A bad year for wasps

Posted on 19 Sep, 2009 227 comments

Two days ago I sat on a wasp…................okay, that’s enough laughter…...quiet please….....stop it, I say!!

Yes, it did sting me and for the last two days I’ve had to miss work and I have been hobbling around like a bow-legged sailor and with a rear the size of a pumpkin…..oh, you’re off again…...stop snickering.!!

I have bad reactions to wasp stings….but only to the “yellow jacket” type of wasp. The sting site swells up tremendously and I have to go on antibiotics as well as Benadryl allergy medication. Paper wasps and mud wasps stings are usually not a problem but there is obviously something different about “yellow jackets”.

All this time “standing” around has made me wonder why some years are worse than others for wasp numbers. Are the populations of wasps affected by the weather? By the previous winter weather? By fluctuating bird populations? By the availability of food? Or is it just a natural cycle that has been going on for thousands of years?

No one seems to be able to offer any answers that I can find. Just tidbits about the wasp life cycle. Here is some of what I have learned.

Wasps, or “yellow jackets” as they are called in North America, live for only one or two seasons except for the queen. The queen hibernates over the winter in a small hole or crack or under some bark of a log etc. She emerges in the spring to establish a new colony of wasps.

She will start by building a nest of papery pulp comprised of chewed-up wood fibers mixed with saliva. Commonly the nest will be underground in an old rodent burrow or similar cavity. She may also build a nest in trees, shrubs, under eaves, or inside an attic or wall void. Wasps will not reuse old abandoned nest sites.

When she has started constructing the nest she will begin to lay eggs inside. From these eggs, sterile female workers will emerge. These workers will then work to extend the nest and rear further larvae. The queen’s only responsibility from that point on is to lay more eggs. Male wasps emerge from unfertilized eggs which are laid in late summer. In late summer new queen wasps emerge and mate with the new male wasps. The new queens will then fly off and find a suitable place to overwinter. All the remaining wasps are left to fend for themselves.

As she concentrates on laying eggs the queen wasp is fed by the workers on nectar, and juices from fruit, rotten meat and fish, while the workers feed on a sugary substance excreted by the larvae plus the flower nectar and fruit juices that they gather outside the nest. Once the new queens have flown away, the workers and males who no longer have the sweet secretions of the larvae to feed on, have to fend for themselves. At this time they seem to become more aggresive and sometimes will sting without provocation.

What about the sting???? Wasps have the ability to sting as a means of ensuring survival. A hollow stinger is located at the rear of the yellow jacket’s body. When the stinger penetrates the skin, a venom is injected through the hollow tube. Unlike the bee, the wasp can sting more than once.

These stings can be very painful. They can also be very dangerous to people who have developed an allergy to the stings. Even in people who do not have an allergy, wasp stings can be a problem. A mature wasp will almost always have a poison sack that is swarming with bacteria. If stung by such a wasp there is a real risk of severe infection and a painful wound. Furthermore, it is not only people that are affected! Countless numbers of household pets are stung each year by wasps.

Apart from the fact that wasps sting, they can also cause other problems. Because wasps scavenge in faeces, they are carriers of disease especially where they come into contact with human food. Wasps will also attack bee hives and kill bees. Wasps do millions of dollars in damage to fruit crops especially in the late summer and autumn.

So, why are wasps put here on earth??? For what possible reason should we have to put up with the things? Yellow jackets are actually beneficial in that they eat and control harmful insects and caterpillars. They catch insects to eat and also to put into the cells which contain the larvae for the larvae to feed on when they hatch. Keeping a small population of wasps around is good for the garden. Wasps are scavangers which help to breakdown dead and decaying matter such as fallen fruit and dead animals. Wasps also provide food for other animals such as some birds and spiders.

What else have I learned? Well, certainly to check behind me before I sit down!! :o(

Photo sources:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wasp_eating_apple.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wasp.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wasp_August_2007-23.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1st_Yellow_Jacket_Of_The_Season.jpg

Comments

Mamagem

Very informative Gilli, well written. Hope you are 'sitting' around again very soon.

19 Sep, 2009

Spindle

I really enjoyed your blog, and actually did laugh out loud at your description of the wasp sting. Sorry, hope you are better now - my husband is the same - he swells up like a balloon if he gets stung. There seem to be a lot less wasps around this year than last, thankfully:o)

19 Sep, 2009

Sanbaz

sorry Gilli i hold my hand up i did find it funny, but im sure it wasnt when you got your butt stung, hehe, anyway i do hope you recover soon and are able to sit with comfort once more, interesting blog :o) found some info Gilli about low and high numbers each year, next comment of me

19 Sep, 2009

Bobg

Ooooh ouch a stung sit-upon that is painful but a brilliantly informative blog Gilli.

19 Sep, 2009

Sanbaz

The number of wasps in late Summer and Autumn depends on the number of new queens which survive the Winter, and the weather in Spring when the new queens are trying to start their new colonies.

A large number of new queens surviving the Winter will mean more competition for nest sites in spring, so the surviving queens will be in poorer condition and therefore fewer offspring will be produced in each nest.

A bad Spring means that many new nests will be destroyed, so fewer wasps are produced overall.

The best conditions for large wasp population numbers, and therefore the worst conditions for us in terms of wasp nuisance, are a dry and warm Spring, and fewer surviving new queens due to a cold and late Winter.

The new colonies will then be successful, producing large numbers of wasps. A single wasp nest will have thousands of inhabitants

19 Sep, 2009

Gilli

Thanks Mamagem, Spindle, San and Bob......I am feeling better and can now move a little more normally. I suppose its back to work tomorrow. Thank goodness for antibiotics!!

San.....actually it was kind of funny when I got stung...I was laughing and jumping up and down and saying 'ouch' all at the same time. I felt a right idiot going to the doctor and saying "I got stung on the a**". Even the doctor laughed. Hee hee hee.

19 Sep, 2009

Drc726

My daughter is allergic to wasp stings and now has to carry emergency medication with her. My cousin at 25 was killed when his car crashed for no reason - except when the door was opened a large bee flew out. Hope you are ok now. One shouldnt laugh I know, but your blog did start off sounding very funny!

19 Sep, 2009

Gee19

Now I've stopped laughing I do hope your rear end is recovering and that you are able to sit down comfortably. I've been stung by wasps several times but only once did it cause massive swelling and discomfort. Don't know why. Interesting blog though. Just take care where you sit, won't you?

19 Sep, 2009

Gilli

Ooooo, San we posted at the same time. Our winter was particularly long and cold last year. Probably killed off a lot of the queens. The summer has been hot and dry. No wonder there is a wasp explosion then.

19 Sep, 2009

Sanbaz

ive been stung a few times but not had the pain you have Gilli, just for a few mins thats all, ive stood on one, lent back on one in car, and had one up my jeans sat on a bus, people thought i was mad jumping up lol
well it all seems to make sence Gilli, the weather and all

19 Sep, 2009

Gilli

Oh that's too bad Drc.....It's no fun being that allergic. My son was that allergic to eggs when he was a little 'un. We had to take the epipen with us everywhere.
Gee......it seems everytime a 'yellow jacket' stings me it causes this type of reaction. This time it is especially bad...probably due to the.....ermmm.....delicate location of the sting. :o)

19 Sep, 2009

A bad year for wasps

A bad year for wasps

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