I have no Idea how long it takes for them to build it, but probably since early spring, I hat the black wasps because I had a nest in my garden last year and the year before, and they would go after me!

Are you talking about the bald-faced hornets' nest? They make the big paper ones?

Start slowly and gain speed as the number of workers increases.

If you're talking about the bald-faced hornets, the workers all die in the previous season, but the fertilized females survive and live under leaves, etc. I believe one of these females starts the nest in the spring, has babies that become mostly males and then they all start to help to build the nest. So it slowly builds up more and more layers of the nest.

Here's a pic of what bald-faced hornets look like, and also a pic of one of their nests we found. It's sort of hard to find their nests until the leaves fall.

Yes, those are exactly what we have. White faces and big, gray nest. I just warned my daughter about it and she said, "Spray it!" She is very anti-needles and other types of prickly pain. Though she was a soccer goalie and would take heavy kicks to any body part without flinching. Interesting how different fears develop in each of us. I'm still weighing my options.

Martha

I'd hate to see you spray it. But I've heard they are very aggressive. Is there any way of just avoiding it? They won't bother the monarchs. I vote to keep it and just avoid it......for nature's sake. :)

Catherinet, that is where I'm leaning. I hate to kill anything, and the more I read about them and their life cycle, the more fascinating they seem. The fact that they chose my yard is a good indicator that I am succeeding in my goal to attract all sorts of wildlife to my yard. I wonder if the hornets are preyed upon by the songbirds as food sources for the baby birds. We keep hearing about the decrease in the populations of all kinds of insects. I would hate to wipe out an entire colony with all the potential it has for producing multiple new colonies next year. There is plenty of space very close to me where they could live without interfering with any humans.

Martha

Martha......I like your thinking! :)

My family is not thrilled with my way of thinking. My husband is worried about the dog. But, the dog doesn't have access to that part of the yard. He also worries about the cat. Well, he's the one who lets the cat out, not me. My kids are 16 and 18, so they should know to avoid that area. If any family can allow a hornet nest to stick around, it's us. We'll see what happens.

Martha

Good luck Martha!

I took a picture through a window from inside, and was then able to zoom in. The picture isn't too blurry, I hope:

You can see the milkweed I was checking off to the right.

Martha

WOW! When I saw your photo, I literally said "Holy ****!"

And that first star is not an 's' ;)

I am glad and impressed that you don't plan to spray that nest.

"The fact that they chose my yard is a good indicator that I am
succeeding in my goal to attract all sorts of wildlife to my yard."

What a wonderful outlook!

I hate to say it, Martha, but I would spray it. They do sting and they kill caterpillars in large numbers. In one sense the choice is more wasps or more caterpillars. I have seen these wasps kill very large caterpillars. It isn't pretty seeing what happens. (I won't describe it.)

I try very hard not to kill anything in the garden. I don't kill cockroaches or pretty much any other insects other than fire ants and wasps. A wasp really hurt my dog--stung her in the nose. I have friends and relatives who are allergic to wasp bites. My brother had a severe allergic reaction after a bite. The people at the hospital said it could have been life-threatening had he not been take there very soon afterwards. In his case the wasp got tangled up in his hair and stung him as he was trying to get it out.

No doubt these wasps serve a purpose in the natural order of things. You are presenting them with a banquet of eggs and caterpillars. I'm sure they really like your garden.

I do respect your opinion and that of others to not kill them. I simply have another point of view.

Martha, what a beautiful view you have out your window! I'm surprised that the nest is so low to the ground. The ones I've found around here are usually high up. The picture I posted earlier was the lowest down one. I wonder how they pick where to start the nest?

Nests are seldom re-used; next year's location could be some distance away.

Thank you Catherinet. I was surprised at how low it was, also. I continue to be torn about what to do. Does anyone know whether anything preys on wasps? Are they eaten by birds? It seems as if everything has something to keep them in balance. But, maybe it's just the availability of a food source. I will go over to my neighbors and warn them that it is there. Though, they have no reason to be over there.

Martha

Hi Martha. If you have a large property, I would just let it be. That's one thing I love about having our 35 acres. We can leave things, in hope of having some sort of a balance. I'm not aware of any predators for these. I wouldn't even warn your neighbors. These guys don't go after people for no reason. Even when we had one close to the house, the only place we ever saw them was on the compost pile. They're only aggressive if you're trying to hurt them. One we had just feet from one of our cart trails, and we never even knew it was there until late Fall. In my experience, they never reuse their nests. In fact, winter usually brings them down.

My property isn't very big. In the picture, you can see the bottom front corner of our neighbor's house. Their garage and front entrance are at the other end of the building. So, they don't walk around this side very often. Their seasonal lawn care workers come through in spring and fall. My house is 20' from the nest.

Weed30,

I forgot to thank you for the nice compliments. I appreciate your support.

Martha

A few years ago, I got to enjoy a summer devoid of yellow jackets because there was a bald faced hornet nest in a neighbor's yard. I'll take the bald faced hornets over yellow jackets any day.

I've done more reading about hornets, and it seems they have relatively few predators. Those they do have include starlings, mockingbirds, larger amphibians and reptiles, plus occasional raccoons, skunks, opossum, and bear. It is very rare that any of these will purposefully attack the nutrient-rich larvae in the nest itself because of the painfull defense mechanism. So, predators only go after individual hornets if they happen across them. Similarly, hornets will only go after something they feel I endangering their hive.

Incidentally, I have many more of these birds in my yard this summer.

FYI: Bald-faced hornets are not really hornets. They are actually in the same genus, Dolichovespula, as yellow jackets.

The only true hornet we have in the US was imported. Vespa crabro is the European hornet. I had no clue they existed until 2005 when I got to see a bunch of them dismembering my lilac bush. Very large. Very docile unless you disturb their nest. I got right next to the lilac to watch them work. No pics because I was in the midst of a move and my camera was at the new house.