How do wasps reproduce

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Let us know if there is a problem with our content. Nests from previous years will not be re-colonised and can be removed. However, it may be necessary to treat wasp nests which pose a particular danger to you or your family. Nests can be treated although care should obviously be taken in doing so. This can be done through the application of insecticidal dust at the entrance to the nest, preferably after dusk when the wasps have returned to the nest and are less active.

Wasps will then carry the insecticide into the nest, spreading it to other wasps in the colony. Insecticidal dust is available from most DIY stores and garden centres. You should make sure that the product you buy is specifically intended for wasps.

The directions on the product label must always be followed. As old nests are not re-colonised, treated nests need not be removed. Foraging wasps can be a nuisance when they turn to food sources such as ripe fruit, sugary drinks, jam or honey. Individuals can be killed using an insecticidal spray designed for flying insects.

Such sprays are available from chemists, hardware shops, DIY stores and garden centres. Care should be taken when using such sprays and the instructions on the package should always be followed. Hornets are larger than wasps and chestnut-brown and yellow in colour rather than black and yellow. They are usually found in parks and woodlands but may also be found in domestic gardens. They build papery nests, which are usually found underground or hanging from trees, and can also be found in roof spaces, wall cavities, chimneys and building air-grates.

The hornet life cycle is similar to that of the common wasp. Newly-mated queens hibernate during the winter, and emerge in spring to begin building a nest. They lay eggs that hatch into sterile female workers who complete the nest building and collect food for the developing larvae. Later in the summer males and fertile females hatch, mate and the females become next year's queens.

The males, old queen and workers die in the autumn. After mating with a male in the autumn, she stores the sperm for later use when she builds her nest. She then uses the same sperm again and again to continuously lay eggs and quickly grow her colony. She usually runs out of stored sperm by the end of the Summer or early Fall, at which time she must find another male to mate with. The new males in the colony are developed from the unfertilized eggs the queen lays at the end of summer.

Young males leave the colony to try to mate with new queen wasps, after which they usually die off. From late Summer to early Fall, all of the unmated female worker bees die off as well. Thus, the only member of the wasp colony who survives the winter is a mated female. The mated female will find a safe place to overwinter, and will remain dormant until Spring. Even though the queens survive the winter, they usually only live about one year, and the life cycle is continued by new queen wasps.

There is a large difference in the life cycles of social wasps and solitary wasps. Solitary wasps typically build mud-like structures on the side of walls in which they lay a single egg. The eggs are then left to develop on their own, and are not tended to by adults like in the social wasp colonies. Male wasps do not have the ability to sting. The stinger and its venom is part of the reproductive organ of a female wasp, so only females have the ability to sting.

Wasps are the most active and therefore present the most danger to humans during mid to late Summer. This is the time when the colony has grown strong, and young females are leaving to find new mates.

Prevent wasps stings by avoiding barefoot walks in the grass during mid-late Summer. If a wasp lands on you, do not swat at it or try to squish it. If possible, grab a magazine or piece of paper and scoop it off you.