Where Do Wasps Go in the Winter?
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- Опубликовано: 9 фев 2024
- Wasps are very active in the warm months, but where do they go in the winter and survive for the next season? The answer may surprise you!
#wasps #yellowjackets #yellowjacket
When temperatures drop below around 70°F (21°C), yellowjacket wasps become much less active. They have difficulty flying and will stay active in their nest. Yellowjackets are social wasps, meaning they build nests and work together instead of being solitary. Very large nests may have more than one queen laying eggs.
Most of the wasps die in freezing temperatures, but they will do what they can to survive. If the wasp colony can find a relatively warm cavity to overwinter, they will do so. We’ve found these overwintering colonies in gaps in our workshop, as well as in a stack of lumber.
It is more common to have just fertile females (queens) survive and look for places to hibernate and to be sheltered. Wasp queens hibernate in very small spaces and these produce glycerol which acts like antifreeze in their bloodstream. To conserve resources, including the need for food, overwintering wasps enter a hibernation-like state called diapause.
We’ve just described one portion of the life cycle of a wasp, and the queen wasp in particular. But, how did the queen come to exist, and how long did she live?
Let’s run the cycle “backward” so we can see how we arrived at each point in the cycle.
In the later part of the summer, or early autumn, that year’s queen or queens lay their final batch of eggs. The majority of these eggs develop into queens, able to reproduce, along with drones (sexually active male wasps) to inseminate the queens.
The old queens die off, as does most of the colony, including the drones. Inseminated queens then seek out safe spaces to overwinter.
How did the colony begin for that year? A solitary queen finds a spot for a nest, builds a small nest, and begins laying eggs. She collects insects which she feeds to the developing wasp larvae. When these become adults (usually sisters!) they take over most of the non-egg-laying functions.
Wasp eggs develop into larvae and emerge and are ready to go to work in about 30 to 50 days, depending on the weather and temperatures.
In favorable conditions and a good location, the wasp nest multiplies both in size and population. The wasps forage for proteins to feed developing larvae earlier in the season. This is why they visit outdoor BBQs and meals so often and are very persistent. They like sugars as well, particularly later in the season.
Now that you’ve seen the detail of each cycle portion and what happens before that point, let’s summarize the cycle order beginning with early spring.
In early spring, inseminated queen wasps emerge from overwintering/diastasis, find a favorable spot, and build a small nest.
Eggs are laid by the founding queen, and about 30 to 50 days later, adult wasps take over nest building and foraging. The colony grows as does the nest size.
Later in the season, the queen or queens of that nest lay eggs that develop both into sterile queens and drones. In flight, the drones inseminate the queens, and a portion of the queens overwinter to start the process again in the spring.
Most of the colony dies, including the queen(s) from the previous season.
And now you know the secret of where wasps go in the winter! 
Хобби
I figured wasps just Wintered in Hell.
Our paper wasps are very gentle and non aggressive here in N California and we encourage them to nest on our house. They eat all the insect larvae from our garden. We rely on them.
Since they recognize human faces we’re all friends. I’ve fed them honey water from my fingers and touched their nest without being stung.
I live it N CA as well but I deal with no more than 10 but I do spray mint under the eaves, I inspect the roof and eaves every several weeks cause I am worried they will build a nest that is big. I actually destroyed one the diameter of a softball.
I didn’t know they eat the bugs. I with they are ants. That is another thing I deal with in the backyard.
Very informative. Nothing like turning over some structure and being face to face with a dinner plate size active nest.
Yeow! That sounds like you are speaking from personal experience! Best, DFJ
Here in the South, / Ga., yellow jackets go into the ground to nest, that typical nest you showed is red wasps' nest and the paper mache is a hornet's nest. NEVER saw these species build other type nests then their own & I'm 67. Yellow jacket, red wasps and hornets are different sub-species.
Yellow Jackets here in KY have nests in the ground. Very painful when one runs over their nest with a noisy lawnmower.
We get that kind as well. Some years ago there was a nest near the path out to the vegetable garden. I'd tried to get rid of it, but nothing worked and I was going to wait for winter to dig it up. Then one day the cat noticed the wasps going in and out. She was an amazing hunter... She would sit there by the nest for hours, and when a yellow jacket landed on the ground near the nest she would pin it down with her paw then eat it. After a week, no more YJs. For weeks she would still sit there for a time almost every day just hoping...
Call em ground bees around here
Jay , Your explanation of this with wasps is excellent ! 👌
I'm glad you found it to be helpful. Best, DFJ
Came across this video while looking for a reason why a queen yellowjacket was just hanging out on my kumquat tree for several days. You cleared up some of my doubts, thanks.
Glad to be of help!
Thanks, that explains why animals dig up and eat nests in the fall as temperatures drop to near freezing.
Good point!
