Is it a good or bad thing to kill queen wasps?

[Samson]

Around this time in the UK the queen wasps are out. These are much larger and slower wasps than usual, and are nothing like as aggressive as their progeny. If they find a find somewhere suitable and successfully found a colony that will result in tens of thousands of wasps over the summer.

I think it is a good thing to kill as many as possible. I reckon each I kill that would otherwise form a colony prevents a significant number of stings (on average at least). These animals are in no danger any more than rats are. I am saving the summer with its picnics and barbecues.

I can see another point of view. These are animals with an immense capacity for life creation. They are not an immediate threat to me. Am I a murderer for killing them? Am I responsible for the loss of the whole colony, making me a mass murderer?

 

[Farm Boy]

If you kill queens specifically to prevent colonies, then yes, you are indeed responsible for the loss of those colonies. Wasn't that the goal?

I haven't had to varmint for a while, which is nice. It's an unenjoyable experience. But if I can get the female before the weening has happened... I can get 5 or 6 for 1 or so on mammals. Yeah, you have to watch the little things wander around lost for a bit, but something is going to find them a tasty snack pretty rapidly. Poison is less precise. But it's more in line with effective use of time, usually.

 

[Remorseless1]

I hate wasps. I ran into a wasp nest on the underside of a leaf of one of my rose bushes. I got stung eight times on the left side of my face.So yeah it's a good thing to kill them.

 

[Senethro]

They're a predator we can't replace the function of. Killing them is bad, foolish, and shortsighted.

Flying insects and pollinators are having a hard enough time already.

 

[AmazonQueen]

Wasps are useful so killing them just because you don't like them is wrong.
Killing them because they've chosen to nest above your front door or similar is necessary.

 

[Farm Boy]

Are they artificially subsidized by our convenient building of compatible housing structures and providing of waste bins as feeding stations? I don't know if they're a species that we've made out of whack or not.

 

[Samson]

They're a predator we can't replace the function of.

I had thought they were not a predator, as they ate sugary things like pollen and nectar. As it turns out they kind of have two diets, one that is plant based for themselves and another where they hunt insects for their larvae. This latter includes many commercially significant pests.

Killing them because they've chosen to nest above your front door or similar is necessary.

I live in a built up enough area that if they are going to nest anywhere it will be within a few metres of someone's front door. Killing them before it gets to the point of a nest is vastly easier and actually involves killing many fewer individuals. A standard nest has 3 - 6 thousand wasps, if I can kill ten queens to stop one nest that the pest controller has to come out for I have saved hundreds of pounds and thousands of wasps.

 

[Gorbles]

Wasps are useful so killing them just because you don't like them is wrong.
Killing them because they've chosen to nest above your front door or similar is necessary.

Yeah, I sit somewhere between here and Senethro's opinion.

I try not to kill them, and thankfully my absolute personal loathing of them hasn't had to deal with a nest yet. We have a bee's nest in the front roofing, which is also a pain, but also, not something I want to do anything about (we have been thinking about hiring a professional to remove it safely, to keep the bees and us happy).

 

[Samson]

the bees

Just to say, bees are a completely different thing. I will go out of my way to save bees.

 

[drewisfat]

Don't buy into the pro-wasp propaganda folks. Wasps are evil incarnate. Oh, they kill aphids and caterpillars? Talk about two animals that have never ruined my day. You know what else eats aphids/caterpillars? Ladybugs. No stinging. No laying eggs inside other living animals, just a pretty good luck charm. Wasps ain't pollinators, some species specialize in murdering pollinators. Kill them with extreme prejudice.

 

[Samson]

We have a bee's nest in the front roofing, which is also a pain, but also, not something I want to do anything about (we have been thinking about hiring a professional to remove it safely, to keep the bees and us happy).

The other thing, if these are really honey bees then bee keepers will frequently take them for free. It will be better for the bees than a pest control person who may just be interested in killing them and getting the fee.

 

[Lexicus]

Wasps in the US are more important pollinators than honeybees

Killing wasps is not murder imo but I try not to kill anything unless it's really necessary. The wasps where I live don't bother you if you don't bother them (though of course accidents happen).

 

[Gorbles]

The other thing, if these are really honey bees then bee keepers will frequently take them for free. It will be better for the bees than a pest control person who may just be interested in killing them and getting the fee.

Oh I know, I've been all through that site Beekeepers won't handle them in the walls / roof cavities, etc (only hanging in a cluster from a tree or fence), so I need to go through a contractor that the site provides a list of (and have done in the past, but just didn't have the money to spare).

 

[Hygro]

thankfully we have few here. I’m surprised by the nests having so many. Is this a UK thing? I see small wasp nests and it looks like there couldn’t be more than a few dozen and I’m really only seeing a handful.

 

[Samson]

I’m surprised by the nests having so many. Is this a UK thing?

When I say wasp I specifically mean the yellowjacket (Vespula vulgaris). I know their are thousands of species, and they vary from solatory to enormous hives. You get yellowjacket's in California, right? I would guess the hives are the same size, but I do not know.

Spoiler Yellowjacket :

 

[Remorseless1]

Exactly. What we call mud dobbers here in the Southwest US (solid colored, makes nests with mud) are pollinators and not aggressive, unless you disturb their nest. Which is good, because a dobber sting is 10 times worse that those yellow jackets.

 

[Hygro]

When I say wasp I specifically mean the yellowjacket (Vespula vulgaris). I know their are thousands of species, and they vary from solatory to enormous hives. You get yellowjacket's in California, right? I would guess the hives are the same size, but I do not know.

Spoiler Yellowjacket :

Ah we have those, they are the worst.

 

[Fippy]

Am I a murderer for killing them? Am I responsible for the loss of the whole colony, making me a mass murderer?

Terms like murderer don't exist in nature, so combining it with stuff like wasps rarely makes sense.
Many animals protect their territory (and only get aggressive if something enters)..maybe we could say you are the #1 predator and wasps enter at their own risk

 

[Smellincoffee]

If it flies and it stings, it dies.

 

[Angst]

They're a predator we can't replace the function of. Killing them is bad, foolish, and shortsighted.

Flying insects and pollinators are having a hard enough time already.

yea just want to +1 this, since it can't be stated enough.

wasps suck and some are invasive, but for just native wasps at least, they're part of the ecosystem, and shouldn't be actively culled.