Wasps build nests to protect their brood from predators and the elements. But when and from what material do the insects build their nest and how big can it get?
Table of Contents
wasp art
In Germany, several hundred species of wasps are native. Over 80 percent of them live solitarily. That means the queen takes care of her brood alone. Much better known, however, are the few species that live socially and form larger colonies with workers. Because they are the ones who sit on our cake and are therefore considered rather unpleasant garden dwellers. All social native wasp species have in common that they form summer colonies. In contrast to the tropical species, all wasps, including the old queen, die off in autumn. Only fertilized female sex animals, so-called young queens, survive the winter. Before the first frosts, they hide in a sheltered place where it does not freeze through or get wet during the cold season.
timing of nest building
The foundation for a new wasp colony is laid in spring, when the wasp queen awakens from hibernation due to the rising temperatures and starts looking for a suitable place for a new nest. The queen wasp lays an egg in each honeycomb while the nest is being built, so that the burrow is constantly growing.
- March/April: Beginning of nest building
- Hornets: from mid-May
- Mid-May to June: The first larvae hatch from the egg
- Mid to late June: pupation
- End of June/beginning of August: the first workers hatch
When enough workers have hatched, the queen concentrates only on her brood. The time when we find more wasps in the garden and on meadows and fields typically begins at the end of July to the beginning of August. At this point, the wasps no longer have to worry about the brood, so they prefer to forage for food. Only now do we usually perceive them as a nuisance.
Material
All paper wasps (Polistinae) and real wasps (Vespinae), which include the common wasp and hornet, use only wood to build the honeycomb structure. With their mouthparts they scrape the fibers from the surface of weathered, dry branches and trunks of trees and shrubs. This so-called gray wood only contains cellulose. When the wood fibers are chewed, the material mixes with the insects’ saliva. They attach this moist clump of pulp to the substrate and pull it apart, creating a honeycomb cell. So they build honeycomb after honeycomb, which are basically made out of some kind of paper. To protect the nest from rain and moisture, the animals finally cover it with their saliva, which acts like a kind of varnish.
Favorite Places
In order to be able to take advantage of the warmth of the sun’s rays in spring, wasps usually build their nests on the south side of trees or other suitable surfaces. While some wasp queens build their nests hanging freely, others nest in burrows. Gardens, houses and sheds are also popular spots.
- cavernous shelter
- hollow tree stumps
- heap of stones or pile of wood
- Roof truss or roller shutter boxes
size
As soon as the first workers hatch, nest building progresses much faster. If there is enough space and manpower, there is almost no limit to the size of a wasp nest. They can usually only be discovered when they have assumed the size of a tennis ball. Over the course of about six months, they grow steadily until they are about the size of a soccer ball. If the weather and food supply are optimal, such a wasp nest can, in rare cases, reach dimensions of almost two meters in height and 50 cm in width. However, it is not uncommon for a wasp nest to only show a small hole through which the insects fly in and out. The actual construction is a few centimeters to meters in the wood, rock or behind the wall of a residential building.
- initially only 5 to 20 cells
- fist-sized from about the end of May
- maximum size: August
- average number of workers: 500 to 5,000
- Number of brood cells: 3,500 to 15,000
frequently asked Questions
Unlike honey bees, a wasp colony is not perennial. On the contrary, it is completely re-established in the spring by a single queen. The queen never uses a burrow from the previous year or other abandoned wasp nests for this purpose.
The papery material the nest is made of soaks up water during the cold, damp season. This creates ideal living conditions for microorganisms and fungi, which spread here and decompose the material. Above all, buildings in the ground deteriorate after a short time. There is also the risk of pathogens sneaking in and destroying the new clutch. Because of this, the queen builds a new nest every year.
Wasps build the individual honeycombs one above the other in tiers. If the insects obtain the wood fibers from different sources such as different tree species or bark and then heartwood again, this creates the typical striped pattern in the nest.
