> I now advise 'leaving them alone' until frost if they are inside walls of a
> house, and explain why just in case someone else advises killing them at
> night.

I think "leaving them alone" is excellent advice.  As beekeepers we are
constantly educating the public that honeybees rarely sting.  More
likely it's some other stinging insect.  At the same time, we really
should recognize the importance of these "other stinging insects".  Most
wasps hunt insects to feed their brood.  They are also important
pollinators in their own right as many adult wasps feed on nectar.  They
can do quite a job at insect control.  In addition, as hobbyist
beekeepers, we are more inclined to let be wasp nests so we can show our
visitors the differences between wasps and honeybees.

On occasion, the wasp population can become quite significant and they
begin attacking our honeybees as food for wasp brood.  At this point we
take action.  We generally have bald-faced hornets, Western yellow
jackets, European paper wasps, and mud-daubers in our area.  Bald-faced
hornets are aggressive, but just need to be left alone and observed.
The same with yellow jackets.  I've seen neither harass our honeybees.
While an inch and a quarter long mud-dauber looks menacing, they hunt
spiders.  They paralyze them and deposit them inside a cell along with
an egg that ultimately hatches and feeds on it.  The European paper
wasps are the worst in terms of bothering our honey bees.  The are very
docile wasps.  It takes a *lot* of harassing to upset them to the point
where they will sting.  They hunt our honey bees in great numbers
though.  In late summer it gets to the point where the European paper
wasps actually aggravate our honey bees to the point where the bees
become generally more aggressive.  As a result, I've found the need to
control the European paper wasp population through the summer by hosing
their nests down from our eaves.  I leave the yellow jackets
though.  :^)

These are just some thoughts.  Unless you have problems with with
significant numbers of stinging insects actually *in* your house or
within a few feet of your front door, or on the swing set, we can just
let them be.

-Jeff

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