This huge nest is over our driveway. Hornets can be real nasty. They can attack in droves and unlike other wasps and bees, live to sting again.
We are going to leave this one alone. They are far enough away from our house not to threaten us. The nest will die out over the winter and the surviving fertile females will not repopulate the nest.
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I'm Marty Luster, a retired attorney and politician. In 2010 my wife, mother-in-law, dog and I relocated from Central NY to Gloucester. I hope my photographs and poetry(?) reflect my love for this place and her people.
My picture-poem posts can be seen at http://matchedpairs.wordpress.com and selected black and white images can be found at http://slicesoflifeimages.wordpress.com
View all posts by Marty Luster
12 thoughts on “Don’t Stir Up the Hornets’ Nest”
I can hear the buzzing.. They get very slow in the colder weather
From what I’ve read, all of the hornets in a nest will die off during the winter except for the fertilized queen. She may winter over in the nest and her young will repopulate it. More frequently, however, the queen hibernates outside of the nest, in the bark of a tree or some such cozy place. In that case the nest is abandoned and a new one is established in the spring and summer.
What i doune here with web link” http://www.waspinator.co.uk/Wasp%20info.html
Life cycle of wasps Throughout Winter, the queen wasp hibernates in a cocoon, or golf ball sized hibernation cell, having been fertilised by male wasps before hibernation.
In Spring the fertilised queen wasp emerges from hibernation and looks for a suitable nesting site to build her colony. The old wasps nest and hibernation cells are never used again.
She starts to make a basic nest built from chewed wood pulp and plant debris, mixed with saliva. She begins by constructing a single layer and works outwards until she reaches the edges of the nest. Then she constructs a stalk to which she attaches several cells in which she lays eggs.
These eggs will develop into sterile females or workers.
The queen initially raises the first sets of eggs herself, until enough worker wasps exist to maintain the rest of her offspring and to build the rest of the wasps nest without her assistance. All the queen does from then on is to lay more eggs. During July she will have produced enough worker wasps for them to completely take over the maintenance of the nest and the feeding of the eggs.
During Autumn, the eggs develop into males, and into fertile females, they leave the nest, and mate. The fertilised females, or new queens, then hibernate in cocoons until the next Spring, to start the life cycle again.
Meanwhile, the founder queen, the males, and all the workers die, and the original nest becomes deserted.
It is when all the eggs have been fed and developed that the foraging wasps begin to be a nuisance to us, as their job in life is now done and they retain the food they collect themselves, and often get a little drunk on the fermented fruit they gorge on.
Some would say fair enough reward for all the hard work they do in their short lives, but if you have ever been stung you may reserve judgement on this issue.
No, you don’t want to go stirring that nest up. Another bit of folk wisdom came from my Grandfather Yewell, of TN and TX, a WWI USMC veteran, who returned from the trenches of France with a Purple Heart: “Fred'” he said, “you don’t want to get into a pissing contest with a skunk.” Never forgot that, and I’m not messing with hornets either. Some things are best left alone.
My grandmother use to say a hornets nest can predict the severity of the coming winter. If is low in the tree, not much snow, high in the tree a lot of snow. That baby looks pretty high!
I cant tell from this clip but they almost look like bold face hornts. Their hives however typically have a tube like tunnel entrance. If they are bold face hornets, they are very aggressive and will attack. Call an exterminator!
I hate to bring this up as it goes against my basic principle of respecting the space of all critters in the wild, but there comes a point where our interaction with them can cause us great danger even death in children and the elderly. The shock of being bitten by one, and they don’t just bite you once like a bumble bee, can be fatel to a baby or elderly person and this sounds like a situation where one of you have got to go. They make a product that is a spray and very accurate and drops them and their nest like flies. I don’t know if they take off to a friendlier place or die on the spot. You might want to buy two and stand about 30 feet back, they have a long range stream. There may be environmental friendly product on the market but if you are going to do something do it with a will. After it has all dropped on the ground I’d have the left over spray in my right hand and a hoe in my left to make sure the job is done. Don’t forget the rebels who have smaller nest in the other eaves of your house and drop them before they get a start. I don’t think they are indigionous to this area and if I’m right they don’t belong here anyways. People please don’t condem me as I’ve faced this problem before and this is the only permanent answer I’ve come up with, I open windows to let the flies out, and try to be as friendly to man and beast as I can. My saying they don’t belong here only applies to wasps, please don’t read more into this than that, and it hurts me to sa it. It’s the only truth I know and may be wrong, but the truth sometimes hurt.
