Wasps!

[mailee]

Now I am convinced there is something wrong with our weather, over the last couple of days i have had two Wasps in the cab of my van! :shock: big ones too! I know the sun has been out but it hasn't been that warm surely?? :?

 

[marcros]

I killed a queen wasp in the office the other day.

 

[Benchwayze]

The warm spell sent my Freezer into turbocharged mode, and it tripped the circuit breaker. I thought it was just the plug-fuse and it took me a day and a half to remember the circuit breaker. When I finally checked!!! Duhhh...

I better check the wasp nest in my compost heap, in case it's been colonised again!

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

They're queens that have come out of hibernation cos of the spring weather. If you see one near holes in shed/roof etc...get a big stick

 

[RogerS]

I have heard good reports of this http://www.waspinator.co.uk/

 

[Benchwayze]

My last problem with wasps was four years ago. A tree 'surgeon' disturbed a nest when he removed a rotten stump. He was away down my garden in seconds flat, stripping to his underpants as he ran! As I'd just had my first knee replacement, it was a bit difficult to outrun the pests' and SWIMBO and I got stung badly. I found out later that the venom they produce in defence of the nest, is far more powerful than that used when they defend themselves. That was another £40.00 I never saw again to get shot of the nest. :roll: :lol:

 

[Grahamshed]

We had a big beggar in the house a couple of weeks ago. Left in a little box
This has to be the warmest winter ever. I don't think there has been more than the odd day or two here when it even dropped into single figures. Bit damp though.

 

[Benchwayze]

If you want to get rid of such an uninvited guest in the future; just close your curtains, (Darken Ship) except for one open casement. The insect or bird will go straight to the light and thus out of your life. (Bluebottles I despatch mind!)

8)

 

[Grahamshed]

(Bluebottles I despatch mind!)

<shivers>
Reminds me of fishing maggots kept a bit to long

 

[Jonzjob]

The warm spell sent my Freezer into turbocharged mode, and it tripped the circuit breaker. I thought it was just the plug-fuse and it took me a day and a half to remember the circuit breaker. When I finally checked!!! Duhhh...

I better check the wasp nest in my compost heap, in case it's been colonised again!

Don't worry about the nest. They build new each year and don't go back to the old one. If you swear at them in German a lot of them should go away too because a lot are German wasps :roll:

Also, don't worry about the male jobbies. It's only the females that have a sting. Not too sure how you tell the difference though?

I suppose it's obvious really? If you get stung it's a female 8) 8)

 

[Benchwayze]

So I was told John. I just wondered if a bone-idle queen might decide to become a squatter-wasp...

For the benefit of German wasps;
'He Wespe! Kommen Sie aus meinem Kompost-Haufen heraus.'

 

[Sawyer]

Where I live, we have hornets a-plenty. Strangely, I prefer them to normal wasps as they seem to have a more placid temperament, although obviously far worse if you do get them annoyed.

I suppose hornets feel that they have nothing to prove to the world, so just tend to mind their own business.

Wasps, par contre seem to be annoying just for the sake of it.

A couple of summers ago, hornets nested high above the ground in the gable end of our house. Since a hornet colony kills thousands of flies and other pests every day and they were not causing me the slightest problem, I took the 'live and let live approach' and we co-existed peacefully.

 

[marcros]

Where I live, we have hornets a-plenty. Strangely, I prefer them to normal wasps as they seem to have a more placid temperament, although obviously far worse if you do get them annoyed.

A couple of summers ago, they nested high above the ground in the gable end of our house. Since a hornet colony kills thousands of flies and other pests every day and they were not causing me the slightest problem, I took the 'live and let live approach' and we co-existed peacefully.

You're not a beekeeper, are you?... :mrgreen: (hammer)

 

[Sawyer]

As a matter of fact, I am!

 

[marcros]

do the hornets not cause you issues with it?

 

[Sawyer]

Not generally, although there is a nasty new Asiatic hornet gradually creeping in, which can be more problematic.

 

[Benchwayze]

As a matter of fact, I am!

I found a bumble bee almost dead in the garden last year. So I gave it some sugar water soaked into cotton wool.
Just to see if it was true they 'taste' with their feet. I think they must do. Inside a couple of ticks it was sucking that cotton wool dry! 8)

 

[Jonzjob]

It's the asian hornets that kill the bees and they are about an inch or bigger. They are also very aggressive and in lots of parts of France. There was an article "Meteo et la Carte" on France3 this lunchtime and there is a good trap for them. I bought one last year for the wasps we get around the pool.

This is like ours and you can get the bait from a garden centre. We got ours from Gamme Verte..

https://www.google.fr/search?q=piege+a+ ... 3404052283

 

[Benchwayze]

I have to work with the garage door open, and on fine mid-autumn days I am plagued by 'Vespula vulgaris' .

I put about two inches of water into an empty, but unwashed marmalade or jam jar outside the door. Most days there will be a good half dozen drowned wasps in the jar. I think they get drunk on the sugar and fall into the water. I like to think they die happy.

I realise, wasps do a service for us, but they are a bit grumpy at that time of year, and for some reason, they seem drawn towards me.

8-[

 

[mailee]

Wasps do a service for us?? I guess that is to make sure our adrenelin levels are up to scratch. :lol: I hate them with a passion and am surprisingly immune to their sting! (swelling and sting only lasts about half an hour and then goes) I normally tangle with them in the summer when working outside with the De Walt 625 as it seems to attract them for some reason! could have something to do with it being yellow and black and making a high pitched whine. :roll: