Many insects evoke ambivalent feelings in humans. Take, for example, the same wasps: many are afraid of them, but they also want to learn as much as possible about their life. In particular, animal lovers are often haunted by the question of where wasps spend the winter.

IN warm time These hardworking insects are everywhere throughout the year: they constantly work, destroying a lot of garden pests. But with the onset of cold weather, all the wasps disappear somewhere. Let's figure out this mystery and put an end to all kinds of misconceptions in this area forever!

Some believe that their nests, which can often be found in attics, gates and other secluded places, serve as “winter apartments.” Well, if you remember the bees, then this assumption is quite logical. But, unfortunately, this is not the case.

The nest is not a place where wasps spend the winter, as it serves exclusively as a summer home. During the cold season they become empty: by removing one of them, you can easily see this for yourself.

In fact, wasps go into winter hibernation, hiding under the bark of trees, in wood cracks and other shelters. It should be noted that prolonged thaws and winters with little snow are extremely dangerous for them, since many individuals simply freeze out in this case.

Thus, in the southern regions of Germany in Lately There is a catastrophic shortage of wasps: local populations have become accustomed to mild winters and left late for the winter. The current climate instability leads to their massive freezing.

So how and where do wasps overwinter? In mid-autumn, all working females and males fall into torpor, become inactive, and die. The remaining queen is looking for a place for her winter hibernation, and at the first sign of cold weather she climbs there and freezes until spring.

During this period, her body temperature drops to a minimum, and her metabolism practically stops. With the first rays of the sun, the wasp comes to life, begins to feed intensively and build a nest. It should be noted that the wasp insect does not always have such a life cycle.

Some species living in Kazakhstan hatch young females only by the beginning of August. Therefore, not only the queen goes to winter, but they too. In this case, in the spring, young individuals begin to build a nest and provide food for the colony, while the main female is engaged in laying eggs.

Note that not all species have young wasps that help the queen. In most cases, they scatter around the surrounding area and establish their own colonies, and their mother alone builds a “hive” and raises the young. Only after they have matured can she focus on laying a new batch of eggs.

Since wasps overwinter in old trees, wild boars often take advantage of this. In the southern regions, they often search all rotten stumps, looking for “sites” of the insects in question. However, in summer time they do this no less willingly, since wasp larvae are a delicacy for them.

Note that there are genera Vespula and Dolichovespula, in which the worker caste has completely disappeared. After overwintering, their queens lay eggs in the nests of other species and then mate with the grown males. They do not build their own nests.

We hope that you have learned about the places where wasps spend the winter. As you can see, this is very interesting!

How do hornets—the same giant wasps that bite so painfully—winter? After all, these insects are among those animals that are not able to maintain high temperature of your body. According to the logic of the structure of the physical body, at subzero temperatures insects should become a piece of ice.

However, every spring the hornets fly out from somewhere, beginning a vigorous activity of feeding and reproducing offspring. How do they manage to spend the winter, where do they hide from the cold, and most importantly, why don’t they turn into this very piece of ice?

Who are they, hornets?

In biological taxonomy, there is a special genus called hornets. He, in turn, is part of a family called true wasps. So it’s not for nothing that hornets are so similar to wasps. These are their closest relatives, who in their lifestyle, reproduction and feeding method are not very different from the so-called paper wasps. However, hornets still have their own biological and behavioral characteristics.

Typically, these insects are one of the largest representatives of the wasp family, live in different biotopes and are not directly associated with human homes and agricultural lands.

What do these big wasps eat?

These insects can be called omnivores, but still, due to their habits and preferences, they are, first of all, predators that feed mainly on other insects. However, their behavior is complex, their character is decisive, and their habits are unusual. These smart insects, brave to the point of impudence, do not shun thefts and robberies. By the way, they get food without using a sting. To do this, they only need powerful jaws. And the sting with poison exists for self-defense from large animals.

Hornet is worst enemy bees, capable of destroying an entire hive in a squad of several individuals. After this, the robber eats and takes to his nest everything he finds in the empty home.

Adults also feed on the fruits of some plants. They are very fond of berry juice, mainly raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and grapes. They even more prefer to feast on sweet fruits, such as peaches, apricots, and plums.

