Wasp activity in the attic

[Lk1980]

Hi, can someone help or recommend a good poison that I can leave in the different areas of the attic or just spray raid along the wooden joists and wood randomly with a hope that it will stay and be effective for a few weeks until it kills a few of them.

I have seen quite a few wasps in the attic. About 5 in a space if 30 mins today when I started to do the clear up. I could not see any nest but wanted to tread with caution first.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanking you in advance for your advice.
B

 

[mattylad]

Ant powder from the supermarket, sprinkle some at the points where they enter, do it in the evening when they are more docile and leave quickly.
If your feeling brave sprinkle some on the nest, you should see an entrance hole in it.

A little bit will kill them all.

OR:
If they are not actually doing any harm to you, you could just leave them alone.
They are great pollenators (and heck knows those are on the decrease) and help get rid of aphids etc. in the garden.
As I understand it, they are what bees came from and everyone loves the bees.

So consider wasps as being ugly bees that get ****ed with you if you mess with them, otherwise they do a great job.
Then in the winter you can remove the nest and fill the holes that allowed them in.

 

[Lk1980]

Ant powder from the supermarket, sprinkle some at the points where they enter, do it in the evening when they are more docile and leave quickly.
If your feeling brave sprinkle some on the nest, you should see an entrance hole in it.

A little bit will kill them all.

OR:
If they are not actually doing any harm to you, you could just leave them alone.
They are great pollenators (and heck knows those are on the decrease) and help get rid of aphids etc. in the garden.
As I understand it, they are what bees came from and everyone loves the bees.

So consider wasps as being ugly bees that get ****ed with you if you mess with them, otherwise they do a great job.
Then in the winter you can remove the nest and fill the holes that allowed them in.

Thanks mattylad. I cannot see any nest unfortunately and that is the dilemma wondering where the heck they are all coming from? To make the situation tricky, there is a tubelight in the attic and the are coming from somewhere around there or perhaps they are somewhere in the different part but come when I switch on the light

 

[mattylad]

Try wearing a mask and goggles and squirt it around the loft where you see them.
They may not even have a nest in the loft, have you got an unused chimney perhaps? Thats where I once had a big nest.
After a few squirts of ant powder (same stuff in it as the expensive folks use) I had dead wasps falling down the chimney all evening.

 

[foxhole]

The nest may not be large enough yet to spot , starts off golf ball size and ends up basket ball size.

 

[Lk1980]

The nest may not be large enough yet to spot , starts off golf ball size and ends up basket ball size.

Hi Foxhole thank you. I did inspect the loft today could not see any nest in the loft even the size of the golf ball. Only cobwebs. So I spent about another hour trying to do some clear out. In an hour, I got 1 wasp who was zapped with raid in that very 30 seconds. It appears that they are coming from inside the tubelight. I have sprayed ant killer powder along the joists and wooden frames. Also sprayed raid wasp killer (as it says its effective up to 4 weeks) along the boundaries and on most of the wooden pillars, crevices and holes and on the borders. Hoping to have another look tomorrow.

 

[Lk1980]

Try wearing a mask and goggles and squirt it around the loft where you see them.
They may not even have a nest in the loft, have you got an unused chimney perhaps? Thats where I once had a big nest.
After a few squirts of ant powder (same stuff in it as the expensive folks use) I had dead wasps falling down the chimney all evening.

I do have an unused chimney, that was recently boarded few weeks ago in the attic as I had a chimney breast removed but it was clean and was done within 2 days of chimney being removed. Perhaps, I am thinking some may have come from outside whist it was open before cowl and chimney backing plate was installed.

 

[Odds]

Ant powder's a waste of time.
The wasps you see at the moment are scouting for a safe place after the fruit binge they enjoy at this time of year. Try not to get in their way as they're much more aggressive - like England football fans on the lash in Brussels.
Keep an eye on the eaves of your roof and try to see where they're entering the attic, then determine if it's just one or two or a steady stream of traffic.
If it's the latter, and you're feeling brave, then buy a spray can of specially formulated wasp killa to do the necessary, otherwise call in the council who will joyfully send a man in with all he needs to get rid of the stripy stingas.

We had a huge wasp nest a few years ago and only found it when having the bathroom renovated: the plumber went up to the loft to fiddle about with something and came down that ladder a damn sight quicker than when he went up it!
A call to the council brought a determined chap to the door within a week and he fogged the whole area.
Bye bye wasp.

The thing is; we have several apple trees, a plum tree, cherry tree and a large garden where wasps enjoy a royal booze-up at this time of year so they like to come back time after time. I keep a can of wasp killa handy and it really does a job on them. Twice i've had to spray under loose tiles around the outhouse where i've seen their comings-and-goings - and made sure i've been well away when they discover my perfidy.
A huge cloud of angry wasps gathered around the clogged up entrance, looking for a way in but as soon as they landed on that spray (which looks like shaving foam when applied) they were gonnas.

So my advise for now is to monitor their movements and if you see a steady infiltration of your attic, get professional help or a can of wasp killa. They may be helpful in the garden but i consider them the Taliban of insects and treat them accordingly.

 

[mattylad]

You can go get yourself some wasp killer spray/powder OR ant powder.

Wasp powder has Permithrin in it and it kills wasps.
Ant powder has Pemethrin at the same amount and kills wasps too.
Wasp spray has other chemicals in with the same effect.

Either of these will cost you a fraction of what calling a pro in will cost, me I'd rather try remedy the situation myself before having to call someone else in.
Well, that's if I was to do anything other than leave them alone.

 

[Lk1980]

You can go get yourself some wasp killer spray/powder OR ant powder.

Wasp powder has Permithrin in it and it kills wasps.
Ant powder has Pemethrin at the same amount and kills wasps too.
Wasp spray has other chemicals in with the same effect.

Either of these will cost you a fraction of what calling a pro in will cost, me I'd rather try remedy the situation myself before having to call someone else in.
Well, that's if I was to do anything other than leave them alone.

I agree mattylad. I have sprayed everywhere in the loft yesterday. I am going to see if it has made any difference. Temperatures are a bit up over next two days so I am going to keep an eye out and where the heck these buggers coming from

 

[iateyoubutler]

I feel your pain - I went through this last year, good luck!! Only sign of a problem I had was a "ticking" noise in the corner of one of my bedrooms, went on for weeks and I couldn`t get to the bottom of it, then when I went outside and looked up the mystery was solved, b*stards were in my dormer roof. £80 later they were gone....worth every penny, it was scary!

 

[Lk1980]

So I got onto attic yesterday 2 days after spraying wasp killer and sprinkling some wasp killer powder from raid. I have not seen any activity. Also, I am thinking yo check attic every few days and see what is the outcome. As a backup, I am thinking to spray critterkill fogger in the attic as it will get rid of other creepy crawlies lurking. (Actually I every year light smoke bombs around mid september in the house to keep free of pests and insects all year around.) This year in particular I have seen quite a lot of moths and flies in the garden that are trying to trespass in my home and needs to be eradicated for good.