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Can anyone help.

We have a hornet problem - but not a nest!

When the weather is warm they appear on and fly around our annexe roof. If there is no sun, or when the annexe is shaded by the main house they disappear, not even a singe one!

Is there anything that can be used as a deterrent?

Thanks for any help in advance.

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If they're not bothering you, why deter them?  In our previous house they used to whizz terrifyingly close to us in the garden to inspect us, then fly away. They're not annoying, like wasps, forever after your jam sandwich. If you leave them alone, they'll leave you alone.
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[quote user="Le Petomane"]If they're not bothering you, why deter them?  In our previous house they used to whizz terrifyingly close to us in the garden to inspect us, then fly away. They're not annoying, like wasps, forever after your jam sandwich. If you leave them alone, they'll leave you alone.[/quote]

That is sound advice, leave them alone and they will return the compliment.

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You could try and find the nest which is usually in a hollow tree. Then you could get a special "foam" spray to kill them or I would personally prefer to call the fire brigade and they dispose of the nest but it costs about 40 Euros.

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"These are fair comments, except that we have a gite and are expecting guests soon."

"It is not a nice thing for guests to see a lot of these very close to them!"

If you're worried about hornets (which are harmless unless provoked) how are you going to keep the flies (which carry disease) away from your guests.

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Gite-renters do get very concerned about them - and I don't blame them!  When I first saw frelons, I thought they were the scariest-looking things ever.  When I used to rent out a gite, the family pointed out some that were going in and out of my own roof.

You need to watch them in the evening, when they are going home for the night, to be sure where they are living, and obviously do the murderous spraying after that.  But cover yourself very well, to be sure the hornets can't get their own back...

Somebody I know had a serious sting when one got in behind his glasses and stung him on the eye.

Angela

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There is a lot of good advice HERE

The most important, if you are intent on killing them, is to avoid doing the deed anywhere near a nest or other Hornets. They can send attack signals if being attacked and mutiple stings can kill a human being.

 If you take a swing at one, don't miss, they will target you.

I have learnt to leave them alone but would be wary in the proximity of a nest. Dogs are especially vunerable. The general advice when finding yourself with a nest, is to bring the experts in and DO NOT try and deal with them yourself.

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We have tracked down the nest now - it appears

our neighbours had a couple of nests in their attic. They are about

150-200 metres from us, and they have, so they say, sprayed the nests

last evening. It is their holiday home (Parisians) so they only found

the nests yesterday when they came down for the weeked.

Still some hornets about today, but numbers now reduced.

Let us hope that has done the trick!
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If you decide to spray the hornets yourself then get advice from an agricultural suppliers as to what to use. The stuff in the supermarkets is not as strong as a few years ago thanks to anti-pollution regs.
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A hornet sting is no more harmful than that of a bee or wasp, and they're not likely to sting unless provoked (unlike wasps) or dozy and drunk in late autumn from scoffing overripe fruit..

If they nest nearby, and you can put up with it, leave them - they'll disappear in the autumn and they don't come back to the same nest.

We had a nest somewhere between the floorboards, a bit annoying having them buzzing around the room occasionally when they came out of the chimney opening, and OH got stung three times up his trouser leg by a dozy one in early autumn when he was kneeling down, said it was nowhere near as painful as a bee or wasp sting.

Interesting reading: http://www.vespa-crabro.de/hornets.htm

 

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