These insects are especially fond of overripe fruits and berries that are beginning to decompose. In addition, they flock to the corpses of recently deceased animals, in whose bodies maceration has already begun, but the process of decay has not yet occurred.

Hornet and man

The hornet does not specifically touch humans, but it is not afraid either. It settles near people because it is more convenient to build nests here. There is also a lot of food here, since various insects are always concentrated around a person. Moreover, human supplies are a source of food for the hornets themselves. For example, an adult individual under a person’s nose can fly up to a piece of meat from which a cutlet is being made, cut off a small piece for itself and fly away with the prey in its jaws. Somewhere in the forest there is no such abundance of food.

However, living next to a person is dangerous. He is the only representative of mammals that deliberately destroy the nests of these predators.

Thus, for this great wasp, man is a creature who:

• builds structures convenient for nests;
• concentrates many insects around itself;
• grows delicious fruits and berries;
• stores reserves of energy-rich food;
• breeds bees.

Hornets also play a contradictory role in human life. They:

• bite painfully;
• destroy insects - agricultural pests;
• clean areas of rotting products;
• destroy bees.

So for humans, hornets are neighbors on the planet who both help and harm. If you don't keep bees, then these large wasps, settling next to a person’s home, are more useful than harmful. But beekeepers have their own scores to settle with hornets.

How do these insects survive winter?

Hornets are social insects like bees or ants, in which the nest is the basis for the well-being of the species.

Hornets' homes are structures made of paper, which they make from the young bark of trees.

The nest is a round-shaped structure with honeycombs inside. This ball is hung somewhere in a secluded place. Its purpose is to place eggs in paper honeycombs and then feed the larvae there.

Insects are creatures that generally do not like to migrate far. Little of, most of these species are not migrated at all. They prefer to live where they were born. Any mass movements of grasshoppers, called locusts, moths and other arthropods are rather an exception to the rule. So, if an insect lives where there are harsh winters, then it is adapted to survive them.

The whole rhythm of the existence of hornets in the harsh conditions of a temperate climate is similar to the rhythm of life of bees and ants. To survive and produce offspring every year, you need to sacrifice something or someone.

Ants and bees sacrifice males, who quickly die after mating. This is done in order not to waste resources on already useless individuals. In hornets, the females are in charge. They are the ones who survive the winter, and then become the founders of a new generation.

The young female leaves the parental nest towards the end of the warm period of the year, that is, at the end of August or beginning of September. At this time, the nest can reach a diameter of more than half a meter, and a length of about a meter.

During the period of maximum number of sexually mature individuals, they all leave the nest, swarm and mate. This phenomenon may seem strange, because mating occurs before the onset of cold weather. However, this is precisely the logic of successful wintering and further reproduction of offspring.

Soon after mating, the males die, and the females begin to lead a free and solitary lifestyle. They feed heavily, and in between searching for food, they look for a secluded place for winter shelter.

The wintering place should be such that a pregnant female (and this is how they sleep), having fallen into suspended animation, is completely safe. She should not be found by enemies, the cold wind, and most importantly, people. Hollows, cracks in rocks, various small cavities with outside human dwellings, unheated buildings, shelters under stones, fallen trunks, etc.

None of the wintering insects hide inside human houses. The fact is that when cold weather sets in, when the temperature drops below 0°C, the water in the insects must freeze. However, this does not happen, because in the body of these creatures, water is replaced by glycerol, which inhibits all life processes, but most importantly, it does not turn into ice and does not break cell walls.

If such an insect does not warm up in time, it will die when new cold weather sets in. When wintering in a warm room, the female hornet must, after some time, that is, in the middle of winter, begin to build her paper house to lay eggs.

Even if she manages to hide from human eyes somewhere in the secluded corners of a heated house, it will be difficult for her to find material for the construction of honeycombs, and she will not be able to provide her offspring with sufficient food.

So a normal female hornet endures all the hardships of a frosty winter in suspended animation, hiding from the evil winds and other additional troubles.

In the spring, when stable positive daytime temperatures set in, the female wakes up and begins to fly around the territory. In spring she needs:

• find food to enable embryos to develop into full-fledged eggs;
• find a suitable place to build a nest;
• build the first honeycomb;
• lay the first eggs;
• feed the first children.

