Wasps galore this year? Anyone else?

[abenardini]

Yes, lots of wasps this year, but we have tons of wasps every year. Everyone says the common ones around here (red wasps) are aggressive, but I haven't been stung yet. If I have a nest to take out, I wait until dark to do it.

it's so weird....we've lived here for the past 10 years and not had the number of wasp issues we've encountered this year. Could be a local issue - I was curious if anyone else had noticed anything that might be correlative.

 

[Chickassan]

Yes, wasp flipping city and they hate everything I do, how I look, I'd wager that they even think I smell funny.
They're the fun kind that like to do nutty stuff like wait until you're refreshing nests to swoop in and sting your armpit.
I'm a full ten or fifteen feet away from their nests minding my own business so I'm pretty much just asking for it lol .
I get this foam and enjoy watching each and every one of those surprise instant bad mood makers curl up and die.
And yeah there's way,way more than last year and now they're just stupid to share air with.

 

[raingarden]

When we find a yellowjacket nest I spray it with WD-40. Once the oil touches them they can't fly and fall to the ground.

 

[sdm111]

I'm sitting here trying to avoid the stinging and throbbing sensation on my right scapula where a wasp stung me about 2 hours ago. This is the third sting we've had this year (twice for me already! Other sting was on my right foot where a wasp flew inside the house...I didn't see it and stepped next to it).

We're outside of Jacksonville, FL and have been here for 10+ years now, and never had such prolific wasps in our area. We live in the woods (literally inside the woods.) I found the nest that was built this morning (wasn't there yesterday) on the coop and hit it with the pressure washer. The birds were happy to have a treat when the nest fell into the coop (minus the parent wasps). Wasps are still hanging about but didn't get stung again, thank God.

Anyone else seeing an uptick in wasps in your area? We bought these traps and plan to put them in a couple areas that we've seen them the most. Anyone have anything similar they've used with luck?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09ZH7VYNZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

Yes bad in my part of Louisiana too. It's like they're everywhere

 

[Penpal]

I have used peppermint oil. Using a little sprayer, 1 tsp peppermint essential oil and 8 ounces of water. Shake well, spray on nest at dusk or night. The hornets guarding the nest will stay put and not bother you. The queen will leave and after a few days the babies finish growing and leave the nest. They won't be back. It doesn't kill them, but keeps them away. Spray in the areas you think they are interested in. Like the roof of the coop. Chickens don't like peppermint either, so be cautious.

 

[abenardini]

I have used peppermint oil. Using a little sprayer, 1 tsp peppermint essential oil and 8 ounces of water. Shake well, spray on nest at dusk or night. The hornets guarding the nest will stay put and not bother you. The queen will leave and after a few days the babies finish growing and leave the nest. They won't be back. It doesn't kill them, but keeps them away. Spray in the areas you think they are interested in. Like the roof of the coop. Chickens don't like peppermint either, so be cautious.

They haven't been back at the same site but we live on 40 acres so they're everywhere on trees and such. I was curious if anyone else had noticed an uptick. We bought traps on amazon and they're working really well. We haven't caught any honeybees in them, which is a good thing, just wasps.

 

[HeyHey]

Does anyone know of a wasp spray safe for chickens and cats?