PSA It's Wasp Season again, check EVERYTHING

[ReSomething]

Well we had an exceptionally wet early summer and maybe that’s why we have so much wasp activity right now, but we do and maybe around your place they’ll have built their nests while you weren’t aware as well.

So far we have an enormous hornet nest that went up what felt like overnight on the corner of the house, we can see that one so it’s OK, but in every nook and cranny are the paper wasps. They built several nests in the run in and ran the horses out, or we did rather than have issues.

We found two in the horse trailer, cleaned out the loft last week and torched them all on a cool day - on the cool days we are OK but we are back to hot and muggy and they are on the alert. They were clustered up in the corner watching me, I swear, 20 or 30 of them with their antennae wiggling. shudders
They are building nests inside pipes and in the crannies where the metal siding comes together on our less than one year old run in, so we will foam all the spaces.

They will build anywhere, in the horse trailer was a barrel with an empty feed bag laid across it and they built a nest under the feed bag right next to the barrel. They’ve built inside the outdoor electric outlet cover before, all kinds of potentially unpleasant places.

My friend swears by Fantastick as an environmentally friendly wasp killer, we got some wasp bomb, I don’t care that much, just want them far away.

[Bluey]

I use the foam spray stream and leave the nests hanging there.
That seems to deter others for a while and if some later try to make themselves at home, the foam spray comes back out for them.

Wasps also love the security cameras, kind of neat to see them up and close in the monitor, walking around.

We really leave them alone, unless they are building nests right where they are a hazard, by doors or in the trailers.
Most wasps leave us alone if we don’t disturb them.
I think if you squash one, the others come to the funeral, so better leave them be.

[Easysgirl]

You can also get these sort of candles that wasps hate the smell of, even if they’re not burning. They don’t smell to people. I think the sell them at Tractor Supply Co. I use them at home to keep the bees away from the pool.

[ReSomething]

Maybe this year ours are all at face level or we’re up in their business more. Just not fun to have them fly out from under the manger.

[Stefon]

We use the yellow traps that hang. Key is to do it early in the season and hang the traps nearby but not where people or horses are.

[JanM]

I use wasp spray, and always have a big supply on hand. This year is bad for them. I’ve had three smallish nest on the eaves of the house, and not near the ends the way they usually build. Then another prime area is the porch overhang, the garage door frame, and corners of anything. However, a couple of really strange places this year were the shutters on the front of the house, and the interior top corner of the AC unit.

[Sempiternal]

They’re all over the place out where my girl it. So very glad the trough we’re using is a metal one vs the hardened rubber ones. The wasps really, really liked the rubber one last year.

I did almost stick my hand into a pile of wasps. Friend was messing around with a board and a metal grate that had been lying on the ground. I went to help her lay them back down and realized there were wasps crawling right where I was about to grab on.

shudders

Pretty sure my friend’s mare got stung on the face today too.

We’re knocking down everything we can get to over the winter and next spring I’m setting up “traps” for the queens to hopefully keep the numbers down.

[moving_to_dc]

I’ve had a heck of a summer with wasps, too. They have been building nests where they never have before, and re-build quickly in the same location when the previous nest is destroyed.

We’ve also got a bumper crop of those HUGE flies that make the horses buck and throw themselves over - the flies that are like an 1" long… Usually it is just one or two that bother a single horse for a few days. Kill them, and no more reappear. This year, we’ve had 4-6 on EACH horse, and new ones show up as fast as we can kill the suckers. What the heck!

I am in Southern MD, along the Potomac, and it has been a very dry, hot & humid summer compared to the last 3 that I have experienced here.

[macmtn]

Its freaky when all the leaves drop and THERE it is…a basketball size wasp nest…in the tree right over your head.

I hate them…they are evil personified
did I mention I am highly alergic?

[Zu_Zu]

I carry Benadryl ALL. THE. TIME.

I carry Benadryl ALL. THE. TIME !

a small pill swallowed quickly makes a world of difference if stung !

[Foxtrot_s]

As a rule, paper wasps are benign, so I just leave tem. But it is a pain when you can’t even eat outside on your deck and have them swarming all over your food as soon s it appears.

We had a huge windstorm recently and I pulled a branch out of a tree, forgetting that the nest was in the tree - that got them flying around and one ended up under my arm between my arm and body. It has been five days and despite re-applying anti-itch cream, it itches badly.

Good reminder to check the horse trailer.

[RubyTuesday]

[QUOTE=Bluey;8303931]
I use the foam spray stream and leave the nests hanging there.
That seems to deter others for a while and if some later try to make themselves at home, the foam spray comes back out for them.

Wasps also love the security cameras, kind of neat to see them up and close in the monitor, walking around.

We really leave them alone, unless they are building nests right where they are a hazard, by doors or in the trailers.
Most wasps leave us alone if we don’t disturb them.
I think if you squash one, the others come to the funeral, so better leave them be.[/QUOTE]

I’ll kill any wasp I can, because every sting I have ever gotten has been while I was ignoring them.

[AnastasiaBeaverhousen]

I heard that you can hang a brown paper bag up. It looks like a nest so the wasps won’t make a nest so close to another.