The first eggs hatch into worker hornets, who will do everything themselves - complete the house, feed the larvae. Among the eggs laid later, females and males already appear. And everything starts all over again.

So, having met in early spring The hornet, you know, is a female who is looking for a place for a new nest. If she's not threatening you (and she has no time to threaten anyone right now), don't touch her. Let it produce new offspring of hunters, gatherers and sweet lovers. Beekeepers, of course, should not give such advice.

The fact is that hornets are large, predominantly predatory insects. According to all the rules of ecosystem design, there are never many such organisms. There is usually not enough food to support a large number of predators. Moreover, this rule applies to even the most successful creatures. And then there is a person chasing hornets for any reason, and more often without it. However, people tend to consider fear a completely justified reason for destroying someone.

Hornets do a great job ecological function- they contain the numbers of many arthropods. Killing pregnant females in early spring and destroying nests greatly reduces the numbers of these giant wasps. In addition, the use of pesticides, which have a particularly strong effect on predatory insects, also contributes to the reduction in the number of hornets.

Meanwhile, in some places the number of hornets has decreased so much that they are included in the Red Books. This once again proves the fact that predators are always very vulnerable, and humans can destroy any species, even the most common and well adapted to different conditions.

Wild bees spend the winter in hollows, while domestic bees spend the winter in their hives, which are installed in special winter huts. Not everyone knows where wasps spend the winter, since in the fall they fly away from their nests, leaving them completely empty. In spring, only a few individuals appear. These insects reappear in large numbers only in mid-summer.

Where do wasps spend the winter?

On warm summer days, wasps are found everywhere. Before fruits and berries ripen, they conscientiously destroy various pests in the garden and vegetable garden, without causing inconvenience to anyone. And their number is not very large. When the fruits begin to ripen, the number of these insects becomes significant, and they turn into malicious pests, destroying sweet fruits and berries en masse. If in the spring a wasp's nest has small sizes and only a few insects live in it, then by autumn it becomes of impressive size, and the number of individuals in it is already in the hundreds. But the nest is exclusively a summer home for wasps. With the onset of cold weather, these hives become empty. Summer residents who remove and burn nests in late autumn know well that there are no insects in them. These actions play only a preventive role, since in the spring wasps prefer to build a nest where there are already old hives.

Before the onset of cold weather, young females fly away after mating and look for suitable places for wintering. As a rule, their winter “apartments” are rotting stumps and fallen trees, and the forest floor of fallen leaves. Females love to climb through cracks under the bark of trees, into the crevices of buildings and under boards. By the period of hibernation, wasps accumulate specific substances in their cells, similar to antifreeze, which significantly reduce the freezing temperature and prevent the destruction of body cells. After finding a suitable shelter, females enter diapause (hibernation). For a safe winter, it is very important that there are no significant temperature changes in the shelter. In harsh winters with little snow, many insects die. Winter thaws are also detrimental to wasps. A significant number of wintering females become prey for birds and small predators. Nevertheless, some insects survive safely until spring.

Working wasps and old females also leave the nest in the fall, but, unlike young females, they do not look for a place to winter, but scatter around the surrounding area and, with the onset of cold weather, become inactive, freeze and die.

In early spring, when the air temperature exceeds 15 degrees, the surviving females will leave their winter shelters and fly to look for suitable places to build nests.

In the fall it should be carried out on the site preventive cleaning- this way you will destroy the “shelters” of wasps that remain to spend the winter in your neighborhood

In autumn and winter periods owners of vineyards and orchards should not relax, waiting for the summer “attack” of wasps on fruit and berry crops. A number of works should be carried out in winter time so as not to waste precious summer hours, which are always in short supply.

