Dr. Dirt: Help! We found this in our entry way. What is it and what do we do?
Answer: This is a mud dauber wasp nest. They like foyers and entry ways, somewhere dry and shady, to build their nests.
The wasp looks like an elongated yellow jacket. They are generally friendly and usually do not sting folks unless trapped in clothing and forced to defend itself. Really is a good bug.
If you opened the nest, you would see several individual chambers containing eggs to larval wasp babies. Each chamber is packed full of all kinds of spiders which are stung (paralyzed). Young hatchlings to immature adults eating those stored goodies. On fulfilling their size, they uncap the mud plug, crawl out into a new world with fully developed flight wings, dry up their exoskeleton, and fly away. The young create their own mud nest. The old one is of no more use.
If the nests are unsightly, you can use a putty knife and pry along the brick or board to remove them. They are stuck fairly well as the wasp add a cementing property as they chew and work the mud with their saliva-bonding agent. Hose down the area and use a wire/bristle brush if needed to clean the mud. If the nests have open ended holes on the outside, the wasps are gone, but they can be removed either way.