Those are bald faced hornets. They won’t bother you unless you go near the nest or the tree. You can spray them at night. Make sure you use one of the long distance sprays, and knock the whole nest down just in case. It’s a great video though.
Good Morning Gloucester 
I can hear the buzzing.. They get very slow in the colder weather
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This particular hornet is nasty. Are you sure they’ll die off ?
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From what I’ve read, all of the hornets in a nest will die off during the winter except for the fertilized queen. She may winter over in the nest and her young will repopulate it. More frequently, however, the queen hibernates outside of the nest, in the bark of a tree or some such cozy place. In that case the nest is abandoned and a new one is established in the spring and summer.
Can anyone confirm this?
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What i doune here with web link”
http://www.waspinator.co.uk/Wasp%20info.html
Life cycle of wasps Throughout Winter, the queen wasp hibernates in a cocoon, or golf ball sized hibernation cell, having been fertilised by male wasps before hibernation.
In Spring the fertilised queen wasp emerges from hibernation and looks for a suitable nesting site to build her colony. The old wasps nest and hibernation cells are never used again.
She starts to make a basic nest built from chewed wood pulp and plant debris, mixed with saliva. She begins by constructing a single layer and works outwards until she reaches the edges of the nest. Then she constructs a stalk to which she attaches several cells in which she lays eggs.
These eggs will develop into sterile females or workers.
The queen initially raises the first sets of eggs herself, until enough worker wasps exist to maintain the rest of her offspring and to build the rest of the wasps nest without her assistance. All the queen does from then on is to lay more eggs. During July she will have produced enough worker wasps for them to completely take over the maintenance of the nest and the feeding of the eggs.
During Autumn, the eggs develop into males, and into fertile females, they leave the nest, and mate. The fertilised females, or new queens, then hibernate in cocoons until the next Spring, to start the life cycle again.
Meanwhile, the founder queen, the males, and all the workers die, and the original nest becomes deserted.
It is when all the eggs have been fed and developed that the foraging wasps begin to be a nuisance to us, as their job in life is now done and they retain the food they collect themselves, and often get a little drunk on the fermented fruit they gorge on.
Some would say fair enough reward for all the hard work they do in their short lives, but if you have ever been stung you may reserve judgement on this issue.
LikeLike
No, you don’t want to go stirring that nest up. Another bit of folk wisdom came from my Grandfather Yewell, of TN and TX, a WWI USMC veteran, who returned from the trenches of France with a Purple Heart: “Fred'” he said, “you don’t want to get into a pissing contest with a skunk.” Never forgot that, and I’m not messing with hornets either. Some things are best left alone.
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I’ve never seen a hornet like that before. They do not look like something you want to mess with. Pretty nest though.
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Oh, this is great~sending on to my grandchildren~what a visual!
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My grandmother use to say a hornets nest can predict the severity of the coming winter. If is low in the tree, not much snow, high in the tree a lot of snow. That baby looks pretty high!
LikeLike
I cant tell from this clip but they almost look like bold face hornts. Their hives however typically have a tube like tunnel entrance. If they are bold face hornets, they are very aggressive and will attack. Call an exterminator!
LikeLike
Beautiful nest and great video- Also a very useful warning to heed ! I am not looking around my garden for such a work of art !
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I hate to bring this up as it goes against my basic principle of respecting the space of all critters in the wild, but there comes a point where our interaction with them can cause us great danger even death in children and the elderly. The shock of being bitten by one, and they don’t just bite you once like a bumble bee, can be fatel to a baby or elderly person and this sounds like a situation where one of you have got to go. They make a product that is a spray and very accurate and drops them and their nest like flies. I don’t know if they take off to a friendlier place or die on the spot. You might want to buy two and stand about 30 feet back, they have a long range stream. There may be environmental friendly product on the market but if you are going to do something do it with a will. After it has all dropped on the ground I’d have the left over spray in my right hand and a hoe in my left to make sure the job is done. Don’t forget the rebels who have smaller nest in the other eaves of your house and drop them before they get a start. I don’t think they are indigionous to this area and if I’m right they don’t belong here anyways. People please don’t condem me as I’ve faced this problem before and this is the only permanent answer I’ve come up with, I open windows to let the flies out, and try to be as friendly to man and beast as I can. My saying they don’t belong here only applies to wasps, please don’t read more into this than that, and it hurts me to sa it. It’s the only truth I know and may be wrong, but the truth sometimes hurt.
LikeLike
Those are bald faced hornets. They won’t bother you unless you go near the nest or the tree. You can spray them at night. Make sure you use one of the long distance sprays, and knock the whole nest down just in case. It’s a great video though.
LikeLike