Mary Fisher wrote:
"Nick" wrote in message
...


At the farthest end of the loft space, which is about 12m from the hatch,
there is a wasp nest attached to an end gable. No signs of activity, but I
guess there would'nt be much at this time of year given the current
temperature. It certainly wasn't there 2 years ago, so may well be live.


There'll be nothing living in it and it won't be occupied again. I promise.

What you do it get a sharp knife - a bread knife is good. Hold a bin liner
under the nest and saw through where the nest is attached to the timbers. It
will be very tough. Allow the nest to go, gently, into the bin bag.

To make you confident that there is nothing living in it, tie the bag
securely and put the lot into the deep freeze overnight. Next day take it
out, saw down the nest - very carefully, parts are very fragile - and admire
the architecture. If you have children show them too. Any insects left will
be dead - they were dead before you cut it down.


Not a big nest, about 30cm in each vaguely triangular direction.
Would I be safe to break this up whilst vacuuming it into an industrial
vaucuum cleaner


You can do if you like but it would be destroyed and wasted before you can
look at it.

I have vacuumed out a wasp's nest - at arm's (plus vacuum cleaner
extension tube's :-) length. It was in a loft I was boarding up (and in
the way of the new floor) and I wasn't confident that it was dead/empty
even though it was winter and I'd been assured - on this very group -
that it would be harmless (which it was, as it turned out). Next time I
would like to extract one whole to look at: they really are beautiful,
even just from the outside.

There's no need to race, there are no living wasps in your nest. Please
don't worry.

I'm sure the nest isn't _full_ of living wasps, but I wouldn't be sure
there aren't any live ones around. I got stung by a wasp about 5 weeks
ago (mid-December). The wasp was lurking on an indoor windowsill on our
stairway, but since we'd had a nest in our attic (which, under Mary's
influence, I hadn't done anything about!) and had just had the loft
hatch open I'm pretty sure it came down from the attic. In other years
and/or in other houses I've also seen large wasps flying slowly around
in the attic in winter. Maybe oop North they do all die in the winter
but in the soft South a few can obviously live on well past their
sell-by date.