Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Wasps in the grow out hutch, seeking advice.

No photos again today. The main thing on my mind, and a definite plan distraction recently is the wasps that moved into the empty grow out hutch. I'd love to have gotten photos, but they're angry. Last year some wasps lived in the grow out hutch, we co existed peacefully, and I let them live there for the year. Come winter I took the nest and flung it deep into the woods. I don't really mind wasps, they have a purpose, and I suspect they are why we have so few horn worms.

Unfortunately this nest of wasps that has moved in is Angry.

I don't know if any of you have bothered to learn flying critter with a stinger language, but it can be useful. The really relevant one for this particular situation is, if a bee or wasp comes up and headbutts you in the face, it's not actually stupid, drunk, or even aggressive. You're too near its nest, and it's asking you politely to stop so it doesn't have to kill you. Well, it thinks it is going to kill you, when in fact barring allergies it is going to inconvenience you and convince you to kill it and all of its sisters.

Back to the wasps in the hutch. Last year they'd head butt me when I was in close proximity to the nest, and would then back off, and we'd work around each other. The ones in there this year head butt me for opening the door to the hutch. That doesn't work unfortunately. So, they need to go. Unfortunately my best plan so far has involved using a Tupperware container. At night when it's dark so they won't see me, put it over the nest, drag it down the inside of the roof to knock the nest free, then when all of them are settled on the bottom of the box, quickly pull it off and put the lid on.

See the problem here? I sure did after the first try on a smaller nest of 3 wasps. It worked by the way, no stings. Still a bad plan.

Anyone have any suggestions that doesn't involve using neuro toxins in the grow out hutch for the baby rabbits?

Thanks in advance!

2 comments:

  1. I'll give the obvious and unhelpful answer of "kill it with fire!"
    If it was just a case of getting rid of the nest once I would say to go out after dusk in a bodged-together bee-suit and knock it down with high-pressure water from a hose (and run).

    But clearly they are coming back, so you probably need to kill them (so they don't get the bunnies) and try to figure out why they like that spot and what you could do to keep them away. Maybe a clockwork fan to blow on the nest spot and make it unattractive? If it's on the outside of the hutch maybe you could paint that area with dish soap or something else slimy that would keep them away?

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    1. I like the idea of the clockwork fan. I bet I could kludge together a little solar panel bit I have lying around to a computer case fan to blow on the spot. Hmmm, well worth a try! Thanks for the suggestion.

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