Pet & Animal: How to Get Rid of a Wasp's Nest

Having a wasp's nest in or around your home is an unpleasant situation to be in, especially if you have small children or somebody with an allergy to wasp stings. Aside from the fear of being stung, you also have to deal with the constant humming and buzzing and the sight of the stripey winged creatures constantly toing and froing around your garden. Not to worry - there are several effective measures you can take to kill the wasps, get rid of the nest and stop them from coming back again next year. Just start with Step 1 below to find out more.

Steps

Planning and Safety

Ensure that you are not allergic to wasp stings. If you're not sure whether you have an allergy to wasp stings or not, it's a good idea to set up an allergy test with your doctor before you attempt to tackle the nest.
- If the test confirms that you are not allergic to stings, then you can proceed with getting rid of the nest by yourself.
- However, if you find out that you do have an allergy, you should ask someone else to deal with the nest or call an exterminator, as getting stung could be dangerous to your health.

Find out what type of wasp's nest you have. Before you tackle the nest, it's a good idea to know what species of wasp you're dealing with, as this will give you an indication of the best way to get rid of it. The three main types of wasps you'll have to deal with are as follows:
- Paper wasps: Paper wasps have long bodies and long legs, relative to other species of wasp. They build large, exposed nests where the combs are clearly visible. Their nests are often compared to an upside down umbrella and are usually built in sheltered areas like the eaves of a house or the end of an open pipe. They will only attack if they feel threatened, but their sting can be quite painful and potentially dangerous.^[1]
- Yellow jackets: Yellow jackets have thick black antennae and shorter legs (compared to paper wasps). They build papery-looking, covered-in nests and prefer enclosed spaces like wall voids or cavities in the ground. They can be very aggressive, stinging multiple times and attacking in swarms.
- Hornets: Hornets are the largest type of social wasp. In North America, the bald faced hornet is the most common - it can be identified by the white markings on its head and thorax. The European hornet is brown with orange markings. Hornets tend to build paper nests, which are often found in tree trunks and wall cavities.^[2]

Wear protective clothing. It's very important to wear protective clothing when you attempt to get rid of a wasp's nest, to prevent getting stung. Even if you're not allergic, a wasp sting can be painful!
- Wear long jeans, socks and boots, a sweater with the hood pulled over your head and gloves.
- You should also wrap a scarf around the lower half of your face and wear protective glasses or ski goggles.
- If you are using a pesticide spray, make sure the clothes are old, as residue from the spray could enter the fabric. You should wash or discard the clothes immediately afterwards.
- If you do happen to get stung while getting rid of the nest, see treatment instructions here.

Never stand on a ladder to reach a high wasps' nest. If the wasps' nest is somewhere up high, like the eave of a two-story house or a high tree branch, do not use a ladder to attempt to reach it.
- If you are standing on a ladder and a swarm of wasps flies at you when you disturb the nest, you are very likely to fall and seriously injure yourself.
- In this situation it is best to call a professional exterminator or use something like the smoke method (see below) to get rid of the wasps.
- You should only attempt to get rid of a wasps' nest by yourself when it is within easy reach.

If you're using pesticides, make sure no children or pets are present. If you decide to use a pesticide spray or powder to kill off the wasps, it's important to section off the area and make sure no one - especially small children or pets - comes near it, at least for 24 hours. The pesticides used in wasp killing spray are extremely strong and poisonous.
- In addition, it's important that you pick up and dispose of any dead wasps that you find on the ground near the nest. Otherwise, your pet cat or dog, or local wildlife might ingest the dead wasps and be poisoned themselves as a result.

Target wasp nests as early in the year as possible. The time of year you choose to destroy a wasps' nest can have a huge impact on whether or not you succeed. To understand this, it's useful to be aware of how these social wasps (paper wasps, yellow jackets and hornets) operate.
- In early spring, the queen bee (who was in hibernation for the winter) will select a spot for her nest and build a small structure to house the first brood of worker bees. Once these worker bees arrive, they will work tirelessly to expand their nest and protect their queen.
- The colony of bees will continue to grow throughout the spring and summer, until it reaches its peak in late August. At this time, yellow jacket colonies can hold up to two thousand wasps.
- In addition, towards the end of summer, the last brood of wasps are born. This brood contains male wasps and next year's queens, so the colony is very protective of them and becomes more aggressive towards anyone who threatens the nest.
- Therefore the best time to destroy a wasps' nest is as early in the year as possible, when the colony is smaller and the wasps are less aggressive. Plus, if you manage to kill the queen, you won't need to worry about a new nest being formed that year.^[3]
- However, if you do not find the wasps' nest until late summer or fall, destroying the nest may not be necessary (depending on your location) as freezing nighttime temperatures will kill the colony off naturally. Then you can simply dispose of the nest come winter.^[4]

Destroy wasp nests at night. If you are planning to get rid of a wasps' nest yourself, it is best to do it at night. This is when the wasps are least active, so their reaction time is slower, and they are less aggressive.
- For illumination do not use a regular flashlight to view the nest, as this will attract the wasps to you. Instead, use a red or amber colored light for safe visibility when performing night-time treatment of a wasp nest. ^[5]
- Alternatively, you can try to target the nest in the very early morning before the wasps become active, as you will have the benefit of the morning light.

