Wasps in my house in December!!!

G21f

Hi not sure if anyone will be fit to help me with this problem,

I have found 4 quite large wasps in my house( mainly in my sitting room) over last 3 weeks!!!

There has been two in the last day alone. The wasp looks like a common wasp but larger. It had quite a loud buzz. It was slow at flying and it didn't take much to kill them. I think they may have been dying off

Could I have a nest in my house, I checked air vent in sitting room, nothing there. Could a nest be in the chimney ??I've had open fire on most evenings over last few weeks.

If anyone has suggestions as to why I've 4 wasps in December and how to deal with them I'd appreciate it

Thanks

Littlelulu13

G21f wrote: »

Hi not sure if anyone will be fit to help me with this problem,

I have found 4 quite large wasps in my house( mainly in my sitting room) over last 3 weeks!!!

There has been two in the last day alone. The wasp looks like a common wasp but larger. It had quite a loud buzz. It was slow at flying and it didn't take much to kill them. I think they may have been dying off

Could I have a nest in my house, I checked air vent in sitting room, nothing there. Could a nest be in the chimney ??I've had open fire on most evenings over last few weeks.

If anyone has suggestions as to why I've 4 wasps in December and how to deal with them I'd appreciate it

Thanks

A fire would smoke them out anyway. Do you leave windows or doors open? They come in looking for food. If you left a little bit of marmalade or jam outside in the summer there would be loads drawn to it so they must be able to sense food. You must be a good cook

Its strange but i wouldn't worry about it. Any nest I have ever seen has hundreds and hundreds of wasps

OpenYourEyes

Don't leave doors and windows open, kill them as you see them, shouldn't be a problem! In this weather I'd say they are dying off and just looking for either food or somewhere warm and sheltered. Nothing to be overly concerned about.

swatki

I am having the same issue in my room at my mams house !!!, large wasps and they bloody sound like a lawnmower slow fliers , i'm terrified of wasps so my mother caught it both nights ( yes im a wimp) 2 nights in a row !!! and put it out the window ... it was huge!!! maybe it was attracted by the light ... both nights it ended up under the lampshade
I then looked up how long wasps live for! and some answers said up to 6 months and 12 months for a queen , my mam said they hide in the curtain but i did leave the window open so it could have very well flew in
I was also having night fears there was a NEST!

G21f

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

Don't leave doors and windows open, kill them as you see them, shouldn't be a problem! In this weather I'd say they are dying off and just looking for either food or somewhere warm and sheltered. Nothing to be overly concerned about.

Thanks for replying, I was just concerned it was December that I was seeing them thought they would have died off long before December. Hadn't seen any for months then 4 large ones in 2 weeks. I do live beside a wooded area so maybe they were looking for shelter. Hopefully that's the end of my wasp problem!!

CiDeRmAn

I'll tell you a wasp story.
A couple of years ago my wife decided that, rather than buy a Christmas tree from the farm up the road or hit Argos for a fake one, we'd bring on of the large firs in pots outside into the sun room and use that.
So, I manned up and did what I was told and dragged this 8ft tall behemoth into the room, through the patio doors up a step or two.
I had to admit, standing there or looked mighty impressive.
I should also mention at this point that there was a foot of snow outside, it was exceptionally cold.
So, having hauled the tree indoors, we decided to decorate it the following day, headed into the living room and closed the kitchen door.....

Some hours later She Who Must Be Obeyed heads into the kitchen for refreshments, I hear a shout, I dash in and there's about 10 fat wasps in the kitchen and adjoining sunroom.
I dispatch them only to find that there's more and more.
It then hits me that the tree must contain a nest and the increase in temp had awoken then early!
I put on a heavy coat and gloves, open the doors and shove the buzzing tree out the door, into the snow, returning to finish off another 7 wasps who had, unfortunately, had their slumber disturbed.
Needless to say, we went to Argos the next day!

Tiercel Dave

Just had a quick scan so not sure if this has already been said. The wasps you are seeing are young Queens, a wasp in all respects but larger. They will have entered the house within the last couple of months and settled down to hibernate. As the weather gets cold and the heating is turned up they are awakened from their slumbers, thinking it's springtime.
They do have a nasty sting but are usually easy to catch before they get warmed up. Wasps do great work in the garden, ridding us of more harmful insects etc. so I would urge that you catch them and put them out into a cold, dark, but dry spot to overwinter. They are not as bad as they are 'painted'! Ha
Dave

Grolschevik

Just to add to this, I've seen wasps hibernate in the crevices of a bale of peat briquettes. When brought inside, they slowly wake up.

corkoian

I've had the same problem. Killed about 15 in three weeks. Seem to be coming down two chimneys which are at opposite sides of the house so I'm starting to think there nest could be outside some where but wouldn't they be dead from the cold if that was the case?

kylith

They're queens looking for somewhere to hibernate. I was woken up by one in spring a few years ago, I swear it sounded like a helicopter.

AVFC.Stephen

i hate wasps, i was a little messer with them as a child and in a sorta homer simpson fashion, ended up over my childhood gettin stung well over 10 times lol.

i know they are good for this and that around the garden and things but my fear of them is so bad i run a mile if one comes near me, can be a little embarrassing if ur in the middle of town lol. killing queens though is prolly like killing 1k of them or maybe more for the future spring summer.

wish i had a good thing to say about them in a sense because a good wasp is a dead wasp in my eyes.i guess they are giving me my come uppins now lol

magicbastarder

i found a bumblebee on the lawn a few days ago. a queen, judging by the size of it, and still able to fly.

there are flies in the back garden at the moment - spotted them when i took a peek at the birdfeeder with the binoculars.

swifts need our help!

As a gardener I welcome wasps in the garden - and bees

micks_address

swifts need our help! wrote: »

As a gardener I welcome wasps in the garden - and bees

Had two large wasps in the house today. Chased one out the back door. The other disappeared! We do burn turf which is in backs in the shed so maybe they hibernating in the bags of turf or something

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

micks_address wrote: »

Had two large wasps in the house today. Chased one out the back door. The other disappeared! We do burn turf which is in backs in the shed so maybe they hibernating in the bags of turf or something

Most likely!

If you come across any more please catch them and return them to a dry shattered spot to resume their over wintering in safety. Just chasing them outside will probably result in the death of the queen size unfortunately.

Obliq

Myself and a friend burn exclusively wood and turf, and our wood stores this winter were FULL of queens. Every time I brought in a load of wood there'd be a few buzzing around slowly after they warmed up. I've never seen so many before this winter - would there be a reason for a sudden surge in the queen population? Perhaps they didn't do well for the last few summers and needed more queens? Don't know much about them.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

A good long sunny summer last year, I think. Coupled with a hive close to your woodplie!

Obliq

Mia Wonderful Simplicity wrote: »

A good long sunny summer last year, I think. Coupled with a hive close to your woodplie!

Oh yeah, that makes sense! Had one a few years ago next to the house that I unfortunately had to "deal" with, as it was massive and at just the right height for mine and the neighbouring under 10's to run into. They're very quiet - not like bees. You wouldn't know where a nest is till you're on top of it.