Brown wasps are the kind I'm most likely to encounter here in Southern Indiana. Only had two underground yellow jacket nests in the last 14 years, but the brown wasps are everywhere every year. When I lived in Tennessee it was red wasps. I got so used to being stung by those buggers that after a while I'd just slap them like I would a mosquito.
Love it! Those are some mighty big mosquitoes - or you are one tough hombre - or maybe both? Thanks for writing! Best, DFJ
kind of amazed you don't have the german yellowjacket problem down there like we got in east central indiana as most of the yellow color yellowjackets are german yellow jackets and they are aggressive as hell. (the black and white "bald face hornet" is actually another breed of yellowjacket for those who don't know)
@@Dratchev241 Only yellowjackets I've ever seen here are the ones that build their nests underground and I seldom see those, like I said, twice in the last 14 years that we've lived here. But when I do it's easy to get rid of them. I go out at night and dump a half can of sevin dust down their hole and around it's entrance. 2 days later they're all dead. We get hornets in trees occasionally but those aren't the same and they seldom bother anyone.
@@Rebel9668 you are lucky lol. the german yellowjacket is a invasive pest in east central Indiana and most of Ohio. And they are aggressive. (they replaced the native eastern yellow jacket which is what you have. If the yellowjacket has the 3 dots on its head its a german if not its a native eastern yellow) We do have the euro hornets but rare to see. of course got the brown wasps and the black&yellow wasps.
A few years ago in the early spring we started on a two story house with siding (vinyl) to add another two story addition! The first cool morning we attempted to remove the blue vinyl siding! About 6-8 feet up thousands upon thousands of wasp started falling from under the siding! By the time we got to the the top we had 3 five gallon buckets full of wasps! Most were red and about 25% were yellow jackets! Great job 👏
Nice job. Answered questions I’ve had for years.
Glad I could help!
Great info!
Glad it was helpful!
Great explanation! Thanks!👍🏻🇺🇸
Glad it was helpful!
Great Video ! I already new they overwintered woodpiles, because years ago when I was stoking my wood stove fire, I got stung handling a piece of wood I had just brought in. I wish I would have watched this type of video back then. I guess I learned the hard way !
I always associated the large cone shaped nests with
hornets, not wasps.
hornets do make the large cone nests as well but the wasp that also make them is know as a bald face hornet which is actually in the yellowjacket family.
Very interesting, I was unaware of this. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching!
Very Interesting!!
Glad you think so!
Great video
Thanks!
Saw my first yellow jacket of the year yesterday. Don't know where it came from, but probably somewhere sunny. Landed on me not flying well, then to the ground and that was that. We've had a few days reaching the upper 50s and even 60 or 61 before we drop back to highs around 40.
Florida, I’ve seen the little shuffle board courts😅
Nicely done! Thanks for the info.
Glad it was helpful!
That's good information, yellow jackets sent me to the clinic 3 times last summer, 4 or 5 stings each time. I'm going to start doing a preliminary walk around before I cut grass this year!
Sounds like a good idea!
Hah! An answer to a question I didn't know I had! Very interesting!
Hope you enjoyed it!
Good morning from Southeast South Dakota
Morning!
This is a great explanation about the wasp lifecycle, but I still don't know how we end up with about 20-30 inside my house every Feb. - April. We find them in different parts of the house, moving very slowly, and I haven't found where they winter. And I am sure it isn't the same spot each year.
Wasps are very inventive in finding gaps and small entrances into warm places as the summer comes to an end. I suspect you have a few small gaps around your house that could be caulked in to resolve the problem. They are moving slowly when you find them because they are coming out of diapause, having worked their way into the house (perhaps through an attic or crawl space) and warming up - mimicking the onset of spring.
Wonder how they function in Alaska. We have wasps but not a ton of days over 70.
I got into an active nest a few days ago. Now it's been cold at times although it was a fairly warm day when I unexpectedly discovered them. I didn't get stung but it was close.
Glad you came out unscathed....
I thought they flew South with the birds... OK, just pulling your leg... Lol.
I keep finding them inside the square tube of my front end loader, the tube of my A-Frame, the square tube of my large cherry picker, etc… Wasp and Hornet spray is my friend.
Yep - they are very inventive in finding nesting places.
Wasps are important pollinators, so leave them be if you can.
Especially if there's not bees around.
Yep, they are pollinators, you are correct.
That's right, killing them for no reason is a terrible idea.
I was gonna say they hide in my firewood and/or compost pile. I'm sure they hide elsewhere but thats where I find them.
A year is crazy
Indeed.
Cancun Mexico
apparently they go in the wall cavity where my window ac was
I was thinking it would be the Hamptons or Martha's Vineyard at first but, of course, it has to be the Caribbean or South of France.
Love it.
where are these large nests? i live in east texas and i never see large wasp nests just small ones
OK, I have a question. What purpose do wasps have in the natural cycle of things? What all do they feed on? I hate to kill anything, but I also hate wasp stings!😃
Well, those that are retired get in their motorhomes and travel to Arizona where
they spend the winter returning home in the spring. These are called snowbirds,
!
