Wasps starting to build a nest in my coop... what kind of pesticide?

[turtlebird]

Try this.....
It sounds absolutely INSANE, but for some reason it works. Get a plastic sandwich bag (zip top) and put an inch or so of water in the bottom. Drop 4-5 pennies in the bag and zip it up. Hang this on a nail from a nail on the ceiling of the coop. Voila! Instant wasp repellant. LIke I said, I don't know why this works at all and was completely skeptical - but tried it for the first time last summer. No wasps or even flies whatsoever. This spring when we rolled out the summer coop (7'x14' shed on wheels) I forgot to put the baggie back. The first night there were at least 15 wasps flying around! Aaaack!~ Then I remembered and hung up my ziploc baggie of pennies and water....NO MORE WASPS!
I wish I know why this works. Anyone know?

I even tried to imagine what a wasp might perceive this contraption to be.....dwelling place of lunatics????!

 

[wsmoak]

Quote:
But wasps *are* beneficial. I've seen them hauling off various worms and caterpillars (less things to eat my garden!) and even one carrying off a grasshopper bigger than it was.

The carpenter bees are the only questionable ones on your list -- they do a lot of damage and are not very good pollinators.

I understand wanting to evict them from places you'd have to be in close contact with them, especially if you're highly allergic, but for the most part they're not going to go out of their way to bother you.

-Wendy

 

[sammyh312]

ive seen the ziploc water bag trick too, and be darn if it didnt work! amazed me, but i was shown how to do it but without the pennies...never heard of that, but hey, if that way works too, great. Id LOVE to know why this works!!!

 

[Yetti]

I use soap & water in a big pump spray for the close up ones. soap smothers them & bees, Box elder bugs, etc.. the ones that are way up in the rafters i use my shop vac with a length of PCV pipe added to the hose. gives you a ten foot reach. then when they fly by the nest you hold the pipe near by....whoosh! they are gone. leave them in the vac to die.

 

[Freebird Poultry]

Try using WD-40. It works great for me.

 

[edible_chicken]

pour vinegar in a spray bottle and spray at the wasp nest. it'll prevent wasps from coming back and it'll freshen the coop.

 

[2goose]

Brake clean works great

 

[ozzchicken]

Pam cooking spray does a great job

 

[BoltonChicken]

I do love this so!!

When I was a kid we would tie newspaper to the end of a cane pole, set it on fire and hold it under the wasp nest. The fire killed the wasp, then we took the nest, removed
the larvae and either used them for fishing bait or fed them to the chickens. We were poor in those days and dare waste nothing. Sometimes with pine rafters the barns would
catch fire and burn down, but in either case we got rid of the wasp.

Ah heck, use a commercial long range wasp/hornet spray. Don't spray it in your own face or the faces of the chickens. If it won't kill you, it won't kill the chickens.
If you are real tookey about it, pick up the dead wasp so the chickens won't eat them, but that probably won't hurt them either.

 

[BigBird99]

Sorry, I don't know any tricks for getting rid of the wasps, but my wife saw one of our chickens catch and eat one the other day.