Wasp nest in loft..

sofsofsof

Hi so we seemingly have a wasp nest in roof.
Of recent days ive heard almost faint crackling and popping from loft.. been outside to check near source of noise and seen baby wasps entering and leaving!
Any idea why they are making that crackling noise? What are they doing and are they damaging our loft / property in anyway by being there? Generally they dont effect us its just the slight small noise at night.
Would putting a ultrasonic device in bedroom (under where they are) get rid of them? Would it potentially get them angry and cause us problems in process tho?
Thanks in advanced

greyteam1959

Don't waste your money on an ultrasonic device of any kind.
Get a local pest control firm in if it worries you.

downshifter

Like you I kept hearing that cracking noise so eventually tracked it down to wasps pulling wood from my shed door. I couldn't believe one wasp could make so much noise! Having found them I followed them to where they're entering the roof just under the eaves. Apparently they strip little bits of wood to build their nests with.

They might be doing that with your rafters if that's where the sound is coming from. In my case they've left funny bite marks on the shed door but no real harm done.

They don't bother me so am leaving alone. They'll go/die in autumn.

DS

robin58

sofsofsof wrote: »

Hi so we seemingly have a wasp nest in roof.
Of recent days ive heard almost faint crackling and popping from loft.. been outside to check near source of noise and seen baby wasps entering and leaving!
Any idea why they are making that crackling noise? What are they doing and are they damaging our loft / property in anyway by being there? Generally they dont effect us its just the slight small noise at night.
Would putting a ultrasonic device in bedroom (under where they are) get rid of them? Would it potentially get them angry and cause us problems in process tho?
Thanks in advanced

The only thing that they could be doing is chewing wood or paper stuff into pulp to build thier nest.

We had a nest in our loft. Wasn't doing any harm to our loft, so we left it there. After they died in the Autumn we demolished the nest. Only thing is we did not get the Queen (who go into hibernation until the next year), which gave my mother a surprise as it crawled out the loft hatch later. She soon had it swimming for dear life in the loo.

As for putting a ultrasonic device in the room underneath, it won't work. All ultrasounds are is a high pitched sound wave. Live a voice it would get reflected off the walls and ceiling.

The ultrasonic device would need a direct line of site siteing to make it work eg. in the loft pointing towards the nest. Would they get angry, don't know never used one.

If you want to kill them. there is a wasp foam killer you can get but I'm not sure what it does as I've never used it.

sofsofsof

Thanks for replies. they dont bother us, bar the noise, i was just more concerned about potential property damage.

shaun_from_Africa

sofsofsof wrote: »

Thanks for replies. they dont bother us, bar the noise, i was just more concerned about potential property damage.

One potential problem might be if you need any work carrying out in the loft whilst the nest is still active.
I used to have a small nest (about 3" diameter) and even with one this small there were quite a few wasps buzzing around in the attic space and these were quite a distraction when trying to work up there.

If you get a professional plumber or electrician in to do any work, they may well refuse to continue once they see the nest or any wasps.

that

spray some diesel into it. No, dont set it on fire, just diesel. Wasps have poor night vision, so may be better to do it at night

EachPenny

that wrote: »

spray some diesel into it. No, dont set it on fire, just diesel. Wasps have poor night vision, so may be better to do it at night

If it was me I think I'd rather put up with the noise than have my house stinking of diesel.

More seriously, entering/exiting a loft from a ladder is a hazardous thing to do at the best of times, doing so in a hurry because you have a large number of angry wasps heading your way is very unwise. Best to keep the loft hatch shut and leave the wasps to themselves, or else get a professional in.

Doozergirl

On our building projects we have two ways of dealing.

If I'm PM, we get in pest control. If DH is PM, they draw lots and the loser gets to smack the hell out of the nest and run, fast. Boys will be boys.

Robby1988

Council pest control is normally £50-£80 and they will get it sorted if they are causing you a problem.

JohnB47

If they don't worry you just leave them alone. We've done enough, us humans, to practically guarantee our own demise by killing off many species. There's a cheery thought.

We had a wasps nest in the ground last year and found it interesting to see the many flights too and fro. Didn't bother us at all. They haven't returned this year.

I've watched wasps gathering wood to build their nests. They have little claws at the front of their bodies which they use to sort of scrub a surface layer off wood. The wood has to be old and fairly soft on the outside. They hardly take it to any depth because, as they scrape it off, they expose a harder harder layer so they move on.

What I want to know is, where are all the ladybirds this year? I haven't seen one yet. Not to mention butterflies - saw one today and that's a first.