I am in Western New York so it is winter and cold right now. We recently were in the crawl space of our attic tending to a broken water pipe. We discovered what we believe is a yellow jacket nest within our attic wall. Obviously, not active at this time but what action do we need to take to remove it? Thank you.
If it’s a yellow jacket nest in the wall, chances are high it’s inactive and can safely be removed. I’m assuming it’s still cold and that the nest is in a section of the attic that was close to if not equal to the outside temperatures. This will insure the nest is totally dormant.
Most wasp and bee nests are easy to dismantle during the winter meaning they will easily pull apart. Bring a plastic bag up to the space and wear protective gloves, clothing and a dust mask when you do the work. And if you notice anything moving during the process, it could very well mean the nest is some other species of insect which may in fact be dormant but still very much alive. That means you should not bring the removed sections to a warm part of the home for any length of time since the contents of the bag could very well “come to life” and present a danger to the people close by. So when you’re done extracting the nest, be sure to keep it where the temps are still very much like the outside; nice and cold.
Common wasps that make nests on homes or inside wall voids include yellow jackets but the list includes European hornets, bald faced hornets and paper wasps. And there are many bees that like to nest in wall spaces including bumble bees and honey bees. Some of these species have a tendency to return to the same location year after year and yellow jackets are one of those species.
To make sure they don’t come back to your attic or some other wall void on the home, I suggest you dust as much of the area with some DRIONE DUST. This product is easy to use and when applied to the wall space where the nest is located, will make the area uninhabitable to any wasp or bee. I suggest you treat as much of the surrounding area as well. More about this product and other yellow jacket treatments can be seen here:
Yellow Jackets: https://bugspray.com/article/yellowjackets
The article above discusses how to treat yellow jackets nests in wall voids, attic spaces and other locations too. Here’s a direct link to the Drione as well as hand duster that will make applying the dust easy.
Drione: https://bugspray.com/catalog/insecticide/dust/drione-dust
Hand Duster: https://bugspray.com/equipment/dusters/crusader
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