Plan an escape route. Before you set your plan of attack in motion, it is a good idea to figure out your escape route. After you spray the nest, the wasps will quickly start to stream out and may swarm at you - therefore you will need to may a quick getaway before this happens.
- Plan your escape route so you have somewhere you can quickly take cover after targeting the nest.
- Also make sure that there are no obstacles such as children's toys or gardening equipment in your path which you could potentially trip over.

Consider calling an exterminator. In some situations, it's best to leave nest removal to the professionals.
- This is especially true if the wasp nest is in an awkward or hard-to-reach location, such as inside a wall or attic or underneath a concrete slab.
- It is also advisable to call a professional exterminator if you are allergic to wasp stings, as getting rid of the nest by yourself could be dangerous.

Consider leaving the nest alone. If the wasps' nest is far enough away from your house that it doesn't pose a significant threat, you should consider leaving it alone, especially if it belongs to a less aggressive wasp species such as the paper wasp. Wasps are an important part of the ecosystem, as they pollinate plants and flowers and eat other garden pests such as caterpillars.
- If you discover that the nest actually belongs to bees instead of wasps, do not destroy it. Honey bee populations are in significant decline, so it's important that you do what you can to help preserve existing bees.
- Instead of destroying the nest, call a local beekeeper. He or she will be more than happy to come and collect the nest, either for free or for a small fee.

Destroying the Nest

Use a pesticide spray. Purchase an aerosol spray pesticide designed especially for killing wasps from your local supermarket or hardware store. Pesticides designed for smaller insects like ants may not be strong enough to kill the wasps.
- Wearing the proper protective clothing and following the other safety measures outlined in the section above, target the bottom opening of the nest with a stream of pesticide. Do this for approximately 10 to 15 seconds (or according to the instructions on the can), then quickly vacate the area.
- Leave the spray to take effect overnight. The next day, observe the nest from a distance. If you still see activity around the nest, repeat the process a second time.
- Once activity has ceased and most of the wasps are dead, it is safe to knock down the nest using a long stick. Use the stick to break the nest apart, then saturate the pieces with the pesticide spray.
- Dispose of the broken nest and any dead wasps immediately.^[6]

Use insecticidal dust. When it comes to ground nests (such as those occupied by yellow jackets), insecticidal dust is much more effective than aerosol sprays, which can't quite penetrate the heart of the nest.
- Get your hands on some insecticidal dust, such as "Sevin 5 Garden Dust" and measure out about ¼ cup into a bulb duster (or disposable plastic cup).
- During the night or early morning, apply the dust liberally onto the nest opening, while wearing the proper protective gear. Immediately vacate the area.
- Don't block or cover the nest - allow the wasps to enter and exit freely. As they pass through the opening, their legs and wings will become coated with the insecticidal dust, which they will then carry with them into the center of the nest, contaminating the other wasps.
- Following the application of insecticidal dust, the wasps should die off within a day or two. If not, you can try repeating the process.

Use dish soap. If you're not a fan of using pesticide, a simple solution of dish soap and water can be extremely effective at killing off wasps, as it coats their wings to prevent them from flying and eventually drowns them.
- Prepare a soap solution by mixing a good quantity of dish soap (about ¼ cup) with a liter of hot water, until it's nice and sudsy.
- If you're targeting an aerial nest, pour the soap solution into a hose-end spray bottle, then aim a powerful stream of water directly at the entrance of the nest for 10 to 15 seconds.
- If you're targeting a ground nest, simply pour the solution directly into the entrance, then quickly vacate the area.
- Although the soap and water solution is very effective, you may need to repeat the process several times, as the soapy water needs to come in direct contact with each wasp before it can kill it.

Use a shop-vac. Another more-natural method of targeting a wasps' nest is to get a large shop-vac with a wand long enough to reach the nest. Make sure the exit of the vacuum has a grill/screen/net small enough to prevent wasps from escaping.
- Pour an inch or two of soapy water into the vacuum - this will kill off the wasps as soon as they are sucked inside. Now, place the suction tube next to the nest opening, turn on the vacuum and leave it running for as long as you see anything coming or going from the nest.
- This could take several hours and can be quite noisy, so it might be a good idea to warn your neighbors before you begin.
- Once there is no more activity at the entrance to the nest, turn off the vacuum and quickly block the suction tube with a piece of cloth. Leave the vacuum to sit for several hours. When there are no buzzing/humming noises coming from the vacuum, it is safe to open the vacuum and dump the contents into a trash bag for disposal.

