What To Do If You See Wasps Swarming The Birdhouse In Your Yard

It's never good news to see a swarm of wasps, and when they appear to be threatening your birdhouse and its inhabitants, it's downright alarming. While it's unusual for wasps to take over a birdhouse birds are residing in, they do sometimes build nests in empty houses — and, sadly, houses that have eggs or babies. Action steps range from doing nothing until wasps are no longer active in the fall to calling in professional help.

There are well over 14,000 wasp species in North America, and over 20 common wasps you might find in your yard. Of these, the wasps most likely to take up residence in a birdhouse are paper wasps. Given the chance, they will build compartmentalized, paper-like nests inside birdhouses using fibrous materials and their own saliva. These nests are where the name paper wasp comes from. It doesn't help the situation that both wasps and birds build their nests in the spring.

Before getting into what to do if wasps are hanging around your birdhouse, you need to know what to avoid doing. Never, under any circumstances, should you spray insecticide anywhere near a birdhouse. While the safest way to remove a wasp's nest from your home involves wasp spray, it's not safe to use around birdhouses. It could harm both current and future avian residents, even if you try to clean the house after the wasps are gone.

In an odd way, you could consider it fortuitous to see wasps swarming your birdhouse. It's a warning that might be moving in soon. Monitor your birdhouse vigilantly and consider manually removing any wasp that appears the moment they start building it. Do so at night when it's cold — the wasps are dormant and less likely to bother you. Still, wear protective gloves and long, thick clothing just in case.

If the swarm of wasps ends up completing their nest in your birdhouse, it's often safest to wait until wasps are inactive later in the year. Then clean out the nest entirely. If the nest-builders are paper wasps, give them some leeway. They are beneficial pollinators, after all. If you really want to see birds, not wasps, in the birdhouse and don't mind spending some money, hire a pest-control company to remove the nest.

It's possible you'll see a swarm of wasps and just smile with satisfaction because you already know how to prevent wasps from building nests near your home — or a birdhouse. You can, for example, rub a bar of soap on the inside roof of an empty birdhouse to make it too slippery to build a nest. Don't use any other slippery substances you may see recommended online — like Vaseline — because they can harm birds. Removing nearby food sources and standing water also helps. If you're plagued by wasps, consider taking down, moving, or closing up the birdhouse in the off-season to prevent infestations.