# wasp nest



## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

If I knock down a wasp nest, will they stay in the nest on the ground? Or will they all just leave? I have a bad wasp nest above two stalls that I need to use, but I'd rather not kill the wasps if I didn't have to.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

You touch that nest without first spraying it with wasp killer you _will_ be attacked as they will flood the place coming to attack whatever it is disturbing their home.

At dusk or dawn is safest to remove nests, not during the day.
If you see one flying, there are many more around...bigger the nest, bigger the amount of wasps to attack you.

I use Black Flay Wasp & Hornet Killer.
It shoots a straight stream of product 20'...and you will need that 20' to run...and be prepared to move out if they swarm you!!
_Be very careful._

If they are paper wasps, or bald-faced get a exterminator to do the job...they are some of the nastiest and been told deadliest if multiple stings occur from a swarming...do not mess around and feel bad for these guys.
They can be deadly to horses too, period.
:runninghorse2:...


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## AragoASB (Jul 12, 2020)

I was always interested in the social lives of the Hymenoptera, the bee and ant family. There were red wasp nests in my horse trailer (which I did not use). I noticed that individuals seemed to know each other, and embraced and seem to kiss when returning to the nest. So I went out one night with paints and tiny paint brushes and painted a different colored spot on each one's backside so I could tell them apart. Many hours were spent sitting on the floor of the trailer taking notes. The newest ones to hatch from the combs are nursemaids. They take care of the larvae in the cells. Then they graduate to become guards. Then they become hunters. They hunt for catterpillars and insects which they chew up into bugburger and bring home to feed the colony. The Queen never leaves and the males never leave either and sit around doing basically nothing but mooch. One day I got my notebook and went out to observe wasp behavior and found all my multicolored wasps dead on the floor. My landlord was there and thought he would do me a favor by spraying them.

I understand people's wasp phobia but in my experience if you leave them alone they will leave you alone. And they are useful insect predators.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

@AragoASB that's a terrible story.

I have ignored this nest for a long time. I don't like to hurt any creature if I don't have to. There are other nests in the barn that I am OK ignoring. But the barn owner is saying that she's going to want my horses to spend more time in their stalls, and the nest is right above two of the stalls, maybe six feet above the ground. I am afraid that one of my guys might kick the wall for some reason, which could upset the wasps, which would sting the horse, leading to more kicking and more stinging. With them being in stalls, they would have no way to get away from it.

I have testing next week, but I have reason to believe that I have a strong allergy. So... I'm worried.


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## AragoASB (Jul 12, 2020)

Yes it is true they do not like strong vibrations of their nest and this might activate the guards if horses kick the walls. You should probably have someone do away with them.

edit: Although surely horses have kicked walls in this barn with resident wasps before. Have they ever attacked? You could ask the grooms and BO.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

Isn't there a temperature below which they go dormant, and I could maybe knock the nest down then and put it somewhere else? I'd really rather not kill them, but I think that this particular nest has to go away.


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## AragoASB (Jul 12, 2020)

I assume these are red wasps. They are dark red with black wings. What happens is in the fall they die off, all except the queen. She flies off and finds a crack or hole to spend the winter. In the spring she starts a new colony. You could wait for the wasps to die off then remove all nests. When the queens come back in the spring they build a tiny nest with a few cells (they are paper wasps, the make a sort of paper material). She lays eggs in the cells and sterile females hatch to become the new workers. You could remove these small nests when she is out hunting for bugs. Keep doing this and they will give up.

Personally, I would not want wasp spray sprayed around my horses, they would breathe it and the smaell remains.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

I really tried this year to be vigilant about new nests, but this one, I don't know how I never saw it, but I didn't.

I'd spray it some time when they weren't around, if I had to spray it. Right now, they only go in their stalls a few times a week, when I go to see them, basically just so I can separate them when I feed them, and for tacking them up or working on their feet or whatever. It would be easy enough to do it when they weren't in there.


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

I have the orange colored wasps in my barn. Until this year, they chose to build their nests between the crack of the oak kick boards and the barn wall in the open end stall.

