Queen Wasp.

[Dishmop]

At Christmas when getting the decorations from the loft a large wasp appeared in the house. I thought it might have come from the loft so had a look around but couldnt find anything else.

After being in the loft today the same thing has happened but this was definitely a queen.
Do they build a nest where they have spent the winter or do they go off and look somewhere else?

 

[REDWOOD]

Queen wasps overwinter in a new place, this picture might help

 

[RoofTops]

Only a very few races of bees survive the winter as a complete colony. With most nest building species the queens hibernate after the rest of the colony dies out at the end of the season. This is what bumble bees and the Vespa wasps of the sort you found do. With the solitary wasps and bees, which are by far the most numerous type - the next generation overwinters as pupa usually in holes in the ground or within vegetation such as hollow plant stems.

Overwintering as a colony means they need to gather lots of food to see them through the winter. Which is of course the honey we beekeepers are after.

 

[YorkshireBees]

Started to clear out the greenhouse at the weekend and had at least 6 queen wasps appear and try to get out. Unlucky for them the door was shut and I had gardening gloves on. Seems with all the dried out potted plants several had found nice hibernation places over the winter!

 

[Midland Beek]

What impressive and fascinating creatures wasps are. I would guess that queens typically nest quiet some distance from where they hibernate- that would be the way Mother Nature would probably do it.

You are lucky to have wasps nesting nearby if you are a gardener.

 

[Tom Bick]

We often talk about a world without the honeybee but I wonder what a world will be if we had no wasps?

A queen wasp is a beautiful thing. Not great if she is sniffing around your loft but all the same a beautiful a thing.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I had a nest somewhere in my roof in 2010 but nothing last year.
Wonderful watching a wasp saw up a caterpillar into bits before taking it away.
I leave them alone.
BUT then, I haven't had a full on attack on any of my hives.
The Waspbane seemed to do a good job last year

 

[tkwinston4]

At Christmas when getting the decorations from the loft a large wasp appeared in the house.

We had exactly the same happen when we got our decs down. I found one in the boxes and one dragging her sleepy self across the hall floor.

I chucked em out in the cold so doubt they survived.

Last weekend found another flying around the hall; presumably from the loft, she got thrown out too.

Would an old massive wasp nest not put the queens off hibernating near by or is it just the nest building that they would be put off of? Or is that all tosh?

We have a huge old nest in the loft that I refused to destroy because it was too beautiful and I understood that wasps wont return if there is a nest nearby.

 

[Luminos]

The wasps which build nests on my summerhouse build sometimes within 30cm of each other...

 

[Midland Beek]

Maybe if the wildlife poisons that farmers spray over their fields are one day banned there would be opportunities for biological control and wasp farmers, and where a good wasp queen might be worth £50!

 

[witchcraft]

I found a queen wasp in the OMF of one of my hives this week, she was very torpid (and a hive tool saw her off) but I felt rather guilty they are rather lovely and early in the season are great pollinators and aphid disposal assets. I really don't want them near the hives though. I was surprised that the bees were ignoring her...