Wasps in new cedar coop

[wrenm]

We got a new coop-- cedar wood-- and can't keep the wasps away from/out of it.

Ideas for treating this pest? We don't want to "Raid" it.... getting dangerous to collect eggs!

Thanks for any help/ideas!

 

[Odelia]

Put up the kind of trap that they fly into and can not fly back out of. That will keep the chickens safe.

 

[aart]

Are you sure they're wasps?
Knowing what kind might help in prevention/determent.

Are they building nests?
Spraying with soapy water might help.

Have you had wasp problems before getting this new coop?
I would think the aromatics of cedar would keep them away rather than attracting them.

 

[Odelia]

They make traps now that attract wasps, yellow jackets and hornets. If you don't know what you have go with one of those.

 

[tcstoehr]

I haven't seen the situation but I doubt it's dangerous to collect eggs. You may feel threatened but you likely are not if you leave them alone. Then again, there are different kinds of wasps that make different sized colonies and I wouldn't want one of these in my coop:


But I generally just have these:


I wouldn't bother with the latter kind. They're small, unagressive, and not numerous. Although I might remove the nests in the winter. The first one however has a more aggressive species that might begin to worry me when their numbers got out of hand. The larger the colony, the more aggressive they tend to be since they have such a large investment to protect.

If you want to get rid of them without spraying poison, go in at night when they're all gathered inside their nest and scrap it off. Have a bucket handy for it to fall into. Having one person to scrape and another person to hold the bucket (or bag or whatever) is helpful. Then just dump it somewhere or seal it inside the bucket or squash it or whatever.

They may well come right back and start the nest again. I'm not sure what to do about that. One option is to make the surface to slick for them to attach their nests to. In my birdhouses I rub wax onto the bottom sides of the roofs. This is my first year trying that so I'm not sure how it will work. Maybe not practical for a chicken coop. I have SunTuf plastic roofing panels on my coop and no wasp has yet built a nest there. I'm guessing they don't like smooth plastic and maybe the daylight coming through deters them. I don't really know.

 

[wrenm]

They are the big orange ugly mean wasps we get in the South. No doubt they are wasps. We do have a lot of wasps, but this is the first time we've had them in a coop.

They are building nests, and we knock them out daily. It's odd that the hens ignore them in the coop but pluck them out of thin air and eat them if they buzz too close while the girls are out foraging.

But then, the next day, by the end of the day, they are back again.

I will try the soap water and see if that deters them. I'm pretty stumped as to why they like this-- it's a "house" type of design, so I think they like how enclosed it is, as opposed to our old coop, which is a "hutch" that's very open on the front.

Thanks, everyone!

 

[BBrady]

I had to knock down a bunch of the little nests while converting this shed into a coop. I have my 4 week old pullets in a pen inside the coop, the pen comes outside when they get grass time, like a half finished little tractor. I put them in it today from the brooder in the house, and I noticed wasps! Not a lot, but crawlin into the coop where there are little gaps in the wood slats. I thought chickens would eat wasps and take care of the problem, I hope that happens. There was also a tick I saw in the coop, and a few ants. I'm forcing myself not to freak out. I hate bugs around me, but I know the chicks will eat them. I hope it doesn't become a pest problem.

I will keep follow this to see what happens with everyone else. The wax idea sounds good.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Your wasps are likely working the coop frame or your chickens' litter for the raw wood to make their paper nests. It seems like this year is going to be a banner year for paper wasp. Gazillions of them have come out of hibernation here, and everyone of the early wasps is a bred queen, looking to start a new colony. You're describing red wasp, and they definitely sting, and the sting definitely hurts, but these wasps are laidback compared to their more aggressive cousins. If you use Permethrin for chicken mite control it doubles as a dandy wasp-icide and Permethrin is used extensively on Organic crops so you know that it can't be poisonous.

 

[BBrady]

@chickengeorgeto, man you have some great advice but you say some weird stuff too. I like it. Keeps me on my toes, and I'm learning new stuff every day

 

[aart]

@chickengeorgeto , man you have some great advice but you say some weird stuff too. I like it. Keeps me on my toes, and I'm learning new stuff every day

He almost always males me smile....or chuckle, dude tells it like it is and is usually spot on.