Posts Tagged ‘manchester pest control’

Pest Control Squirrels in Manchester Lancashire and Cheshire

Squirrels in the loft?

A word of caution, damage caused by squirrels to electricity cables and water pipes with the resultant risk of fire and flooding is unlikely to be covered by your insurance policy as most insurance companies invalidate vermin damage.

Pest Control Squirrels in Manchester Lancashire and Cheshire – The grey squirrel population in  North West England has rocketed over the last twenty years to the extent that they are now a major pest species.
The grey squirrels which we see in our parks and gardens (Sciurus carolinensis) are not native to Britain, having been imported here less than 200 years ago from America.
Like many members of the family Sciuridae, the Grey Squirrel is a scatter-hoarder; it hoards food in numerous small caches for subsequent recovery. Some hoards, especially those made near the site of a sudden surplus of food.
Other caches are more permanent and are not retrieved until months later. It has been observed that each squirrel makes several thousand caches each season. The squirrels have very good spatial memory for the locations of these caches, and use distant and nearby landmarks to retrieve them. Smell is used once the squirrel is within a few centimetres of the cache.
The nest of the grey squirrel is called a dray (or drey) and it is usual for the female to have two litters per year, with two to four babies each.
They are minor pests in the garden, rooting up bulbs and stealing food intended for birds but can become major pests when they come into our houses.
It is increasingly common for pest controllers to attend homes where a nest has been constructed in a loft or attic space.
Squirrels are true rodents and as such have teeth which never stop growing; the word rodent coming from the Latin ‘rodere’ meaning ‘to gnaw’ and this they do very well indeed.
It is rare to enter an attic space where a dray has been constructed and find that they have not damaged electrical wiring, indeed it is estimated that up to 40% percent of fires without an obvious cause cause may be started by rodents damaging wiring.
Unfortunately they can also chew through water-pipes, especially with the recent trend towards plastic piping.
As if that wasn’t enough, many household insurance policies specifically exclude damage caused by rodents so if a squirrel floods your home by chewing through a pipe in the attic you may find yourself without cover.
Removing squirrels requires professional help, not least in as much as the law regarding squirrels restricts your options. You cannot simply buy a packet of rat poison from your local store and deal with them that way as you would be committing a criminal offence.
Furthermore you cannot trap them and release them some distance away, not only would removing a squirrel from the area of its food caches would probably condemn it to death by starvation, it is also a criminal offence under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 which makes it illegal to release a grey squirrel in Britain.
That pertains also to rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing injured squirrels.
In the majority cases trapping is the the only option and this must be done in a specific manner with routine, regular inspections of the traps.
Trapped squirrels should be then despatched humanely.
If you have a squirrel infestation in Lancashire, Cheshire or Manchester telephone Harrier Pest Prevention on 0800 019 8382 or 0161 930 8814

Harrier Pest Control on Radio Lancashire

Harrier Pest Control on Radio Lancashire – Our principal Ken Chadwick now appears regularly on Radio Lancashire to talk about pests and pest control throughout the Lancashire & Manchester areas.

If you have a question about pest control or pest matters, be it bed bugs, mice, rats, flease or any other pest problem then tune in next on December 16th at around 1- 3 pm and email in your question.

Ken is an acknowledged pest control expert appearing on TV, The Radio and in Local & National Press.

For a more immediate answer to your problems why not give Harrier Pest Prevention & Control a ring now on 01257 230637

Hear a recording of one of Ken’s earlier broadcasts.

Wasps’ Nests Destroyed £32.00 Stockport

Stockport Pest Prevention

Stockport based Stockport Pest Prevention announce that there will be no increase in their fixed price to destroy wasps’ nests in 2009, in Trafford.

Stockport Pest Prevention will get rid of wasps’ nests for you if you live in or around Trafford, seven days per week for a fixed price of £32.00.

Wasps’ nests can often be destroyed same day, give us a call to check for availability.

