Bird houses and wasps

[Ron Altier]

I've posted here saying that wasps had invaded my birdhouses and killed small birds. I also said that I had sprayed the inside with dry teflon, thinking the wasp nest would not stick. Today I removed one of my bird houses and found two nests, one made by a bird and one made by the wasps that chased the bird away. This time I installed some very thin Teflon sheeting to the upper parts of the house. I also had to restore much of the declarations, the sun had eaten them again. I have several more to go.

Edited December 5, 2017 by Ron Dudelston
tags added

[lew]

Sweet looking bird house!

 

I haven't had the wasp problem, yet.

[Cal]

Ron, I have never heard of the teflon trick.  Please let us know if it actually works.

If this is a common problem for you, what have you tried without success before now?

I might suggest hanging up a wasp trap in close proximity to the birdhouse.  It might lure the wasps away before they take up residence or inspect the birdhouse.

Cal

 

 

[Ron Altier]

I found 2 more bird houses with lots of wasps in them. So much for spray teflon. The sheet of teflon was hard to attach, I used staples.  Of course they could attach a nest to the staples. I may spray them with the teflon.

[p_toad]

I honestly don't know if this will work in the bird houses or not (might be toxic to birds, they may not like the smell)... 

 

I put a sock of moth balls under the steel dome lid on the propane tank to keep the paper wasps out.   They apparently don't like it and the other day when the guy was working on my water heater we looked (there's no pressure gage, just the fill gage), but there were two big wolf spiders in there who just seemed to love it.

[Ron Altier]

Thanks

I'll check it out

[Ron Altier]

Moth balls are very toxic to all animals (including birds) The fumes can sicken or kill pet birds, so I'm sure it would do the same in an enclosed bird house. 

One guy sprinkled some crushed mothballs in an area, the birds picked some up and put it in their feathers. He hasn't seen them since

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

11 hours ago, Ron Altier said:

Moth balls are very toxic to all animals (including birds) The fumes can sicken or kill pet birds, so I'm sure it would do the same in an enclosed bird house. 

One guy sprinkled some crushed mothballs in an area, the birds picked some up and put it in their feathers. He hasn't seen them since

Absolutely true, I use mothballs to keep critters (all kinds) out of places I don't want them.

[Gene Howe]

In the winter, we have a problem with field mice nesting in our vehicles' engine compartments. We hung mesh bags of moth balls in several places in there. It only succeeded in stinking up the vehicles. The little varmints kept building.

[Chips N Dust]

1 hour ago, Gene Howe said:

In the winter, we have a problem with field mice nesting in our vehicles' engine compartments. We hung mesh bags of moth balls in several places in there. It only succeeded in stinking up the vehicles. The little varmints kept building.

I put the Tom Cat rat poison blocks up around the batteries in my pickup. Works well - they leave the wires alone and no nests either.

[Gene Howe]

Thanks, kelly. I'll try that this winter.

We set peanut butter baited traps under the vehicles, too. Got a bunch, that way.