wasp nest in ceiling

[snowy]

hi

i have a wasp nest in the ceiling which is completely inaccessable to get at. they entered through a gap in the wall outside.

you can hear lots of scratchy noises and they have made a small hole in the plasterboard in to the room and are now coming out into the room.

anyway, short of ripping down the ceiling or taking off the roof, i was wandering if its ok to leave them, will they die off at the end of the year and thats the end of the problem, or do they hibernate there or return to the same place next year.

thanks

[Tancrède]

[quote user="snowy"]will they die off at the end of the year[/quote]

Yes.  Common wasps do not overwinter as a colony and the nest will cease to be active at the end of the season.

[quote user="snowy"]do they hibernate there[/quote]

The queen wasps who will start next year's colonies will overwinter in various dry and well-concealed places until next year.  If you regard local wasps' nests as a problem, you will need to look out for the queens when they emerge next spring (and kill them).

[quote user="snowy"]or

return to the same place next year[/quote]

Poking a few moth-balls up into the void  -  if it is relatively small and airtight  -  will discourage the future colonization of this space.

[JohnRoss]

Could you not spray something like the Catch or Baygon aerosols against flying insects up through the hole they have made in the ceiling. Do it a few times over a few days, should see them off I would have thought................................JR

[snowy]

hi

thanks for replys, will stick it out till they die out and then go for the moth balls, glad i don't have to pull down the ceiling.

have tried the spray but don't think was getting near enough to them just seemed to make them angry!!

[Thebiga]

[quote user="snowy"]hi i have a wasp nest in the ceiling which is completely inaccessable to get at. they entered through a gap in the wall outside. you can hear lots of scratchy noises and they have made a small hole in the plasterboard in to the room and are now coming out into the room. anyway, short of ripping down the ceiling or taking off the roof, i was wandering if its ok to leave them, will they die off at the end of the year and thats the end of the problem, or do they hibernate there or return to the same place next year. thanks[/quote]

We have had the pompiers round a week ago to deal with the very large wasps (frelons) I think they like to call them as when we said wasp they didn't like the word! Anyway they were going in through a small hole in the brickwork where our roof goes down a level. They could not see in far enough to tell how big the nest was and with no way of knowing they sprayed a white powder in the hole and said that any that touch it would now die and that they will probably take it in to the queen and that will be that. Anyway all the ones that were coming and going all started falling down dead and the pompiers said not to go down by that part of the house as they would be super aggresive. Thay also said its not good to leave them alone to do there thing as they like to eat oak and with most old houses oak being the backbone of the building its good to see them gone.

I would call the pompiers round get them to spray in the hole they are coming out of and then block it over for the time being, Maybe some expanding foam or something would block up the hole. They did not charge us as its all part of the service even though we were told we would be charged on the phone.

Go on give them a phone they will sort it for you. 

[JohnRoss]

Sounds like good advice. Used to get that white powder stuff in the UK and if the same it is very effective, maybe Bricomarché etc have it. By the way frelons are hornets and more placid than wasps if you get out of their way though they may all attack if you kill one. You would not want to be stung by one of those chaps let alone several dozen and no mistake! I don't like wasps at all and got stung this year twice just for going near their nest. Good luck.....................JR

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornet

[Thebiga]

Your right John ross they were european hornets. We always called them European wasps because thats what they looked like as they all had the same stripey body but way bigger. If you do get stung by one we were also told its a off to hospital job as it can be very nasty.

They certainly don't seem to be more placid than wasps here anyway. we can't get anywhere near our fruit trees in the summer as they are attacking all the pears etc. I did look in bricomarche when we had a bee problem behind a plasterboard wall in one of our gites and the only thing they had spray wise for the hornets was classed as the same used by the pompiers, It was more of a gas and very expensive.

Leave it to the pompiers as they will not charge with a bit of luck and even if they do its better than having them coming in the house.  

[Jay]

[quote user="snowy"]

I would call the pompiers round get them to spray in the hole they are coming out of and then block it over for the time being, Maybe some expanding foam or something would block up the hole. They did not charge us as its all part of the service even though we were told we would be charged on the phone.

Go on give them a phone they will sort it for you. 