• In late autumn, you should check places where wasps may have lived - attics, sheds, corners in sheds and others. Found empty nests should be removed and burned, and the places where they are attached should be treated with some kind of odor-reducing agent. Kerosene, machine oil, dichlorvos, etc. are suitable. This will not harm the insects, since the wasps have already left their nest, but in the spring, the awakened females will look for places to build a new hive. They like to settle near old nests. The absence of old hives and the intimidating smell will force females to look for other places to create a new family.
• With the onset of cold weather (below + 10 degrees), the area should be collected and burned. possible places wintering grounds for females - old rotten stumps, cut trees. The loose bark should be torn off from dried trunks. Piles of dry leaves should be burned and compost heaps should be poured with boiling water. It is advisable to stir up and turn over or move the boards, pieces of roofing felt and slate to another place. If the wasps have settled down for the winter under them, then, left without shelter, they will die.
• During the winter, you can collect empty plastic bottles and make traps from them. 0.7-liter jars with plastic lids are suitable for the same purposes.
• On free evenings, you can prepare bags for tying bunches of grapes. Gauze, unnecessary tulle or old thin tights are quite suitable for this.
• Preparations should be prepared to combat these insects. It is advisable to stock up on insecticides for baits and traps (you can successfully use boric acid, which is sold in pharmacies), as well as sprays for destroying nests.

“Armed” in advance, it will be possible to begin the fight against wasps in a timely manner and prevent significant crop losses.

15.08.2016

According to experts from the Research Institute of Disinfectology, wasps and bees sting only as self-defense. Therefore, no repellents against wasps and bees on Russian market No.

As a rule, paper wasps, or vespids, settle in rooms. They belong to a group of insects that use chewed pieces of bark, that is, actually paper, to build their nests. Paper wasps are particularly ferocious and belligerent. But this does not mean that they attack everyone indiscriminately. The wasp lives by the principle: don’t touch me, and I won’t bite. She will never attack first. It gets used to the owner of the site, and, as a rule, does not pay attention to him.

Another name for these insects is social wasps, since they all live in colonies numbering from several dozen to several hundred and even thousands of wasps. In summer, the colony consists of a queen and worker wasps, which provide food for the larvae and protect the “family” from enemies. Only young fertilized queens overwinter.

In the spring they look for a place to build a nest. The most difficult thing in its construction is to stick the first layer of “paper” to the ceiling or roof. Therefore, if you are filming vespiary, the surface in the attic was not cleared of its remains, then the wasps will settle in the same place again.

It is really unsafe to spray a wasp nest, especially a large one. Wasps are very sensitive to strong-smelling drugs and can become angry without even waiting for you to act. A “chemical attack” can only be carried out at night, when the wasps are sleeping. You need to quickly spray the nest with a preparation to combat flightless insects, “dichlorvos-super” or “neodichlorvos” will do. After this, quickly move away from the nest. During the night, the cocoon should be saturated with insecticides, the bulk of the wasps will die, and the rest will be forced to leave the area.

The second method is to cut off the cocoon with a knife, immediately throw it into a bag, and then burn it or boil it in boiling water. Do not try to remove the nest with your hands. It sticks firmly to the surface, you will wake up and anger the insects. To apply this method requires determination and clear action. Ground wasps often settle on the site. It is strictly forbidden to pour boiling water over their earthen nest. This can make the wasps furious, and they will bite anyone who gets in their way.

ARE WASPES HEALTHY?

Adult wasps feed on flower nectar, aphid secretions, fruit juice, and do not refuse meat. They feed their larvae with chewed insects, thus protecting orchard from pests. Food for the larvae is flies, ants, bees, and caterpillars. Sometimes you can watch real battles in the garden, when a wasp “fights” with a fly or caterpillar that is larger in size than the wasp itself.

Usually, wasps do not cause “physical and material” harm to humans. But living next to them is still unpleasant. Children often suffer from wasp stings because they do not know how to behave correctly.

When a wasp annoys you, don't brush it off. You need to freeze and try not to move. Or, on the contrary, suddenly take off and quickly run away. The main thing is not to wave your arms. If there are no children in the garden, and you are calm about wasps, then you can assume that they are useful. Otherwise, try to keep them out of the area.

When cooking jam and compotes, close windows and doors. Once they receive a portion of something tasty, the wasps will remember the “feeder” and settle next to you. Remove raw meat from exposed areas and cover it tightly when defrosting.

If wasps do appear in the garden, place bottles with a narrow neck filled with fermented liquids, including jam, compote or beer, throughout the entire area. The wasps will fly inside and die.