We had an “agreement” that I would leave them alone so long as they didn’t get sassy and sting my horses.

This year they built their nests way up in the peak of the barn roof and have been extremely docile so far.

FWIW, there are wasp looking bees called Mud Daubers. They are a shiny blue-black. NEVER kill them. Not only are they nom-aggressive and won’t sting if they bump into you, they are one of the few things capable of killing Black Widows. 

I really do try to “live and let live” and have become more inclined that way as I get older. However, if my safety becomes a serious issue, then “it” loses, whatever “it” is


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## AragoASB (Jul 12, 2020)

Wow. I did not know that about Mud Daubers. I like it when mud daubers use different colored muds from various places for their home. It is like natural art. Mud Daubers connection from thorax (chest) to abdomen (their behind) is ridiculously long and skinny. That is a good way to tell them from others


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## AragoASB (Jul 12, 2020)

I remember one year in the Texas woods, red wasps overpopulated my back porch and deck. There was a nest every foot or so, Gillions of them. I would go out slow and easy. It was like living next to a bunch of gang members. Here is a later nest in a birdhouse by the front door. In the fall I knew they were dying and there were no caterpillars anymore so I would put little rolled up balls of hamburger on top of the birdhouse for them. 


It is yellow jackets and ground nesting wasps I worry about when riding. Once coming down a hill Tamar (greatest and best horse of my life) strated jumping around all humped up. She had stepped in a yellowjacket nest. We galloped away and out ran them


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## Kalraii (Jul 28, 2015)

Katie was put in a stall with wasps - she went into shock and fortunately a vet was close. Was at first yard. They pulled out 60 stings and if someone hadn't been there (staff were going home) to hear her screams she would have died. I remember turning up and they were holding her up in the wash stall propping her body with bins and soaking with two hoses. No way would I risk it.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

@Kalraii thank you, that's IT. I will remove the nest.

I'm sorry that happened to you, but glad she recovered.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

Let me put this out there, too. Since the barn owner is the one wanting me to stall my horses more, is it reasonable to ask HER to take care of the wasp nest?


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## Kalraii (Jul 28, 2015)

If it's her property yes. After the above incident they had someone come out and sort all wasps they were aware of (and searched for more hidden).


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## ChieTheRider (May 3, 2017)

I used to be on water duty for a barn of 12 horses and you could guarantee that every week or so I'd reach under the lip of a tank to dump it out and grab a tiny nest of paper wasps. Luckily since it was usually only a little after dawn when I got out there they weren't super active but I've gotten stung enough times to be sick of them. Spray the nest and if possible move whatever they were nesting in because the absolutely will come back if you don't get them all. 

The wasps have moved on but after boss brought in a shipment of peanut hay I've killed half a dozen black widow spiders. If it ain't one thing it's another. If it's a threat to the horses, kill it with fire.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

The paper wasps around here seem very mellow.


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## secuono (Jul 6, 2011)

Open nests, I knock down carefully, with a 10ft pole, late in the day when it's cold, 50-60s. They're slow & not as willing to fight. Some go back to where the nest was for a day or two, then leave. Others may, rarely, stay to rebuild. Removing the "stem" helps fully get rid of them.
Never seen an enclosed nest, like I see on tv. So idk how those react.
There's a few different types in my barn. One specifically watch me like a hawk, tracking me, fluttering their wings, giving me death stares. I'm most careful with those. Others are more calm and not much of a worry to knock down. I'll pass them crazy close or the cat accidentally brush against their nest and they are fine.


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## rambo99 (Nov 29, 2016)

We've had yellow jackets in both barns this year. They are easley ticked off an attack. We find nest in either barn they are sprayed with wasp an hornet killer.

Knocking down a nest without killing them makes for very angry wasp. They will swarm in building for days. 

We have no mercy for the critters, they die if found anywhere on our property.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

Kalraii said:


> Katie was put in a stall with wasps - she went into shock and fortunately a vet was close. Was at first yard. They pulled out 60 stings and if someone hadn't been there (staff were going home) to hear her screams she would have died. I remember turning up and they were holding her up in the wash stall propping her body with bins and soaking with two hoses. No way would I risk it.


