In an early, dry spring, queen wasps that have hibernated during the winter will start to emerge from their hiding places and look for suitable locations to build their nests. These can be in lofts, under roof eaves, in a tree or in a disused mammal's burrow, depending on the type of wasp, but the main criteria are that a wasp nest should be safe from predators with enough space to expand once the nest and its colony start to grow.
The queen wasp will scrape wood from trees, decking and even garden furniture with their powerful jaws and mix it with saliva to form cellulose. She then makes a petiole, or stalk, as an attachment device and if she is a paper wasp will construct the first hexagonal cell nursery. She then constructs six further cells surrounding the first one so as to produce the familiar hexagonal shape. More cells will be constructed around those, with an egg being laid in each one and fixed in with more cellulose.
Building the Wasp Nest
Once these eggs are laid, have hatched into larvae and then emerged as sterile female workers, a process which takes six weeks, she will concentrate on laying more eggs while these workers take over the building of the nest. They also have the task of sourcing insects, flies, caterpillars and other small bugs that they will sting and paralyse and bring back to the nest to feed the new larvae which are completely dependent upon the workers for their care and nutrition. It is only female wasps that sting - the males do not have the tube-shaped egg-laying organ known as an ovipositor which doubles up as the sting.
Wasp Larvae
The queen wasp is fed by the workers on nectar, and juices from fruit, rotten meat and fish, while the workers feed on a sugary substance excreted by the larvae plus the flower nectar and fruit juices that they gather outside the nest.
The queen will carry on laying eggs until late summer, by which time the nest will have been expanded to contain between 5,000 - 10,000 wasps and larvae. By now a number of larger cells will have been constructed and are sometimes known as "royal" cells as they contain the larvae of the future queens. Experts at Keele University suggest that it is the type and quantity of food brought back by the workers that determines whether the latest larvae will be males or queens, and certainly the size of the eventual queens is larger than the workers and the male drones.
The queen wasp stops laying eggs once this batch of larvae have hatched, and the emerging male drones and queens mate. The queens will then leave the area to find a suitable place for hibernation, while the workers and the drones are left with nothing else to do but to survive. The nest is abandoned and will not be used the following year, although in warmer climates a queen may reuse a nest for hibernation and will probably survive the winter.
Wasps and the Picnic Basket
It's at this time in late summer to mid autumn that the remaining wasps, who no longer have the sweet secretions of the larvae to feed on, have to fend for themselves. The workers and drones feed on fruit, rotting windfalls and any food they happen to find in the surrounding area, and it's because of this sudden appearance of large numbers of wasps that people usually find them a nuisance.
However, once the autumn days get colder and the temperature becomes unsustainable for the remaining wasps, they will die off. All that is left of this year's cycle are the fertilised queens hibernating over winter, waiting to start the cycle again the following year.
If you found this article helpful then you might like to visit the following:
How to Avoid Being Stung by Wasps with useful wasp deterrents and wasp traps
How to Treat Wasp Stings - handy hints and tips on easing the pain of a wasp sting
Getting Rid of Wasps Nests - safety is key in removing wasp nests from houses and outbuildings
Suzanne Bosworth - Suzanne Bosworth BA (Hons) - a professional writer published in magazines, journals and websites, specialising in arts, history and ...
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