Use smoke. Another pesticide-free way of clearing out an aerial wasps' nest is to use smoke.
- Build a small fire or light a fire in your grill directly below the nest. The smoke will rise up and enter the nest, suffocating the wasps and forcing them to vacate the nest.
- Leave the smoke to rise for an hour or two, and when you are sure that the nest is empty you can put out the fire and knock the nest down with a stick, before disposing of it. However, you may want to have a spray bottle filled with soap and water in case there are any live wasps remaining in the nest.
- Keep in mind that this method is only suitable for aerial nests that are hanging from tree branches or other exposed areas. It is not suitable for nests in doorways, eaves or anywhere too close to your house, as the flames may accidentally set your house on fire.^[7]

Use water. It is possible to drown a free-hanging, aerial wasp nest using a cloth bag and a bucket of water.
- Wearing your protective clothing, set a bucket of water beneath the wasps' nest. Grab a large cloth bag, with no holes or tears.
- Quickly and carefully, place the cloth bag over the nest and tightly secure the top with a piece of string. As you do so, pull the nest from the tree branch.
- Dump the bag containing the wasps' nest into the bucket of water, and place a heavy stone on top to hold the bag underwater.
- Leave the bag in the water overnight, and by morning all the wasps will have drowned.
- Keep in mind that this method involves coming in very close contact with the wasp's nest - so it is not for the clumsy or faint-hearted!^[8]

Preventing the Wasps from Returning

Seal entry points. Over the winter, do a thorough inspection of the outside of your house to look for potential wasp entry points, such as loose siding, unsealed vents and cracks around windows and door frames. These are all ideal locations for a wasp's nest, so sealing them off now could prevent a potential infestation come spring.

Knock down vacant nests during the winter. Although wasps will never return to a previously used nest, several species of wasp will build their new nest on top of the old one. Therefore it is a good idea to knock down any empty, abandoned nests over the winter and thoroughly clean the area before the queen bee reclaims the area come springtime.

Make sure to seal your garbage cans. The scent of old food can attract wasps, so it's a good idea to make sure your garbage cans are well sealed. You should also give any garbage cans a good clean with water and disinfectant on a semi-regular basis, to remove any food residue that could attract wasps.

Be careful with fruit trees. Fruit trees, and particularly rotting, fallen fruit is a magnet for wasps and bees, so think twice before planting one too close to your house. If you already have fruit trees, it's a good idea to regularly harvest ripe fruit and to pick any fallen fruit off the ground and dispose of it before the wasps can get to it.

Hang fake nests. Wasps are extremely territorial and will not build their nest close to another colony's. Therefore, hanging a fake wasps' nest or two is a great way to deter them. You can purchase fake nests at gardening centers and hardware stores (many of which are beautifully designed) but you can have just as much success by hanging a brown paper bag!

Tips

If you have a nest on your house, another natural but very effective method is to place a bucket full of boiling (or as close to boiling as possible) water underneath the nest. Use a long stick to knock the nest into the bucket. Use a short stick to mush the nest apart afterwards, to ensure that any adults in it as well as the larvae are cooked or drowned. This is best done wearing protective gear, so that any adults who made it out, don't sting you. (If you don't mind chemicals, having a second person spraying the last few adults makes this method much more comfortable.) Once the nest's queen (inside the nest) is dead, any remaining adults will die off, after being unable to find their nest.

The mint-based wasp killers are just as effective, and less poisonous to you and your pets.

Spray adhesive works remarkably well (better than some poisons) and is about the same price. The wasps may begin to come out but will get stuck to the nest and then each other clogging the exit hole. Spray plenty of it on the exit after they have stopped coming out for the returning wasps. Spray adhesive however does not work for bees which unlike wasps will eat the dead clogging the hole, wasps will not.

If you are allergic to wasp/hornet venom, contact a professional exterminator and avoid the nest entirely.

Warnings

Be very careful not to stay around the nest long enough for the wasps to find you and sting you.

Only exterminate the wasps yourself if the nest is relatively small, in plain sight and within reach of a hand-held spray can. If any of these conditions do not apply, do not attempt to do this yourself - it's too dangerous. Call pest control to remove them for you.

Do not attempt to spray an already irritated nest. The hornets/wasps may not all be in the nest at the time you attempt to spray it. Give the nest a few hours to calm down.