There are cases when a wasp attacks for no apparent reason. Scents, such as cologne, perfume, and even some mosquito repellents, can trigger the behavior. Although such attacks are rare, it is better not to tempt fate and not use deodorants or other fragrances. A person who has ever experienced a wasp sting is unlikely to say that these insects are useful.

IF YOU ARE BITTE BY A WASP

Wasps bite and do not sting like bees, so only poison remains in the wound. The first thing to do when a wasp stings is to remove the poison from the wound if possible. To do this, wipe the wound with diluted alcohol, vodka or iodine. Apply something cold to the bite site. Sometimes it is recommended to apply clay. Do not do this under any circumstances: you can get tetanus. Place a piece of sugar on the wound - it will draw out the poison.

If you manage to kill an attacking wasp, do not leave it near you or in the house. Wasps are vindictive by nature. If you kill one, others will come to take revenge. Don't consider this mysticism, it's known fact. It is best to drive out an uninvited guest who has flown into the house with bait. Place a piece of meat or sweet jam near open window or doors. This will immediately direct her to take off without any bloodshed. When the wasp flies away, do not forget to remove the bait.

How to destroy a wasp's nest

Wasps

How to get rid of a wasp nest under the roof of a country house? V. Chekhun. Lomonosov

First, let's figure it out: what kind of wasps are they and do we need to get rid of them? Most often, paper wasps settle under the roofs of dachas. They are called so because the substance from which they build their nests is made on the same principle as paper: small fibers of wood are ground by the wasps with their jaws and moistened with saliva. Although it is believed that there seems to be no harm from them, I have seen fences and walls chewed by wasps country houses in places where they are especially widespread.

Availability of OS garden plot may bring some benefit: this predatory insect brings flies, caterpillars, beetles, sawfly larvae and other garden pests to feed its larvae. However, the effectiveness of wasps in the fight against insect pests is low, and they will be successfully replaced by specialized entomophages.

Adult wasps feed on the nectar of flowers, sweet apples, raspberries, gooseberries, pears, and grapes. They are especially attracted to bursting, overripe berries: When foraging for food, wasps are not too aggressive, they can be driven away. But during the period when wasps are nesting, they can attack without any reason on your part.

You can often hear the following recommendations: “don’t touch wasps without reason, and if a wasp starts circling around you, stand still and it will leave behind.” In practice, everything is different. Since the wasp does not leave a sting in the wound, then, unlike a bee, it can sting several times in a row, and does not die after being bitten, so it often makes the decision “to bite or not to bite” in favor of the first.

Therefore, if wasps have settled near you, know: one day they will bite you. You should definitely get rid of wasp nests, especially if someone in the family is allergic to hymenoptera stings.

Knocking down large old nests in late autumn or winter, which is often carried out in country houses, is an energetic but pointless undertaking. Such nests have already served their purpose; wasps do not overwinter in them. With the onset of frost, worker wasps and their larvae die, and the founding females hide in crevices for the winter in order to begin building a new nest in the spring.

In the spring, you should carefully inspect attics and verandas from the inside to see if there are new small nests; at this time they are the size of Walnut. When you find such a nest, quickly remove and destroy it. Having returned, the female will spin around a little and, not finding her house, will fly to another place. This way you will get rid of wasps in your dacha for the whole summer. Sometimes especially persistent females build five or six houses in a row on the same, apparently favorite place. But be persistent - having lost another house, the insect will decide to move to a safer place.

But if your dacha is far from the city, and you yourself are not afraid to take risks, then you can use the old proven method. To do this, you need to choose equipment: gloves, several layers of thick clothing (a padded jacket or an army pea coat is ideal), a face net and a long stick. It is necessary at night (when the wasps are sleeping, preferably at 3-4 o’clock) to fill a bucket with boiling water (the water should reach almost to the edge), place the bucket under the nest and knock it directly into the boiling water with a stick, and then quickly cover it with a lid so that the wasps cook. If you are afraid to touch the nest, you can simply cover it with a thick bag or bag containing cotton wool soaked in insecticide, and keep the bag closed until all the wasps die.

