Dealing with a colony in loft

[TOBY-3652]

The little round balls do not contain the queenthey are nests that started in the summer and the queen didnt continue with them. Before the queen wasp leaves the nest all the workers do indeed die but there will have been up to 1000 queens produced to hibernate over winter these will be mated. The good news is that up to 95% of them dont make it througu the winter

 

[oliver90owner]

up to 95% of them dont make it througu the winter

Ah, yes, but. That might mean 500 could do!

Even so, 5% survival rate still leaves a potential 49 extra nests next year, and they really only need just the one new nest to maintain population numbers (of nests). So just a numbers game - odds, ratios, probability. Just puts things into perpective.....

Regards, RAB

 

[TOBY-3652]

Spot on most ive treated in one area was 16 this was at a public farm probably the result of a nest or 2 missed the year before

 

[steve_e]

So where do the queens hibernate, and does a cold winter such as this lessen the numbers that survive?

Also, sometimes you find quite big ones very early in the year that I've always been told are just bad-tempered survivors from the previous year. Is this correct or are these new queens just looking for a new place to start?

 

[TOBY-3652]

THERE NEW QUEENS KILL THEM .THEY HIBERNATE SOMEWHERE WARM LIKE ATTICS OF HOUSES. A COLD WINTER WILL REDUCE NOS BUT WEVE ALL BEEN TURNING THE HEATING UP LAST YEAR WAS COLD I DIDNT SEE ANY REDUCTION IN NESTS I TREATED..ps DONT KILL 2 MANY ILE BE OUT OF A JOB

 

[Silly Bee]

So where do the queens hibernate, and does a cold winter such as this lessen the numbers that survive?

Also, sometimes you find quite big ones very early in the year that I've always been told are just bad-tempered survivors from the previous year. Is this correct or are these new queens just looking for a new place to start?

Its a fertilised Queen, waiting to start a new colony.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I've always understood that queen wasps may hibernate in the old nest, in small individual sized paper nests somewhere sheltered and often in your house, tucked away somewhere in a corner or in curtains etc.
I have found three very sleepy queens wandering about on the floor in one of my upstairs rooms this week.
I'm sure I read somewhere that they may overwinter in north facing walls like bumblebees but I might be confusing wasps with the larger hornet.

 

[johnandyrob]

Iv herd from old beekeepers that wasp queens like to hibernate in the roofs of hives if they can get where its warm up to a dozen in one hive
Regards Andrew

 

[steve_e]

A wasp nest it was. Where would you like me to send your hundred pennies Toby?

I couldn't take a picture for various reasons (it was pretty hard to get to and take apart) but here's what it looked like:

http://www.moleandpestcontrol.net/Images/Wasp_Nest03.jpg

 

[hedgerow pete]

evil as they are i have always loved the way they make the nests, they do look beatiful, that is untill i rip it out then its even better

 

[blackbrood]

I assume totally empty to?

 

[newportbuzz]

they are quiet beautiful with all those layers i have a small one on my mantle piece (in a jar)

 

[steve_e]

Yes, completely empty. I was quite surprised at how fragile it was as the last wasp nest I found was pretty robust, but this one crumbled as I prised it loose and was in several pieces before I got it downstairs.

The nests really are beautiful things aren't they? I used to really hate wasps (and still hate their vindictiveness) but a much more experienced beekeeper than me was telling me a year or so ago about why they behave like they do and the useful things they do that we don't see. Apparently the country would be knee deep in dead bees and other insects if wasps didn't use the carcasses to feed their own young in the early parts of the year (always wondered what happened to the 50,000 or so bees per colony that have to be replaced every six weeks through the season).

Still - I'm never pleased to see one...

 

[margob99]

A wasp nest it was. Where would you like me to send your hundred pennies Toby?

I couldn't take a picture for various reasons (it was pretty hard to get to and take apart) but here's what it looked like:

http://www.moleandpestcontrol.net/Images/Wasp_Nest03.jpg

What a thing of beauty! Nature is pretty awesome ...

 

[Hombre]

It would be good if the wasps would just queue up for the bees 50 yards away and wait for them to be delivered, instead of harassing our apiaries in the late summer.

 

[steve_e]

lol - I know what you mean Hombre. As someone who had a colony destroyed by wasps this year (at least that seems to be the consensus) I'm not sure why I made that last post!