LOL!
I’m interested in mud wasps. We also have paper wasps that don’t have the bright yellow color. Any idea what they are?
Aspen.
👍
Thanks for watching!
How about mud daubers?
very interesting. Two years ago we had giant cicada wasps take over the front lawn as they build nests, many of them in the ground. I have called exterminators but nobody will touch them. Any ideas? Thanks
Cicada wasps look very intimidating, but only the female can sting, and since they are not a colony wasp, they don't have very strong protective instincts, so getting stung by one is a rare occurrence. However, they make messes all over the yard making nests, and they will take over a sand box pretty quickly with nests. The best thing you can do this coming season is keep the areas moist where they have been building nests. They don't like moist soil. And for the sandbox, stir it up every couple of weeks to deter them. I don't know a chemical treatment. I hope this helps! Best, DFJ
Had those in a customer's lawn, never caused a problem.
1:47
Very interesting. Any truth to the rumor that if you leave the wasp nest in place they won’t build another nest in the same place?
There's a diversity of opinion on this. The nests won't get reused directly, as emerging queens build a "fresh" nest every year. However, the nests can get "recycled" to make other nests. My opinion is that old nests don't deter the building of other nests. I've found several sites where there are multiple nests that colonies has created by each other in the same season or there was nests from previous seasons. I hope this helps! Best, DFJ
Yes, there is no truth to that. The old nest has pheromones left over and the new wasps can home in on the smell. The wasps will build very close as it worked for last year's wasp nest. I have had to use wasp spray to prevent wasps from building nests under the eaves of my house. Every nest was as close to the last one like in a row. The wasp spray broke the chain with its fuel oil smell.
Very interesting! I discovered over the years that if you don't have or run out of wasp spray, you can kill wasps with brake cleaner spray. It's cheaper than wasp spray but it won't reach distance as well as dedicated wasp spray. Good video.
That's a good tip. Thanks!
Yep I always use brake cleaner and it knocks them out of the sky instantly
Brake cleaner works on Black Widow spiders too.
@@gregj2647 it works on everything I've tried it on so far 😁
I use Dawn dish washing soap around my chicken coop at about 2oz in a 20 oz squirt/ spray water bottle .
It is non toxic to the birds but it kills most insects pretty quickly including wasps. (It must be sprayed directly on the insect)
You didn't mention the ones that build nests in the ground. Those are the most troublesome, in my opinion. But I guess they all follow the same pattern.
Yellow jackets ! They will come after you !
Not all but alot go to the French Riviera.
I had heard the same thing.
They go to Ft Myers Beach I thought. Have a few margaritas on the beach, and then come back to my house and cause hell.
LOL!
Mexico ?
Could be. If so, adios, wasps!
I have moles in my lawns , in the winter they pop up holes on the last step of my deck on ground level, i tried to poison them that was no good , I have a mole trap it’s not working - help me there driving me crazy , in the summer the yards look like I have 10 of them , but I think it’s only 1 or 2
The wasps you showed at the beginning of your video are European Paper Wasps. Yellowjackets are often confused with European paper wasps. Both are serious pests, but yellow jackets are, in my opinion, far worse.
I don’t even have to watch the video. Wasps fly to Mexico and Central America for the winter.
Very few people know that insider information.
He'll take care of that missing queen. Spoken ominously while there's a flyswatter hanging over his shoulder.
How about in the ground.
Depending on the type of wasp and what terrain is available, that is indeed one of the places that they can overwinter. Best, DFJ
I take the nests out as I find them here in the South. We tend to have the red wasps here. Nasty aggressive hard hitting lil buggers. So I walk around with a can of wasp spray drinking a beer and take em out as I find them. IDC where they go-I lay waste to any that I find. Same with carpenter bees.
OMG you have let the queen escape now we are all doomed.
Yeah! Tell me about it - I'm afraid to go into my own shop for fear of my life - LOL!
Wasps around our farm don’t make it to winter. Spray your buildings and equipment with the right stuff and they stay away.
Thanks for jumping in. What are you typically spraying with that is so effective? Thanks for watching! Best, DFJ
Ya need allof natures animals,they need to be left alone,they SONT attack unless indangered,leave them alone they eat insects leave them alone,
Thanks!
Is a Hornet a wasp? NO. Is a yellow jacket a wasp? NO. There is a difference.
Thanks for jumping in. Best, DFJ
Where do wasps go back to winter? Back to hell.
Love it!
I'll tell where most go... in mice stomachs....no need to watch..
Love it.
They go south and enjoy sunny beaches with drinks that have umbrellas in them.
Mankind been chasing that wasp lifestyle for ever 🐝🪳🦋🦗🦟🐛🐝
That's some great insights you've got there.
@@DirtFarmerJay
That's the story my little boy told me.
I'm just the messenger 🎪