM

We started getting wasps in our house at the end of July - there's a nest in the loft and they're getting in the bathroom via the soil pipe conduit and into the house through gaps in the loft hatch etc.

We asked around back then and we were told to live with it as they'd be dying out soon anyway, and people were saying it'd be cruel to get rid of them when they're here for such a short time. So, like soft fools, we didn't take any action.

So, here we are in mid October, and they're still coming in. If we'd have known, we'd have ignored people in July and just had them poisoned. Realistically, how much longer do we have to put up with them, because if it's going to carry on, we're going to get the pest control in. We've now all been stung, my son's been stung twice. It's got beyond a joke.

Silvertabby · 11 October 2016 at 9:58AM

It depends on the weather - a nice cold snap should finish the little blighters off. Can't come soon enough for me, either - I was badly stung a couple of weeks ago any my foot came up like a football!

We had a nest in the shed this year, but I spotted it when it was just still golf-ball sized and got rid of it myself. Wouldn't have been able to use the shed at all if I hadn't.

JP08 · 11 October 2016 at 10:00AM

The ones in next doors' eaves "died for winter" this weekend just gone, courtesy of me being neighbourly and a few cans of wasp nest destroyer from B&Q. Quite good stuff, can be sprayed from a safe distance (2-3 metres), makes a good coating foam and they drop dead on contact.

In your position, with a kid, I'd have sprayed the thing back in July. Anyone who'd have said I was being cruel would have been given the offer of taking them and giving them a home if they wanted to collect them ...

JP08 · 11 October 2016 at 10:01AM

As an aside - do wasps nesting in a nice warm sheltered attic actually die off at all ?

Ralph-y · 11 October 2016 at 10:20AM

Most wasps die in the winter due to starvation, not the cold, as was previously thought. Some can survive if food can be found outside the nest.

In the fall, most worker wasps die. The workers are male wasps, and before they die, they impregnate the queens. The queens then look for a warm place to stay through the winter. Cold winters are good for queens because warm winters bring them out of hibernation early, when there is not enough food available outside of the hive. In the spring, the queens leave to build nests, where they lay eggs to make new colonies.
Ralph:cool:

Biggles · 11 October 2016 at 10:25AM

JP08 wrote: »

As an aside - do wasps nesting in a nice warm sheltered attic actually die off at all ?

Mine always do; they just use the nest once and maybe there's another nest, in a different place, a few years later.

Skibunny40 · 11 October 2016 at 10:35AM

They should die off soon but just in case it might well be worth spending £1 at the local pound shop on a wasp trap ( hopefully they'll still have them).

We had two wasps nests this summer and I was highly sceptical that a cheap wasp trap would work - but it did,on both nests, brilliantly!

Grenage · 11 October 2016 at 1:01PM

The wasp nest in my garden is still going strong; we don't bother each other. I believe it wlil be a while yet before they die out.

Head_The_Ball · 11 October 2016 at 1:41PM

Pennywise wrote: »

We started getting wasps in our house at the end of July - there's a nest in the loft and they're getting in the bathroom via the soil pipe conduit and into the house through gaps in the loft hatch etc..

Can you block up these gaps?

If you don't you are likely to have the same problem next year.

Those gaps may also leak expensive heat in winter.

Few people like wasps or welcome them in their homes but they are an important part of our ecosystem. They help to control the numbers of other insects.

Chanes · 11 October 2016 at 5:13PM

Our wasp nest has died off now. I left them alone and they left me alone, it seems wrong to kill them off if they are not causing a problem.

red_imps_2003 · 13 October 2016 at 5:07PM

Head_The_Ball wrote: »

Can you block up these gaps?

If you don't you are likely to have the same problem next year.

Those gaps may also leak expensive heat in winter.

Few people like wasps or welcome them in their homes but they are an important part of our ecosystem. They help to control the numbers of other insects.

I have often wondered if the little bar stewards actually had any point.

When do wasps die for winter?

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