Wasp Nest?

[Cussword]

Do wasps build nests at this time of year?
I have two nucs at home, & today I've seen plenty of wasps heading under the slates on a bay window.
Are they just there for the hunt?

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Do wasps build nests at this time of year?
I have two nucs at home, & today I've seen plenty of wasps heading under the slates on a bay window.
Are they just there for the hunt?

They have probably been there for some time but you only just noticed them

 

[Cussword]

Morning John, they're right underneath my bedroom window. I'm sure I would have noticed!
They don't seem to be hawking around the nucs yet. Perhaps it's time for them to go to the out apiary.


Still puzzled about the wasps though.

 

[domino]

If it is under your window I'd get someone to come and bump them off.

 

[pargyle]

If it is under your window I'd get someone to come and bump them off.

Leave them be ,,, they will be gone in a month or so at the most (If you are SURE they are wasps). Then block up the hole they have been using.

 

[Karol]

Do wasps build nests at this time of year?
I have two nucs at home, & today I've seen plenty of wasps heading under the slates on a bay window.
Are they just there for the hunt?

Sounds like you have a maturing nest. Wasp nests grow exponentially and just before they produce their sexual progeny is when they get frantic trying to bring in as much insect prey as possible to feed to sexual brood. They will be clearing away literally tonnes of insect pests from the surrounding area. They won't be interested in your hives during this hunting phase so if you can cope, leave the nest for a few days (possible a couple of weeks) and then treat if you have to. That way the sexual progeny will disperse and the activity around the nest will quickly dissipate. It doesn't mean that the workers die off just that they go off and start sweet feeding. That'll be when you'll need to be on your guard to protect your hives.

If you do have a maturing wasp nest which is in the hunting phase and you get it 'bumped off' then there is a danger of creating a bigger rebound nuisance wasp problem. If the nest is treated during the day it is likely that the sentries in the nest will be killed off which will lead to returning foragers not re-entering their nest as it is the sentries that give grant of access. The problem is that the foragers at this time of year are fed by their grubs who convert the chitin from digested insects into sugar which they re-feed back to the foragers (trophallaxis). If the foragers are denied access rights to the nest because of the absence of sentries they are also denied their source of sweet food which will result in them looking for alternative sugar sources including your hives - so not a good idea.

By waiting until the wasp nest becomes quiet, i.e. the wasps are already sweet feeding, you can then safely treat the nest without increasing the risk of rebound nuisance wasps. If you do have to treat the nest whilst it's still in the hunting phase then do so whilst all the foragers are resident, i.e. at night or at the crack of dawn (which is better). Just be aware that doing so has an ecological cost because it will impact on wasp populations next year and wasps on the whole are very beneficial insects.

 

[Cussword]

Leave them be ,,, they will be gone in a month or so at the most (If you are SURE they are wasps). Then block up the hole they have been using.

Oh yes, definitely wasps, only three feet below my bedroom window.
Thanks Phil.

Sounds like you have a maturing nest. Wasp nests grow exponentially and just before they produce their sexual progeny is when they get frantic trying to bring in as much insect prey as possible to feed to sexual brood. They will be clearing away literally tonnes of insect pests from the surrounding area. They won't be interested in your hives during this hunting phase so if you can cope, leave the nest for a few days (possible a couple of weeks) and then treat if you have to. That way the sexual progeny will disperse and the activity around the nest will quickly dissipate. It doesn't mean that the workers die off just that they go off and start sweet feeding. That'll be when you'll need to be on your guard to protect your hives.

If you do have a maturing wasp nest which is in the hunting phase and you get it 'bumped off' then there is a danger of creating a bigger rebound nuisance wasp problem. If the nest is treated during the day it is likely that the sentries in the nest will be killed off which will lead to returning foragers not re-entering their nest as it is the sentries that give grant of access. The problem is that the foragers at this time of year are fed by their grubs who convert the chitin from digested insects into sugar which they re-feed back to the foragers (trophallaxis). If the foragers are denied access rights to the nest because of the absence of sentries they are also denied their source of sweet food which will result in them looking for alternative sugar sources including your hives - so not a good idea.

