Wasps don't have hives, they give them.
My bad, should have said the swarm.
Yah, I know, but I couldn't resist the pun. I grew up in commercial beekeeping so I also can't help wanting you to know that technically, wasps don't swarm either. That's a bee thing as well. For wasps a single wasp will start a nest on her own with no helpers. At least the ones that make the little paper nests. If you remove it though, they will come back and try to make another nest but it's not really swarming as they are ALL mature female wasps. Bees have three variants. The queen, the worker (immature stunted female) and the drone which is a haploid in that it doesn't have the male genetics but simply has half the normal set of chromosomes. So domestic bees do actual swarming when a hive will divide when half the hive mutinies and flies off with a young queen.
Reason I hate wasps so much (especially the ones that make the little paper nests under your eves) is that being a mature female they can sting over and over if you piss them off and for me they hurt much worse than a bee sting. Bees on the other hand can only sting you once. Yellow jackets that make those huge paper nests are another horror I'd rather not encounter but fortunately I've never seen them. Mud daubers are ok other than the little nests they build that mess up the stucco or paint.
Those paper wasps with the long ass I hate with a passion. Even if you leave them alone they tense up and stair at you as you walk by.
BTW, if you want a non toxic way to kill them it's super easy. Just get a garden sprayer, fill it with water and add liquid laundry detergent. Make it good and soapy and then spray all of them after dark.
The detergent instantly wets their wings and they can't fly, fall to the ground and suffocate because the wetting agent of the detergent allows water to infiltrate their lungs rather than bead off. You're welcome!
You must know this channel then:
Those red hornets are the worse. Those have to die.
(post is archived)