Hive wasps: what does the nest look like and what is it made of, how many insects are in it

Bees in apiaries live in adapted houses, they are looked after by a beekeeper in winter and summer. Sometimes you can see not only "domestic" individuals, but also wild ones. The hive of wild wasps is distinguished by the complexity of the design, has certain features. A beginner beekeeper needs to familiarize himself with the nuances of construction, materials, and the life process of the family.

How to find a hornet's nest

Locating a "wild" hive can be difficult because wasps make their homes in secluded places. You can find a hornet's nest by carefully examining the buildings on the site (residential building, household buildings, etc.), trees.

Attention! Insects constantly fly around the territory in search of food. Places of residence of a person are attracted by the opportunity to eat various products (fruits, with sugar content, even leftover meat products).

If after the inspection it was not possible to find a hornet's nest, you can try to track the direction of insect summer:

• choose an open spot;
• leave food in a visible place (something sweet, fruit, you can use sugar syrup to feed the bees);
• determine in which direction the insects carry food away.

If there are a lot of insects on the site, then the wasp dwelling is not far away. Once discovered, certain safety rules will need to be followed. Details in the next video.

Where they build their nest

Young queens choose their habitats so that there are supplies of food and building materials nearby. Wasps arrange houses in different places. For example:

• underground (often in the burrows of various small animals - mice, moles, if they are abandoned by their owners);
• in hollows and branches (old trees are selected, sometimes dried out or, conversely, with a dense crown);

• in hard-to-reach places of houses (attics, basements, balconies);
• inside old stumps;
• abandoned bird houses and nests.

There were cases of arranging beehives in grass and on stones. The location is determined by the female, after which the workers begin construction.

Attention! In nature, wasps are beneficial - they destroy pests, carry out pollination. On a well-equipped site or apiary, they can become quite dangerous for humans, animals and domesticated bees. Annoying insects is easy.

Wasps during construction can gnaw through wood and other surfaces. But the greatest danger is represented by wasps that organize nests underground. When females begin to reproduce, they break through minks closer to each other. This leads to the fact that the garden plot (apiary or land under the house) is strewn with wasp nests, which turns out to be unsafe for the owner. In addition to plant nectar, such insects use pollen, small midges that died in the web of individuals. Some benefit - they kill pests.

What building material is used?

The finished wasp house is impressive - it is a smooth building on the outside and with a complex structure inside. The members of the family are arranged in a certain way. The color of the material from which the walls of the dwelling are made is gray, reminiscent of paper or cardboard (therefore, insects are called “paper insects”). Processing process:

• a wasp perches on a tree, exudes a small amount of corrosive secretion;
• top layer of wood liquefies;
• with its jaws, the insect scrapes off the soaked piece, transfers it to the right place;
• at the construction site, the material is chewed again and spit out on the site.

After that, the wood is given the desired shape. The material dries in a few seconds, and thanks to the secret that the insect secretes, it becomes sticky and strong.

Building process

After fertilization, the young queen is determined with the place of organization of the building. The wasp hive is built in the following steps:

• work starts from the beginning of spring;
• the uterus produces a small amount of a sticky substance, fixes it to the selected place of the base and pulls it out - a small leg is formed, on which the insects then begin to build honeycombs;
• during the first 30 days, the initial generation of working individuals is hatched, which become the builders of the wasp dwelling. Attention! The queen is then removed from the hive building process. The task of the queen is to breed new individuals and increase the number of insects in the wasp house. Only workers are engaged in construction, 10 individuals are enough to start work;

• on the first cells, the next rows of honeycombs are built up - wasps cannot delay, the next generations of working individuals appear one after another;
• the shape of the future bee dwelling is gradually emerging - insects build honeycombs in the shape of a bowl, gradually rounding off, a small hole remains in the center.

Honeycombs line up in several rows. Upon completion of construction, the uterus frees up a small space inside, eliminating a few initial details. Features:

• outwardly, the hornet's nest resembles a gray cocoon;
• the shell is thin, more like paper (because it is made from soaked wood);
• outer part is formed from long soft plates.

Some elements are built using recycled material, which remains after the destruction of internal honeycombs and partitions.

What the nest looks like from the inside

The wasp hive impresses with its thoughtful internal structure. If you dismantle the bee dwelling, you can find the following:

• honeycombs line up vertically, it turns out a kind of floors;
• every 4-6 rows insects leave a small space;
• honeycomb cells line up in one direction - down and in the selected direction.

Attention! Despite the simple construction of the bee dwelling and the absence of complex materials - enough wood and insect secrets - it is difficult to cut the nest while it is full (it is possible, but in this case the person will be attacked by wasps).

The empty dwelling can be seen in section - there are eggs in the center, and the queen is located, on the sides of the wasps they build "paper" walls of the floors. The inner sections are stronger than the outer ones because they are built from small chips (sized so that insects can carry them away). Remarkably, the wasps form separate "rooms" for the queen, food, larvae, and more. A good example of the internal structure of a hornet's nest in the video.

Number of wasps in one hive

Aspen families grow in different ways - some hives do not exceed the size of an apple, others reach significant sizes.A small swarm will grow slowly, so the insects will not be able to quickly rebuild. In large houses, tens of thousands of insects can coexist at the same time, sometimes the number of individuals reaches a million.

Families grow thanks to working insects. There are most of them in the hive, they gather around the queen and start building without stopping it, as long as there is an opportunity and food.

Attention! In wasp families, in addition to working wasps and a uterus, there are also females and males. Such individuals are smaller in size, male insects have long antennae, but no sting.

Wasp nests pose a danger to humans, bee families and the site. A beekeeper needs to know how to find and destroy a family. It is useful to get acquainted with generalized information - what the hive is built from and what it looks like from the inside, how many individuals there can be.

Recommended