Do wasps reuse their nests?

Answer

Dear Thomas

In principle, a wasp nest is only inhabited for one season. The young queens leave the nest in which they grew up in the autumn. After mating they seek shelter for the winter; this can be done in a hollow tree, under a roof, in attics. The queen bites down with her jaws and stays that way for 6 to 7 months. Late in the spring, these queens themselves look for a new place to make a nest, for example a crevice in the ground, or a mouse hole. With her jaws, the queen enlarges this cavity so that the nest can be built in it. The queen herself chews wood fibers (derived from trunks, branches, etc.) which she mixes with her saliva. This substance then hardens into a kind of paper or cardboard. Originally the nest is the size of a ping pong ball. The queen has already made a comb of hexagonal cells in this, and she has already deposited an egg in each cell. The larvae that hatch from the egg are initially fed by the queen, while at the same time she further expands the nest. After the pupation of these larvae, the first workers emerge; these take over the construction work from the queen. The workers make increasingly larger combs among themselves, over time smaller combs are created, so that the nest acquires a typical spherical shape. The queen simply stays in the nest and is fed by the workers, she only takes care of the egg laying. At the end of the summer the workers become less active and the work in the nest decreases. These workers and the old queen die with the first frost. The old nest is not used again; the queen is therefore looking for a new place to settle after the winter. In this regard, it is not necessary to remove the old nest.

Kind regards

Hans