okay so this time of year I like to go out and look at the trees and look
around the outbuildings and so on and I like to collect paper wasps nests
because they're kind of interesting this particular wasp nest is only about four
inches in diameter and I took this one out from under the lid on our propane
tank and this was a couple of weeks ago I brought it inside and I sat it on the
kitchen table and there were two capped cells but I just assumed those were
wasps that failed to hatch and just a couple of days ago I'm walking by the
kitchen table and there you have it this wasp and hatched out and it's just
sitting on the nest now I put this nest on a glass in order to make this video
and take some pictures the nest themselves are very interesting and just
like bees once a wasp is in its pupa state which means it's capped over it
doesn't require any nutrition now the other thing is I'm not sure what the
temperature requirements are for a wasp to hatch our house is generally 67
degrees Fahrenheit at this time of year and this wasp just hatched out on its
own and you'll notice there's a nice puffy
white domed cell right there so that's also covered and there is a wasp in
there so I can assume that that one wouldn't hatch that this would just be
another curious ornament to have to look at it is interesting to see the way the
wasp nest is made you're called paper wasps for a reason
they use cellulose they chew it up and they compose their nests pretty fast and
it would be interesting to get a time-lapse video of the wasps making its
own nest and we have to assume this time of year that these hatched out wasps are
going to be Queens which means they wouldn't stick around they would fly
away and in the spring if they survive winter and I believe their survival
rates are pretty low but if you have a mild winter you can anticipate having
lots of wasps in the spring honeybees gather together and of course they use
their body temperature and they use honey resources to get through winter as
a social insect where wasps will survive winter in a solitary state now again you
know this stat here for two weeks and nothing happened a wasp takes 30 days to
hatch out we're a honeybee from egg to hatch is 21 days just like a chicken egg
and so I took some pictures of this one and I thought I would share the video
sequences with you on YouTube I have to be honest and say that the more
observed wasps and the more I learn about their habits and behaviors and of
course their engineering which is well demonstrated here with this interesting
paper hexagonal cells just like honeybees six-sided cells and this of
course is one of the more timid species of wasp and it it isn't trying to defend
the nests or anything but I should have taken a cue from the fact that it did
hover around and it was kind of sensing this little
puffed out remaining covered cell now ultimately it warmed up and flapped its
wings vibrated its wings much like bees do when they're shivering their muscles
in order to warm up their thorax so that they can fly and this one just flew off
the nest one day and of course my wife found it by the pantry and sent it on
its way outside
now on a day like today outside it's actually 40 degrees hovering around 40
39 wasps like this one in Yellow Jackets and bald-faced Hornets which are also
wasps are making their way around and they're still foraging the honeybees are
staying inside now look what happened here I ignore the nest and that's to the
right of the screen here is that white capped over cell and it hatched so no
sooner did the other wasp leave then the other one in this otherwise dormant nest
hatched on its own and she's sitting here recovering just happened to walk by
and noticed that there was activity on the nest and again this thing is just
sitting on our kitchen table
so I'm guessing and I'm hoping that someone with better understanding of
wasp physiology will take a look at this and tell me if this is a queen or you
know what it is and of course like I always do I put a little droplet of
sugar water there to see if we could give it some energy and this one did
pretty much the same thing it hung around on this nest in the kitchen for
about four days before I decided to take flight in the course it went to the
window and then we collected it from the window and put it outside wasps are
fascinating and I'm hoping that you'll take time to pay closer attention to
what these things do the first response for most beekeepers is see a wasp kill a
wasp but I'm not so sure that they're that big of a problem some species are
worse than others this one in particular is pretty laid back when I see them at
drinkers there are no problem I have never had one harass me I hope you found
this video sequence interesting I hope you'll take time to really look at and
understand a little more about wasps and the important role they're playing in
pest control in your bee yards they for watching