where are the wasps?

[peteinwilts]

If there is that much material going into a nest where is the pile of excrement and debris going? Some will be taken away by fliers but surely not all.
Dare I suggest the figures may be wildly inaccurate?

4-5 tonnes does seem excessive, although I do not know if it mentions the size of the nest. Most wasps nest I have come across have been no larger than a rugby ball.

I wish my hives could collect 4-5 tonnes of honey a year!

 

[abm]

i've seen the excrement a wasp nest produces...

this was only a month old, but see how much waste its produced with so little workers.

this was in a staff toilet over a locked store room.

 

[Karol]

I've got them all, I've lost 3 hives, one was left totally stripped out!
Dave W

I'm genuinely sorry to hear that. :0(

If the hives were not weakened through disease then it's especially sad because such losses are completely avoidable with the right IWM knowledge and techniques.

 

[dclewis]

I'm no expert but thinking logically if a bee colony of 50000 individuals has a pollen requirement of some 25kgs per year why on earth should a wasp colony (which are usually a lot smaller than 50000, need 4-5 tonnes of protein in the form of other insect prey. 45kgs perhaps but tonnes, no way.

 

[Karol]

If there is that much material going into a nest where is the pile of excrement and debris going? Some will be taken away by fliers but surely not all.
Dare I suggest the figures may be wildly inaccurate?

Two things:

Firstly, whilst there is a significant amount of detritus it's not as much as one would first expect. The reason for this is that insect skeletons are made from what is effectively sugar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitin) and this is almost entirely digested by wasps with little waste being produced.

Secondly, the amount of detritus produced has been known to cause the collapse of plasterboard ceilings weakened by the water run off from water posited on nests by wasps during nest cooling. The amount of visible detritus depends on the location of the nest. Free hanging nests will simply drop the detritus out of the nest. Enclosed nests such as those in the ground will have the detritus deposited during efferent flights.


There's a world of difference between incredible and wildly inaccurate. I didn't believe the figures myself - I had assumed it was 4 to 5Kg, but it isn't. In experiments that we've conducted we've collected the biomass from wasp nests and found it to be in excess of 2 Kg in weight. If one worker wasp was to eradicate 1g of insects per day then a nest of 5,000 workers would eradicate 5Kg per day. In little over three months that would be 0.45 metric tonnes. Now 1g of insects for 1 wasp is nothing. Maybe this will help put the numbers into perspective. How many cabbage white caterpillars do you think one can fit into a teaspoon measure? Not that many! Well two teaspoons is equivalent to 10g. Go measure it out visually and it soon becomes apparent that 10ml is not that much at all and quite within the work load capacity of a wasp over a whole day. So if each wasp eradicates 10g of insects per day the number becomes 4.5 metric tonnes.

Incredible I know but not wildly inaccurate.

 

[Karol]

I'm no expert but thinking logically if a bee colony of 50000 individuals has a pollen requirement of some 25kgs per year why on earth should a wasp colony (which are usually a lot smaller than 50000, need 4-5 tonnes of protein in the form of other insect prey. 45kgs perhaps but tonnes, no way.

Who said 4-5 tonnes of protein? Insects are largely made up of water, lipids and carbohydrates with a proportionately small amount of 'protein'.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

well anyway , plenty of wasp activity around the apiaries today - home and at the range. Loadxs of wasps taking an avid interrest when I was cleaning all the extraction kit!

 

[Cazza]

Most of them are in my bee shed - yet again.
Cazza

 

[Karol]

Most of them are in my bee shed - yet again.
Cazza

Very easily dealt with.

1. Insect proof the shed.

2. Take care to minimise food sources outside of the shed.

3. Set high efficiency traps at those points where aroma emanates from the shed.

 

[Ben90]

Started seeing them here. Caught one yesterday.

 

[Karol]

Nice little ground dweller. You're probably not from flood country?

 

[Ben90]

Nice little ground dweller. You're probably not from flood country?

No, way up north in the city. Urban beekeeper checking in.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Daily Mail on the great wasp absence. Which certainly is making my iife easier at present.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...ouldn-t-celebrate-writes-STEVE-BACKSHALL.html

 

[kazmcc]

No absence around here! They aren't bothering anyone though, and I seem to be losing my fear of them. Thanks Karol, I reckon it's because I know more about them, and that's down to you.

 

[Spikedog]

Interesting thread – I was about to ask the same question – Where are or what has happened to Wasps??? Early summer we had them about. Traces of them on the shed woodwork as they skived off shavings for their nesting but they are not even on the sweet apples (opened by birds) at present. A very few (last week) on one particular flowering shrub but that’s it. Opened the hives today and normally would anticipate wasps making a dart into the hive but not one wasp – not even patrolling the entrances. Don’t want the buggers after last autumn’s absolute siege but would be interested in anyone’s factual reasoning’s for the dearth of the pest this year.

 

[B Special]

No wasps here. It's like Rorkes Drift round the WBC......they are still to arrive !!!! Wasp trap has caught loads of harmless flies but not a single wasp. Bring it on. We are waiting for ya

 

[Hivemaker.]

I think they must of all been drowned back in the winter, rained quite hard around here.

 

[wessexmario]

very few "standard" sized wasps around my way, but have noticed quite a few 'half sized' wasps - presuming they're a different breed.

likewise, my apples which usually at this time of year just before harvest are pepper-potted with wasp bites, are not, but they're being picked off all this last month by birds instead. I wouldn't mind, but they're only taking a couple of bites out of each apple

 

[Winker]

When walking the dog over the last week I have noticed that the Ivy is being worked by the wasps, loads of them. Not a bee in sight. This is the first year I have seen so many Wasps working the ivy. My bees are still on the balsam.

 

[kazmcc]

Just been out to the garden to test out my new found bravery. There are hundreds of wasps on my willow, and I'm not exaggerating. Just stood under it watching them and they didn't bother me at all. I was trying to see what they are doing. They seem to be landing on the leaves and just sniffing them. I would love Karol's take on it.