It is not advisable to allow a wasps’ nest to remain untreated as in September many thousands of queens will be produced and this may then require additional cost work such as fogging the roof void or loft, but until then we charge £32.00, no add-ons.

If you have more than one wasps’ nest on the same property in Trafford we do not charge extra for the second wasps’ nest and then only £10 each for the third and subsequent nests.

Many council pest controllers in Trafford are charging £52 for the first wasps’ nest and £30 for each subsequent.

To arrange a visit call us :

Cheshire 01565 849212

Lancashire 01772 837727

Manchester 0161 452 3165

Wigan 01942 504096

Trafford 01204 689361

Blackpool 01253 843019

Blackburn 01254 739138

Warrington  01925 670375

Sale & Altrincham 0161 930 8814

Chorley 01257 230637

Stockport Pest Prevention

Stockport Pest Control & Prevention specialise in Pest Control and Pest Prevention of:
Wasps, Bees, Rats, Mice, Bed Bugs, Ants, Wasps, Squirrels, Beetles, Pigeons, Wasps Nests, Birds, Moles, Flies, Starlings, Wasp’s Nests, Spiders, Magpies, Fleas, Bedbugs, Wasps’ Nests, Insects and Rodents in the following areas:

Appley Bridge, Accrington, Adlington, Alderley Edge, Altrincham, Ashton in Makerfield, Astley, Atherton, Bebington, Burscough, Formby, Blackburn, Blackpool, Trafford, Bootle, Boothstown, Bowden, Bramhall, Bury, Chadderton, Stockport, Croston, Stockport Hulme, Cheshire, Chorley, Culcheth, Darwen, Davyhulme, Didsbury, Euxton, Eccles, Eccleston, Farnworth, Flixton, Formby,  Frodsham, Fylde, Garstang, Gatley, Handforth, Stockport, Glazebury, Golborne, Greater Manchester, Hale, Hale Barnes, Harwood, Haydock, Heywood, Horwich, Helsby, Hazel Grove, Irlam, Kearsley, Knutsford, Lancashire, Leigh, Liverpool, Little Lever, Lymm, Manchester, Macclesfield, Middleton, Northenden, Northwich, Oldham, Partington, Preston, Prestwich, Poynton, Radcliffe, Rochdale, St Helens, Sale, Salford, Skelmersdale, Southport, St Helens, Stockport, Standish, Stretford, Swinton, Thameside, Timperley, Tarporley, Trafford, Tyldesley, Urmston, Walkden,Trafford, Weaverham, Wigan, Wilmslow, Woolston, Worsley, Trafford, Weaverham, Wigan, Winsford, Weaverham, Wilmslow, Woolston, Worsley,Westhoughton, Wirral, Birkenhead,Wallasey, Hoylake, Heswall, Winsford, Middlewich, Runcorn, Widnes, Rainhill, Croft, Halewood, Prescott, Huyton

Wasps’ Nests Destroyed £32.00 Manchester, Stockport, Cheadle, Gatley, Didsbury

0161 930 8814

Wasps’ Nests Destroyed £32.00 Manchester, Stockport, Cheadle, Gatley, Didsbury – Manchester Pest Control announce there will be no change in their fixed price of £32.00 to destroy wasps’ nests throughout the Manchester region, Manchester, Lancashire and Cheshire, in 2010. We work 7 days per week and do not charge extra at any time, evenings or weekends.

Social wasps

The nests of some social wasps, such as hornets, are first constructed by the queen and reach about the size of a walnut before sterile female workers take over construction. The queen initially starts the nest by making a single layer or canopy and working outwards until she reaches the edges of the cavity. Beneath the canopy she constructs a stalk to which she can attach several cells; these cells are where the first eggs will be laid. The queen then continues to work outwards to the edges of the cavity after which she adds another tier. This process is repeated, each time adding a new tier until eventually enough female workers have been born and matured to take over construction of the nest leaving the queen to focus on reproduction. For this reason, the size of a nest is generally a good indicator of approximately how many female workers there are in the colony. Social wasp colonies often have populations exceeding several thousand female workers and at least one queen. Polistes and some related types of paper wasp do not construct their nests in tiers but rather in flat single combs.

