I have a few wasp nests in my chicken coop and would like to find a recipe for a spray that will not harm the chickens if they eat some of the dead wasps. Can anyone help?

-- ken downey (kwdbjd@aol.com), August 21, 1999

Answers

Response to natural wasp killer

It probably isn't what your looking for, but it sure works for me. I have 8 toy poodles that are running all over the yard and were getting stung, so I decided to feed the wasps and hope to keep them in one area. I started a compost pile and put all the fruit peels and some rotten fruit on top (so it was easy for them to get to), and sure enough it attracted them (hundreds of them on one pile), so I started another on the other side of the house. We haven't had any trouble and that is really good as my grandchildren are extreemly alergic to them. Hope this helps until someone really has a good idea..... Pat

-- pat brown (www.poodle@dmi.net), September 21, 1999.

Response to natural wasp killer

Ken, I am a beekeeper in Alaska. The best way to "do in" wasps is to spray them with ordinary dish soap. You can mix a fairly strong mixture in a spray bottle. I would recommend spraying the nest late in the evening when the wasps are all in for the night. Or...on a warm sunny day when the majority of the work force is out gathering. Be sure to protect your face, (a mosquito net might work for you) just in case. Give the nest a good soaking and your problem is taken care of. This is what the professional beekeepers do to exterminate "killer bees". Works wonders with nasty wasps. :) tang

-- tang (tang@mtaonline.net), February 17, 2001.

Response to natural wasp killer

Soap might work. But I use wasp freeze (gasp !!! PESTICIDE !!!) What most folks don't realize (cause they usually don't study the label) is the minute quantity of actual active ingredient used in most pesticide formulations. And it's even MORE misunderstood, if you are buying GENERAL USE, JOHN Q. PUBLIC CAN BUY THEM pesticides, as opposed to EPA RESTRICTED USE pesticides... The percent of pesticide is so MINISCULE (after all, it doesn't take an H-BOMB to kill a bug, anyhow), when mixed with the other 15 and a half ounces, and then you factor in the part where it takes only about one spritz of spray for the average wasp nest: (a second or a second and a half - maybe one ounce of spray...) and you can wipe contaminated surfaces OFF. It's not like the stuff is destined to remain where it is squirted. You can even pick up the dead. >>>> Read the label. If the EPA approved the stuff, it'll have their est #, and reg.#. Just do what it says, the precautions are all listed on the EPA label.

-- Action Dude (theactiondude@yahoo.com), February 17, 2001.