The wasps we have here do not leave stings, only bees do. 

Neem Oil will kill wasps if sprayed over the nest. As said, needs to be done either early before dawn or after sunset when they are all 'home'.

When I was at work there were two gardeners. One only a day a week to do the heavier work. 

Terry, the younger gardener was trimming the hedge by the veggie garden where Ron was doing some weeding. 

Terry cut through a wasp nest and they were non to happy about it. Old Ron had warned him that he thought there was a nest in the hedge but Terry knew better. 

Stung, Terry was out for revenge. He went to the workshop and came back with a jug of petrol (gas), again Ron warned him to leave it and he would come back after dark to remove it. 

Nope, that meant the hedge wouldn't be finished! Terry tipped the fuel over the broken nest, again receiving more stings despite him having covered up more. He then lit a length of paper to set fire to the mess. 

There was a boom and a flash, Terry fell backwards off the stepladder, there was a flash of flame and then the whole hedge caught light. 

Terry's hat was also smouldering, he had no eyebrows left - meantime the rest of us were holding each other up as we were laughing so hard. 

We did put the burning hedge out, saved having to trim it and the wasps were gone.


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## Lazyfh (Jul 4, 2019)

Spray and run !! Move horses away first


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## Aldo (Aug 6, 2019)

*Just my opinion*

Wait till its dark and then spray!
A can of bug spray is a lot cheaper than a vet / doc visit if your horse gets stung and has an accident or runs you over trying to get away.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

We're supposed to have a super strong cold front come through Sunday / Monday. Highs Monday and Tuesday should be in the 40s. I'm thinking about going out to spray them early in the morning on one of those mornings. I've read that wasps can't really fly in temperatures below 50. I hope that's true.

I did let the barn owner know about it, and she said she'd take care of it, but I'm still thinking I might have to be the one to do it...


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## AragoASB (Jul 12, 2020)

Let the barn owner kill the wasps. I have a feeling that if you did it, you will be sad. Insist that the barn owner do it.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

AragoASB said:


> Let the barn owner kill the wasps. I have a feeling that if you did it, you will be sad. Insist that the barn owner do it.


You're right, I will feel sad. I will feel guilty. I wish I had spotted this thing earlier and knocked it down then, when there weren't so many wasps living there, and they could have gone somewhere else and rebuilt. I had been keeping an eye on other places where they built nests last year, but I missed this one. These guys just want to live their lives -- I get it. I wish I didn't have to worry about them stinging, then I could just let them be.


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## AragoASB (Jul 12, 2020)

In a couple of weeks they will all be dead anyway because that is their lifespan.

(Except the queen, who will find a crack somewhere to spend the winter). She will come back next year and build a small nest. Those are the ones to knock down while she is out hunting because once she has workers it will grow and grow.

I enjoyed the story from the UK about the gardener's hat smouldering and him having no eyebrows after pouring gas on a nest and lighting it.


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## Caledonian (Nov 27, 2016)

ACinATX said:


> I did let the barn owner know about it, and she said she'd take care of it, but I'm still thinking I might have to be the one to do it...



Perhaps that's what the barn owner wants. If she leaves it long enough you'll step in and she'll not need to do it herself or hire someone. To me it's part of maintaining the barn, which is the owner's responsibility, especially as there's risk involved with leaving or removing the nest.

I had to remove a couple this year. Two were immediately above the door of a storage shed and every movement or door slam, annoyed the wasps. They were not happy when i knocked them down and immediately starting building in the same spot, so they had to go - permanently. 

However, I'd Tree Bees build a nest in my house, under a bedroom and bathroom, and i left them in peace. They were a amazing little guys. I could hear them chattering away when the house was quiet. They'd moved on by late summer.


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## Maxify (Oct 18, 2010)

Spray a little soapy water on them & their nest. Then done with them.
Wasps care little about who, what or how many times they sting their opponent.
To them YOU are the intruder.


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