Social wasp reproductive cycle (temperate species only)

A young paper wasp queen founding a new colony.

Wasps do not reproduce via mating flights like bees. Instead social wasps reproduce between a fertile queen and male wasp; in some cases queens may be fertilized by the sperm of several males. After successfully mating, the male’s sperm cells are stored in a tightly packed ball inside the queen. The sperm cells are kept stored in a dormant state until they are needed the following spring. At a certain time of the year (often around autumn), the bulk of the wasp colony dies away, leaving only the young mated queens alive. During this time they leave the nest and find a suitable area to hibernate for the winter.

First stage

After emerging from hibernation during early spring, the young queens search for a suitable nesting site. Upon finding an area for their future colony, the queen constructs a basic paper fiber nest roughly the size of a walnut into which she will begin to lay eggs.

Second stage

The sperm that was stored earlier and kept dormant over winter is now used to fertilize the eggs being laid. The storage of sperm inside the female queen allows her to lay a considerable number of fertilized eggs without the need for repeated mating with a male wasp. For this reason a single female queen is capable of building an entire colony from only herself. The queen initially raises the first several sets of wasp eggs until enough sterile female workers exist to maintain the offspring without her assistance. All of the eggs produced at this time are sterile female workers who will begin to construct a more elaborate nest around their queen as they grow in number.

Third stage

European paper wasp (Polistes dominula) with a regurgitated droplet of water

By this time the nest size has expanded considerably and now numbers between several hundred and several thousand wasps. Towards the end of the summer, the queen begins to run out of stored sperm to fertilize more eggs. These eggs develop into fertile males and fertile female queens. The male drones then fly out of the nest and find a mate thus perpetuating the wasp reproductive cycle. In most species of social wasp the young queens mate in the vicinity of their home nest and do not travel like their male counterparts do. The young queens will then leave the colony to hibernate for the winter once the other worker wasps and founder queen have started to die off. After successfully mating with a young queen, the male drones die off as well. Generally, young queens and drones from the same nest do not mate with each other; this ensures more genetic variation within wasp populations, especially considering that all members of the colony are theoretically the direct genetic descendants of the founder queen and a single male drone. In practice, however, colonies can sometimes consist of the offspring of several male drones. Wasp queens generally (but not always) create new nests each year, probably because the weak construction of most nests render them uninhabitable after the winter.

Unlike honey bee queens, wasp queens typically live for only one year. Also queen wasps do not organize their colony or have any raised status and hierarchical power within the social structure. They are more simply the reproductive element of the colony and the initial builder of the nest in those species which construct nests.

Social wasp caste structure

A wasp gathering wood fibers

Not all social wasps have castes that are physically different in size and structure. In many polistine paper wasps and stenogastrines, for example, the castes of females are determined behaviorally, through dominance interactions, rather than having caste predetermined. All female wasps are potentially capable of becoming a colony’s queen and this process is often determined by which female successfully lays eggs first and begins construction of the nest. Evidence suggests that females compete amongst each other by eating the eggs of other rival females. The queen may, in some cases, simply be the female that can eat the largest volume of eggs while ensuring that her own eggs survive (often achieved by laying the most). This process theoretically determines the strongest and most reproductively capable female and selects her as the queen. Once the first eggs have hatched, the subordinate females stop laying eggs and instead forage for the new queen and feed the young; that is, the competition largely ends, with the losers becoming workers, though if the dominant female dies, a new hierarchy may be established with a former “worker” acting as the replacement queen. Polistine nests are considerably smaller than many other social wasp nests, typically housing only around 250 wasps, compared to the several thousand common with yellowjackets, and stenogastrines have the smallest colonies of all, rarely with more than a dozen wasps in a mature colony.

