"geoff" wrote in message
...
In message , Tim
Streater writes
In article ,
TheOldFellow wrote:

On Thu, 17 Jun 2010 23:20:42 +0100, Duncan Di Saudelli wrote:

Hello

Whilst watching the MExicans run rings round the French, I could hear
a
"munching" sound from the window. Close inspection identified quite a
few smallish wasps coming and going so I went outside and identified a
structure about the size of a matchbox being assembled underneath the
outside window, underneath (or possibly starting to become inside) the
window sill.

I could pay 40 quid-odd for someone to come and kill them but I would
prefer to use a cheaper/humane method i.e. can I scrape this fledgling
wasp's nest into a bag and take it waway, or can I do something to
make
them leave short of trying to smoke them/burn them oout (don't want to
damage the woodwork of course)?

The sound inside the house is quite loud so I am afraid they might eat
their way underneath the sill and end up forming an internal nest
around
the aluminium double glazing unit, inside the profile or soem such
void.

Sounds to me like the queen has already found a way under your sill into
the cavity where she has built her nest. The suggestions about borax-
based ant killer will work, but it's true that the nest will be
abandoned
as soon as the frosts start.

I have no proof of this, but looking at the construction of wasp nest I
suspect it is a very good insulator so long as it is dry.

The nest is made of papier maché. The wasps rasp wood off trees or
perhaps your shed and chew it up, then use it for building. So it would
be a decent insulator but presumably would bridge the cavity wall and
lead to dampness.

Cyanide will kill them if you have the nerve for that.

So would a thermonuclear device

but why bother when a few squirts of nippon powder will dispatch them
quite safely

I've used Nippon powder on a wasps nest and it worked a treat. I waited
until dusk when they were less active a gave one big squirt. I never saw
any wasps there again. Cheap and effective.