By waiting until the wasp nest becomes quiet, i.e. the wasps are already sweet feeding, you can then safely treat the nest without increasing the risk of rebound nuisance wasps. If you do have to treat the nest whilst it's still in the hunting phase then do so whilst all the foragers are resident, i.e. at night or at the crack of dawn (which is better). Just be aware that doing so has an ecological cost because it will impact on wasp populations next year and wasps on the whole are very beneficial insects.

Thanks Karol, I would rather move the bees than kill the wasps. The nucs are only at home temporally just to keep an eye on them. Out apiary is seven miles away.
So, the upshot is, if I ignore them they will go away?
Will they come back next year? They are living inside the top of the bay window, I'd have to remove slates to see how they got in.

 

[Karol]

Hi Cussword,

If you ignore them the nest will die out eventually but this may be as late as December depending on the weather and availability of food. Once the sexual progeny has fledged and gone there's very little impact ecologically in treating the nest for the residual workers and old queen.

Will they come back? No and yes. It won't be the same wasps necessarily that 'come back' as only the mated queens go off to hibernate whilst the rest of the colony dies. However, there are only so many nesting places and given that there can be in the region of 1.5 million queen wasps per square mile it's easy to see why the same nesting opportunity will be discovered the following year. Which basically comes down to insect proofing to prevent/discourage nesting on subsequent years.

 

[Cussword]

Thanks Karol, I'll leave them be.

 

[pargyle]

Thanks Karol, I'll leave them be.

Yes ... Thanks Karol. Great advice - and it's interesting to get the science and wasp behaviour behind what I believe is the best thing to do ... leave them be and solve the problem after they have gone to prevent it happening again next year.

We've had a few wasp nests over the years and they really are not that much of a bother - and despite the 'might be there to December' caveat - in reality the nests we have had have been vacated by September/October.

 

[Cussword]

Sorry, thanks Phil too

 

[Karol]

Save Pargyle that the nests may not have been abandonned. The change of feeding habit to sweet scavenging sees workers away from the nest for the most part of the day only to aggregate late evening. To all intents and purposes the nest then looks abandonned.

 

[pargyle]

Sorry, thanks Phil too

Not needed - Karol is one of our experts and very knowledgeable about wasp behaviour - and he's generous in giving us the benefit of his knowledge .. I'm just glad he came along to confirm my suggestion and give us some reasons. I didn't know a fraction of what he has said. So thanks to you as well for bringing the subject up.

 

[Truble]

We've had a few wasp nests over the years and they really are not that much of a bother -.

The 5 nests I destroyed that appeared in my outbuilding were a bloody nuisance earlier this year and judging by timing (early June) weren't even at the sweet feeding stage. Still got a few to locate and destroy.

 

[pargyle]

The 5 nests I destroyed that appeared in my outbuilding were a bloody nuisance earlier this year and judging by timing (early June) weren't even at the sweet feeding stage. Still got a few to locate and destroy.

Depends on where they are located I supposed ?

 

[Karol]

Nests that represent a direct threat to human health because of proximity regrettably need to be dealt with. However, if they are not dealt with properly then one can very easily get rebound nuisance sweet feeding wasps which overall become a greater risk albeit that that risk is dispersed elsewhere including at hives.

 

[Cussword]

The 5 nests I destroyed that appeared in my outbuilding were a bloody nuisance earlier this year and judging by timing (early June) weren't even at the sweet feeding stage. Still got a few to locate and destroy.

If they appeared earlier this year and you still haven't got around to finding them, then they can't be that much of a problem. Why don't you leave them?

Seems a shame to go fishing around for them now.

.

 

[Angularity]

My hives were under wasp attack yesterday. There were a couple of dozen dead or injured bees, and body parts on the top of the hive. Following the wasps, I found a nest under the eaves of a neighbour's house, and he's happy to get them killed off, especially as they're starting to come into both our houses.

While watching the entrance, I saw a large fly (longer and fatter than a wasp), dark in colour but with some striping, that sat under the entrance for a while, then crawled into the nest. Presumably it's up to no good, but I can't find anything in a google search. Does anyone know anything about insects that play cuckoo in wasp nests?

 

[Karol]

Unlikely but there is the cuckoo wasp Vespula austriaca.

 

[snelgrove]

Wasps nest in a smallnest box in front garden, been gone about 3 weeks. They have built the nest out of the entrance hole and over the front of the box. Decided to leave it be as they were no problem and never bothered neighbours or myself.