Wasps’ Nests Destroyed £32.00 Manchester, Stockport, Cheadle, Gatley, Didsbury

We destroy wasps’ nests at a fixed fee of £29.50 (except postocdes L, CW & CH £39.50) 7 days per week

Free Phone 0800 019 8382

Pest Control Wasp or Bee?

Pest Control Wasp or Bee? – as a pest controller covering Manchester, Cheshire and Lancashire it has become apparent that there is a great deal of confusion, especially in the under forties between wasps and bees and even between honeybees and bumblebees.

Perhaps in these heath and safety obsessed days schools no longer have the summertime nature rambles of my youth and that is a great pity.

At a distance it is possible to the untrained eye to confuse wasps and honeybees but bumblebees should never be in doubt.

This One's A Wasp

A wasp is any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor ant but in terms of common understanding we are dealing in North West Britain with just three species which we term wasps, The Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris), The German Wasp (Vespula germanica) and the relative newcomer termed the ‘Euro Wasp’ (Dolichovespula media).

The biology of wasps and bees is very different.

In the late autumn a wasps’ nest dies out completely and is never re-used. The workers and males die but the newly produced queens hibernate for the winter before waking in the spring to start nest building.

At the first sign of warmer weather the young queens emerge from hibernation and commence nest building, mixing rotten wood with saliva to make ‘wasp paper’ with which to construct the nest.

She will lay 15 – 20 eggs in cells inside the nest and tend these until the first workers emerge to take over the nest building process.

An Average Wasps' Nest

Any reports of wasps’ nests prior to June, and certainly any in late April or May will always turn out to be a bee species of which there are many.

Wasp nest building continues throughout the summer and in the autumn the nest produces immature queens and males which then mate. A single wasps’ nest may produce over 2000 new queens.

This is the one that makes the honey

The bee which makes the honey unsurprisingly is the honeybee (Apis mellifera) but a staggering number of people confuse the honeybee with the bumblebee (Bombus spp.)

The honeybee has an altogether different lifecycle to the wasp, the entire colony surviving the winter, and hence are seen much earlier in the year.

A feature of the honeybee is the way in which new colonies are formed. In late spring and throughout the summer the colony will produce new queens which split or ‘bud’ from the old colony taking several thousand worker bees with them; these are called swarms and can actually be heard in flight.

A honeybee swarm Manchester 2007

This causes alarm in many people who will then ring a pest control company and declare that a ‘wasps’ nest’ has just arrived.

Clearly we know immediately that we are dealing with a bee swarm and can often point them in the direction of a beekeeper who may be able to remove the swarm unharmed.

Contrary to urban myth, and indeed the web sites of many local councils, honeybees are not a protected species in Britain and there are circumstances where there is no alternative other than to destroy a colony.

Frequently they establish a colony or ‘hive’ in a chimney stack and where this is venting a gas fire this is clearly dangerous and it is often necessary to destroy the colony.

After destroying the colony the owner of the property has a legal and moral duty to have any honeycomb removed from the stack as if it is left in place it will be robbed out by wild or commercial hive bees, resulting in the death of those colonies.

The Bumblbee Bombus terrestris - Male

A responsible pest controller will not destroy a colony unless arrangements to remove the honeycomb are in place.

The bumblebee has a lifecycle similar to a wasp in that only the new Queens survive the winter and start new nests in spring. A bumblebees’ nest is an insignificant affair, now where near as intricate as a wasps’ nest and rarely contains more than 300 workers at most whereas a honeybee colony or wasps’ nest may have upwards of ten thousand inhabitants.

Another common myth is that bees can only sting once and whilst this is true of the honeybee, the bumblebee like a wasp, can sting multiple times.

Bumblebees are however extremely placid and will only ever sting as a last resort and therefore it should rarely be necessary to destroy a bumblebee nest.

That concludes this article entitled – Pest Control Wasp or Bee?