Another method that I have used several times: treatment with dichlorvos. It’s better to do this at night, too, but with enough skill you can do it during the day. The dichlorvos balloon is placed against the opening of the nest and the entire one is etched out (this will take from 3 to 5 minutes), being careful to turn it so that the aerosol gets into all layers of the paper. This method is good if the wasps have settled under a beam or in another hard-to-reach place, and it is not possible to quickly knock down the nest. When using this method, also be sure to protect your face and hands.

O. Vershinina

How to destroy a wasp's nest

You can often see wasp nests in your dacha. Wasps cause inconvenience not only to humans, but also to plants. They are capable of carrying various infections, often of an intestinal nature. These insects also threaten the harvest, especially if grapes grow on the site.

HOW WASPEN NESTS APPEAR

Nests are built by infertile females; they worry about their queen and her offspring, protecting them from strangers. For construction they use chewed natural material. Typically, wasp nests are located in a dry, dark place (tree, attic, hollow). Wasps love sweets (drinks, honey, watermelon, jam and much more), flower nectar and ripening fruits. Wasps often take honey from bees.

HOW TO DESTROY A WASPEN NEST (THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY)

Wasps cause a lot of trouble to humans, and in order to get rid of them, it is necessary to destroy their nests. It is very important to follow safety precautions here, otherwise if you act carelessly there is every chance of being bitten. Remove the wasp's nest better in autumn or, if you need to act urgently and there is no way to wait, only at night, when all the individuals are in place and sleeping. It is extremely unsafe to carry out such an operation during the day. Before entering the battlefield, put on protective clothing, the most the best option There will be a beekeeper costume, but not everyone has one, so wear everything that can cover all parts of the body. For the face, use a mesh. Think about how you can quickly help in case of defeat.

Another effective way to destroy a hornet's nest is to take plastic bag, treat it with karbofos or any other insecticidal preparation, very quickly pull it onto the nest and cut off its fastening. Then tie the bag tightly and leave for several hours. Treat the attachment point with insecticide or hydrogen peroxide. If it is not possible to cut off the nest, then the treated bag is attached with tape on top. Only the bag must be tight, otherwise insects will gnaw through it. Also treat the area around the nest with an insecticide.

Before carrying out an operation to destroy a wasp nest, it is recommended to first reduce the number of individuals. To do this, treat the nest with the chemical “Moskitol” or any other drug designed to combat wasps; it will be good if the stream of the drug can be directed directly into the nest itself and the exit can be quickly plugged with a rag treated in the same preparation. For safety, wear a mosquito net and gloves over your face.

After use chemicals Don't forget to wash your hands well with soap.

When, while destroying wasp nests, a bite still occurs, you must immediately take an antihistamine (suprastin), and to relieve swelling, apply a cotton pad soaked in diluted water to the site of the bite. ammonia (1:5).

FROM OS BURNING

Pour gasoline or any other flammable hornet's nest and burn it. The method, of course, is inhumane and ineffective. It can only be used in non-residential premises and not on trees.

TRAPS AND OTHER WASTE CONTROL PRODUCTS

It is especially convenient to use traps in places where approaching a wasp nest is difficult; in this way, you can reduce the number of individuals, but you will not be able to destroy the nests. Syrup and honey cannot be used in this case, since bees will begin to fly in with the wasps and will also die. Use only fermented products and old jam in traps. Change the contents in traps regularly.

1. Treat watermelon or melon rinds with insecticidal preparations that do not have a strong odor (“Lambda-Zone”, “Delta-Zone”, “Smelnet”), place them nearby compost heap or a wasp's nest. Wasps will fly to the smell and die from eating processed food.

2. Cut from plastic bottle neck, insert it into the ground, pour in the spoiled compote and add boric acid to it. Once trapped, it will be difficult for the wasps to get out of it, and those who succeed will not have long to live, about 2 hours.

3. Apply medium-thick glue to a sheet of cardboard and place a piece of meat or spoiled fruit in the center. The wasps will begin to fly in and stick to the cardboard.

4. Many summer residents, if the wasp’s nest is in the ground, pour boiling water in a large volume (about a bucket), after which they fill the hole with earth and compact it well. You can put a piece of roofing felt on top, then press it down with stones or bricks.

Wasps may return again in the spring, without finding their home, they will begin to build a new one next to the old one. Therefore, the entire area near the nests must be treated with kerosene or an insecticidal agent, for example, Sinuzan.