Wasp queens hibernating under roofs

[viridens]

This queen started to do more than just hibernate under a roof a few years back.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Not Vespula vulgaris though?

 

[Hivemaker.]

Not Vespula vulgaris though?

Looks like it.

 

[mintmoth]

... but I do spend much of the year moonlighting as an earwig farmer apparently...

As I only have two hives, I'm just an earwig hobbyist......

 

[Finman]

Save the Queen wasps!

....but not in alcohol...
.

 

[Icing Sugar]

As I only have two hives, I'm just an earwig hobbyist......

Well I hope you buy them in from a specialist foreign earwig breeder who lives in a completely different climate and that you don't rely on local mating of your own earwigs. All the local ones are mongrels, you know. Furthermore, it requires many thousands of earwigs for a selective earwig rearing programme to work.

Sent from my LG-H340n using Tapatalk

 

[viridens]

Not Vespula vulgaris though?

Looks like it.

Yes, Vespula very Vulgaris. A queen and a few workers too.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I presume the hive was empty. Would they have built downwards through the escape hole I wonder?

 

[Ely]

Millet. Wasps are valuable insects but they out number bee colonies vastly and are a danger to them. If not managed colonies, feral colonies would be thankful for a few less wasp nests. Did you once post a picture of thousands of dead rats? Both are pests and sometimes the hard line needs to be taken.

 

[DanBee]

Some further observations.

I have also been collecting wasp queens in the house as they awake and bounce around the windows. Two in a jar with a loose lid survived 4 & 6 weeks at the back of the fridge. Added a third yesterday, was interesting to note that when they warm and wake they do not fight as you might expect honeybee queens to do.

So in principle it should be straightforward to collect live wasps over time into a vented container in the fridge, then post them out in say groups of 4 per introduction cage, with a little fondant to sustain them whilst active. This would make the 'wasps by post' scheme proposed earlier much more economically viable.

 

[Ely]

Some further observations.

I have also been collecting wasp queens in the house as they awake and bounce around the windows. Two in a jar with a loose lid survived 4 & 6 weeks at the back of the fridge. Added a third yesterday, was interesting to note that when they warm and wake they do not fight as you might expect honeybee queens to do.

So in principle it should be straightforward to collect live wasps over time into a vented container in the fridge, then post them out in say groups of 4 per introduction cage, with a little fondant to sustain them whilst active. This would make the 'wasps by post' scheme proposed earlier much more economically viable.

 

[Harley1]

I have had just about enough of Queen wasps this winter. Not many under hive roofs but many, many more then usual indoors. It is so bad that none of us will wear anything from the wardrobe without turning it inside out for a good shaking first. I reckon we must have had one or two on the loose every single week since around the start of December. One appeared in the back porch yesterday under a clean towel that I had wrapped a batch of soap (made partly with my beeswax, of course) in to cool down. I'm starting to wonder if they're watching me. Today is a good day. I haven't found one. Yet. I also check under the pillow at bedtime as I once found one there too.
I kill them. I'm pretty sure I have plenty more hiding here somewhere.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I have had just about enough of Queen wasps this winter. Not many under hive roofs but many, many more then usual indoors. It is so bad that none of us will wear anything from the wardrobe without turning it inside out for a good shaking first. I reckon we must have had one or two on the loose every single week since around the start of December. One appeared in the back porch yesterday under a clean towel that I had wrapped a batch of soap (made partly with my beeswax, of course) in to cool down. I'm starting to wonder if they're watching me. Today is a good day. I haven't found one. Yet. I also check under the pillow at bedtime as I once found one there too.
I kill them. I'm pretty sure I have plenty more hiding here somewhere.

You remind me of Maisie from the Perishers cartoon. She killed spiders then was terrified when Wellington told her the king of the giant spiders would come for her.

 

[Erichalfbee]

It is so bad that none of us will wear anything from the wardrobe without turning it inside out for a good shaking first.

Yep...been there, I put on a running waterproof that lives in the porch for the first time in a few months and got stung in the crook of an elbow. I knew what the searing pain was straight away and tried to remove the jacket without harming her but I managed to squash her nevertheless unfortunately.
Yesterday, exploring a new garden centre in Aberystwyth I was followed by a queen wasp who buried herself up the sleeve of my coat while I was still wearing it!

 

[Hivemaker.]

So in principle it should be straightforward to collect live wasps over time into a vented container in the fridge, then post them out in say groups of 4 per introduction cage, with a little fondant to sustain them whilst active. This would make the 'wasps by post' scheme proposed earlier much more economically viable.

Found several under hive roofs earlier this week, doesn't seem to be much demand for them so far, does there.

 

[Gaz1]

I took a roof off an old house in November must of disturb at least 30 odd all tucked up in the insulation and rafters! What I didn't realise is I had the side door of my van open! I spent the next week or so releasing queens throughout the country side. Never got stung by them but they always seem to fly right up in my face before flying out the window

 

[snelgrove]

Next time pack them carefully and send to Cardigan or Durham where they will be better appreciated!

Nothing wrong in appreciating nature. U mite be in the wrong game