Should you remove old wasp nests in winter? That is to be observed

A wasp nest in the house scares off many residents, as wasps such as hornets are considered aggressive compared to bees. In addition, wasp nests may not be removed by yourself, except in winter when the animals have left the nest. If you want to get rid of the nest on your own, there are a few points to keep in mind that can prevent resettlement in the following year.

Remove wasp nest

Why can wasp nests only be removed in winter?

Wasps and their largest representatives, the hornets, stand under them like bees and bumblebees natural reservebecause they play an important role in the natural cycle. Compared to pollen collectors, wasps and hornets hunt other insects and, as beneficial insects, help to eliminate pests. In addition, the species of the Vespidae family help a little with that pollination of plants, although this is not their main function. For this reason they are under nature protection and the following offenses in dealing with the insects are with high fines of 5,000 to over 50,000 euros, depending on the hornet or wasp species, punished.

• Disturbances of the animals and the wasp nest
• hurt the insects
• deliberate killing
• catching the animals
• intentional damage to the wasp nest
• Removal of the wasp nest without a permit from May to December

Wasp colonies

Since wasp colonies only live in your attic or tool shed for a certain period of time, you can dispose of the wasp nest over the winter without any problems. You should only pay attention to certain aspects, such as the time.

time

The best time to create a wasp's nest out of the house is in mid to late winter. At this time all wasps literally “flown out”, in any case the queens. The worker wasps often die either in the nest or outside. This very late time of the year is chosen to make sure that the wasp's nest is really no longer inhabited.

Wasps are divided into two groups:

• species leaving the nest early
• species leaving the nest late

Early Species that leave the wasp's nest are usually no longer visible at the beginning of September or in the second week of September. Late however, species that leave the nest remain on average until the beginning of November. These include the Common wasp (Vespula vulgaris), German wasp (Vespula germanica) and the hornet (Vespa crabro). This includes the Asiatic hornet (Vespa velutina). It is very likely that you will find one of the four types mentioned in your attic there the other twelve native wasp species build smaller nests, most of which are in the ground are located.

The best dates are therefore:

• Mid-November to late December for early species
• Mid-January to late February for late species

Beneficial insects

This way, you can be completely on the safe side of not encountering any wasps, which of course makes it easier to remove the nest. In addition, you can avoid possible penalties that would result from too early disposal. But you can also easily wait until the beginning of April and then dispose of the nest. The reason for this is the benefit, because the nests are ideal winter quarters for other insects such as lacewings. Many Beneficial insects use the nests for this purpose and leave them again when it gets warmer in spring. From an ecological point of view, you should therefore wait longer.

Tip: The milder the winters in your region, the more important it is to wait until late winter so that there are really no workers left in the nest.

need

Many people want to remove a hornet or wasp nest as soon as possible because they fear for their own safety to have. However, in many cases, removing the nest is not necessary at all. The reason for this lies in the way the animals live.

1. Repopulation

Until now, it has been extremely rarely proven that young queens old nests refer to the previous year. Although the nests give off a smell that sometimes attracts wasps, old nests are avoided. They are only reoccupied if there is really no other, safe place nearby for nesting.

You can use this to your advantage:

• do not remove the nest until April
• by this time most of the young queens have already found a new nesting site
• while searching, avoid the old wasp nest in your attic

That old nest protects you from being resettled by the queen. This method works very well and so you have enough time over the summer to make your premises wasp-proof.

2. reachability

Wasps are always looking for a suitable one Location for their nest. This means that if they have other places available and the old nest is still standing while they are looking for the nest, the queens prefer these.

In addition, there is no danger from the nests per se. It is necessary to dispose of the wasp's nest if the Building structure damaged or, for example, a window no longer closes properly. This leads to poor building insulation, which in turn causes you energy costs. So you should compare very carefully whether the wasp's nest really needs to be removed.

Important points

If you have decided to remove the wasp nest, there are a few things to keep in mind.

1. Check nest

Be sure to check with one Professional or from specialist literature to find out whether the nest is a wasp's nest. If bees have nested with you, you must not remove the nest over the winter, as bees hibernate in it.

2. When removing

Make sure to put the entire nest in one piece in a sturdy garbage bag. This will reduce the effort. You should then use a brush and a spatula or knife as much Nest material as possible off the walls, ceiling and other surfaces in the same bag. Be particularly careful when doing this. Then wet clean the entire area. Young queens avoid repopulating an old nest, but are sometimes attracted to the smell, which in turn could lead to a new colony. You can counteract this problem by wet cleaning.

3. Subsequent prevention

After you've removed the nest and cleaned the site, be sure to check out the Premises, for example the attic, check for possible openings and close it. The fewer opportunities young queens have to penetrate your premises, the lower the risk of settlement.

Remove the hornet's nest

If instead of a wasp's nest you have a hornet's nest under the roof gable or in the attic, you can do the same here. Since the life cycle of wasps and Hornets works in the same way, they even leave the nest at the same time, you can remove the nest without hesitation. Compared to their smaller relatives, whose nests they could safely leave, it is advisable to completely remove hornets' nests in winter.

The reason for this is the way the animals live:

1. Young queens

Young hornet queens are dated compared to wasp queens odor old nests attracted. That means, they settle there again and so the whole cycle starts all over again. Hornets prefer to build nests away from humans, but the smell of excrement from the previous colony tempts the young queens to settle again.

2. Excretions

Hornet excretions are a major problem and cannot be ignored. Compared to the Excretions from wasps and bees these flow down from the nest and collect at one point.

The eliminations have two major drawbacks:

• they discolor house walls inside and out
• they damage the building structure, for example through swelling of the wood due to the moisture in the excretions

If the same hornet's nest were to be populated for several years in a row, this could become difficult over a long period of time Building damage to lead. For this reason, it is advisable to remove the nest over the cold season and clean the site as thoroughly as possible. The less of the nest that is left, the less chance there is of one Resettlement. As with wasp nests, you should also look for possible openings through which the insects could get into the house, if the nest was in the attic, for example. Seal these and the risk of uninvited guests in the next year is low.

Tip: If you have discovered a hornet's nest, you should definitely place a collecting container filled with cat litter under it. The excretions can therefore collect there all year round and do not damage the building structure and cleaning in winter is made much easier.