Wasp nest removal — safely, the same week

European wasp or paper wasp?

Two wasps cause almost all the trouble in Southern Sydney, and telling them apart helps you gauge how careful you need to be.

European wasps are bright yellow and black, chunkier than a bee, and they fly fast and low. The key thing is where they nest — hidden away in the ground, in wall cavities, roof voids and retaining walls, so the first sign is often a steady stream of wasps disappearing into a hole in the lawn or the brickwork. They are aggressive when disturbed, they scavenge around meat and sweet drinks at a barbecue, and a single wasp can sting again and again.

Paper wasps are slimmer and more orange-brown, with long legs that dangle in flight. They build the small, grey, open honeycomb nest you will recognise hanging under eaves, pergolas, in shrubs and on the underside of outdoor furniture. They are less aggressive than European wasps but will defend the nest hard if you walk into it or brush it with a broom.

Why DIY wasp removal goes wrong

We get called out to a lot of stings that started as a quick job with a can of spray. It goes wrong for predictable reasons. People treat in the middle of the day when the colony is fully active and defensive, instead of at dusk. They spray a paper nest, drop half of it, and the survivors swarm. Worst of all are the hidden ground and cavity nests — a European wasp nest can run to thousands of workers, and disturbing the entrance without knowing what is behind it turns a small problem into a hospital trip. Wasps also release an alarm signal that brings the whole nest out at once, which is exactly what you do not want when you are up a ladder.

How we remove a nest (and the price)

We do it in the right gear, at the right time, with the right product. First we locate the nest and identify the species, because a ground-nesting European colony and a paper nest under the eaves are treated differently. We apply a product directly into the nest so the returning foragers carry it in and the colony collapses, then we remove the nest where it is safe to do so and check for any satellite nests nearby. We will also point out what drew them in — an uncapped cavity, a gap in the eaves, a compost heap — so it is less likely to happen again.

Wasp nest removal starts from $160, confirmed up front once we know the location and how established the nest is. Multiple or hard-to-reach nests are quoted after a look. Every job is covered by our Return & Re-treat Guarantee.

How to treat a wasp sting

For an ordinary sting, wash the area, put a cold pack on it to bring the pain and swelling down, and take a pharmacist-recommended antihistamine if it is itchy. Most stings settle within a day or two. The one to take seriously is an allergic reaction: swelling of the face, lips or throat, a spreading rash, dizziness or any difficulty breathing can signal anaphylaxis, which is a medical emergency — call 000 straight away. If you have been stung many times at once, or you know you react badly to stings, seek medical advice promptly. This is general information only; for specific advice, speak to your pharmacist or doctor.

Bees are different

If it turns out to be bees rather than wasps, we leave them be. Honeybees are important pollinators and a swarm can almost always be relocated rather than destroyed, so when we find bees we will tell you and put you onto a local beekeeper who can collect them. It is an easy thing to get wrong from a distance — bees are furrier and rounder, and a swarm hangs in a dense clump rather than flying in and out of a papery nest.

Nests turn up most where houses sit close to bushland and gardens run to the fence line, right through suburbs like Engadine and Menai. While we are outside dealing with the nest, we can also take care of webbing spiders around the eaves and windows — see spider control — or talk through anything else on the residential services list.