[gothedistance]

Was just out feeding the ponies yesterday evening after sunset (they are out 24/7 in separate pastures) but as I was giving one mare her dinner, I noticed a botfly hanging around her legs, bothering her. She seemed very unhappy with it, so I started stalking it. I had already killed one a few days ago that was hanging around two other ponies, so I was on the hunt for any others because I hate having to clean their eggs off the ponies legs. For some reason the mare seemed very wary of it, but then again I had noticed that she was the only pony that did not have bot fly eggs on her. So the fly hoovered around her legs as she snorted and stamped, and finally the insect paused slow enough that I could slap it between my two hands to kill it.

The instant I slapped it I felt an intensely sharp stabbing pain between my first two fingers of my left hand that astonished me. I didn’t think that bot flies could sting! Turns out they don’t because when I looked closer at the stunned insect lying on the ground, and could just make out in the waning light that… I had actually coldcocked a wasp!! Damn!! No wonder the mare was so unhappy about it bothering her. I have no idea why it was hanging around my pony, bothering her legs, but I ground it into oblivion in the dirt, then took off at a fast walk to the house to get the sudsy ammonia and a benadryl because yes I am allergic.

As I passed through the barn I picked up one of those fabric-plus-rubberized-palm work glove, then once inside soaked a paper towel soaked in sudsy ammonia to put between my index and second finger - which is where the wasp stung - then put on the glove to hold the towel in place. And I downed an adult Benadryl which started making me sleepy in no time. Kind of bummed me out - I had been hoping to get back to a sewing project but it wasn’t to be. Not with the antihistime trying it’s best to knock me out, and my left hand gloved. I kept the ammonia on my hand all night long because it not only completely stops any pain, but it also keeps the toxins deactivated and prevents them from breaking down the surrounding tissues and causing swelling.

Woke up at 3am to find the glove missing, but my fingers still clenched holding the (now fairly dry) ammonia soaked paper towel between the two fingers. Found the glove, put it back on, and went right back to sleep.

The next morning I resoaked the paper towel in ammonia and kept it applied for another 12 hours. The area between my fingers was dead white and looked like parchment paper…BUT… there was NO pain whatsoever, and I didn’t have to take any more antihistime when normally I have to keep taking it for 2-3 days afterwards. Did I mention I am very allergic? Yup. Not quite epipen, but close.

I used to carry sudsy ammonia with me in a little bottle while foxhunting, and would take a children’s chewable Benadryl before the hunt. Always “just in case” that has saved my rear more than a few times when the field ran down a path housing ground bees.

[Kat_the_Horse]

Last month we finally found time to go through all the boxes we staged in the garage right after we moved here (which was last summer!).

There had been a constant parade of ‘danglers’, which is what we call mud dauber wasps, in and out of the garage all spring, but as they are so mild mannered, they didn’t worry me. However, in going through all these boxes, I’m thinking we need to find a good way to dis-invite them. I believe every box, folded tarp, and piece of furniture was copiously dotted with lumps of hard mud.

Naturally we had to bust them open to see what all was inside. SO MANY SPIDERS. Considering that daubers prefer black widow and brown recluse spiders, it was a trifle concerning how many HUNDREDS of spiders were in all those dauber tubes. Almost made me sad that I’d wiped out so many of them.

We have not ever been stung by any of these wasps…and we have grandkids who play on the driveway and in the open garage all summer. I did see one of our kittens grab one and attempt to eat it…and quickly spit it out!

[MistyBlue]

Gothedistance…not much can ever get done post-Benadryl. :no:

If I take a Benadryl, I know I have about 20 minutes or so to get done whatever needs doing because after that…I’m toast.

Good wasp reminder…around here they get a LOT more active late summer time. As soon as the night temps drop a bit, they go into overdrive. I did the late-summer/early-fall tractor start up today…walk up and bang parts of the tractor and run off a bit and watch. Then sit on and start the tractor and stay on the edge of the seat in case anything starts swarming. I probably look extra-spayshul…but wasps love making nests this time of year in my tractor. And grill.

[cllane1]

Don’t forget to make sure they aren’t nesting in your trailer hookup. They love to get up in my gooseneck hitch and behind the breakaway battery.

[quietann]

Wasps often take up residence in my mare’s shed during the summer. They don’t seem to bother her much, but one of the teens who does stalls etc. couldn’t go in there to clean because the wasps stung her. So, lots of spray, and keep up with it, spray the first time wasps are noticed and just keep at it. The trick is to get to them in the evening, just before dark, when most of them are in the nest and they are pretty quiet.

At home, when they build nests we spray and then leave the nests up, and yes, this does keep them from coming back to the same area.

[JanM]

I think this is the time of year where everything, including wasps, is trying to prepare for the fall and winter. I’ve noticed everything is trying to find a place to nest. When I spray a wasp nest, then I usually knock it down, to get the wasps that are inside the cells, and any eggs they might leave. I’m not sure the wasp spray really kills the eggs off.

[keysfins]

I discovered that wasps have appropriated at least two if my hanging bird houses that are used regularly by our resident nuthatches. Any idea how to evict them without getting stung?

I considered blasting them with wasp spray in the evening. But then decided NOT to, because I didn’t want to expose the birds to the spray if they come back to use the nest boxes.