[/quote]

Don't be too quick to write off the bill. Friends of ours had exactly the same problem/solution. It was 12 months before they got the bill and it was in the region of 150€

[Clair]

Three or four years ago, the préfecture let it be known that the fire brigade would no longer be on call for wasps nest removal. A list of companies dealing with pest control is available from the mairie.

[quote]Pourquoi les sapeurs-pompiers ne viennent-ils plus détruire les nids de guêpes ?

Réponse

:

Les

missions des sapeurs-pompiers sont encadrées par la loi. La destruction

des nids de guêpes et de frelons ne fait pas partie de ces missions. Si

les sapeurs-pompiers assuraient ces interventions, c’est qu’aucune

structure privée ne le faisait et qu’il fallait qu’un service public

apporte une réponse à cette carence.

Depuis le 1er mars 2004 dans le Lot et depuis bien plus longtemps

dans d’autres départements, des sociétés privées sont opérationnelles

et assurent ce service sur la totalité du département. Les sapeurs-pompiers devaient se retirer de cette activité pour

laisser ces sociétés privées travailler sans la concurrence du service

public. - Source -

Question: Why don't fire-fighters deal with wasps nests any more ?

Answer:

Fire-fighters' duties are regulated by law. The destruction of wasps and hornets nests is not part of these missions. Where fire-fighters covered  these interventions in the past, it was because no private company was providing it and a public service company was required to cover this lack of service.

Since

1 March 2004 in the Lot and for much longer in other departments, private

companies are operational and provide the service for the entire

department.

The fire-fighters had to withdraw from this activity to let these private

companies operate without competition from the public service. [/quote]

EDIT: found this on the Loire-Atlantique pompiers website:

[quote]Stratégie guêpière

Lorsque l’opératrice du CTA annonce à une personne contactant le 18 pour un nid de frelons que l’intervention est payante, la réponse est inattendue. En effet, le requérant demande un tarif spécial car il souhaite que seule «la guêpe femelle» soit détruite… cela aurait pour effet de faire mourir le mâle et par là même l’ensemble du nid. Notre opératrice garde son sérieux et indique au demandeur que l’équipe de sapeurs-pompiers n’opère pas de «frappe chirurgicale» et que le tarif s’applique pour l’ensemble du nid.

Le demandeur ne passe pas commande au CTA.

Waspish strategy

When the CTA operator announced to a person contacting the

18 for a nest of hornets that assistance was subject to a fee, the answer is

unexpected. Indeed, the caller requests a special rate because he

wanted only "the female wasp" be destroyed ... it would effectively

kill the male and thus the entire nest. Our operator keeps a straight

face and tells the applicant that the fire-fighters do not

make "surgical strikes" and that the tariff applies to the whole nest.

The caller decides not to call on the TAC.[/quote]

[Thebiga]

We were told a short while ago that the pompiers would not do the hornets nests etc, we did not really know who to call so we gave them a ring within a hour they were here and they told us that no charge would be sent to us as they had not removed the nest only killed it as they could not get to it. We said what no charge and he said well its not your fault that you have them nesting in your roof. They had all the gear for the job the outfit with the mesh face guard and all the chemicals which makes me think that they must still be doing them in this area at least. I would not have liked being the young lad the older pompier sent up on the roof, He was crawling with them[+o(]

Anyway I do hope we don't get a bill as they were very sure we would have no charge. 

[chris pp]

""If you do get stung by one we were also told its a off to hospital job as it can be very nasty.""

Not so, another myth, see..

http://www.planetepassion.eu/WILDLIFE-IN-FRANCE/Hornet-or-Frelon-in-France.html

or for Asian Hornet..

http://www.planetepassion.eu/WILDLIFE-IN-FRANCE/Asian-Hornet_Vespa-velutina-nigrithorax_Frelon%20asiatique_France.html

Chris

[powerdesal]

[quote user="chris pp"]

""If you do get stung by one we were also told its a off to hospital job as it can be very nasty.""

Not so, another myth, see..

[/quote]

Not quite another myth Chris, the clue is the ''can be very nasty'', not ''will be very nasty'' As you know there are a number of people around for whom hornet / wasp / bee stings will be very nasty and they will certainly require hospitalisation - if they survive to reach the hospital. Others may be susceptible but dont know it - yet.

Therefore the warning is valid, not mythical.