Nest in Shed

[Amylou]

A friend of mine found a nest in his shed. To me it looks like a wasp nest, but he said it was very small. It was empty when he found it. How small do wasp nests get?

[Badger Watching Man]

Hi there - I'm sure that a wasp expert will be along shortly with a proper answer.

I do know that wasps nests start off small and get bigger. Unlike honey bees, wasps start a new nest every year. Only the queen wasp lives through the winter, and when she comes out of hibernation in the spring she'll start to build a nest and lay eggs. She starts the colony from scratch.

It could be that you've got a nest that didn't get beyond this early stage, presumably because of the death of the queen. Alternatively it could be a solitary wasp of some sort, but I'm no expert on those at all.

[nightshade]

I frequently see Wasp nests that have been abandoned, yours seems to be around that size. If undisturbed they can get to be big enough to fit in a wheelbarrow, I have seen a huge nest built inside a wooden (unused) water butt and one built inside a cavity wall about 3feet in dia.but only 3" thick!
Both Wasps and Hornets frequently build in disused Bat Boxes a bit of a shock
for people up a ladder checking boxes!

[Amylou]

Thanks. Do hornets nests look like wasp nests?

[gez]

I also think its a solitary wasp nest, & if so this is the finished nest,
gez

[Beekeeper]

Amylou
Queen wasps do start off with a very small nest which obviously they have to build themselves as there are no worker wasps around to help them, usually the nest will contain up to five cells for the queen to lay the eggs in, once the young workers emerge they start the task of making the nest larger to accomodate more young and depending on how productive the queen is, the nest can end up a couple of foot across in the case of our own wasp and any shape depending on its location.

The European Wasp which found its way over to our country however almost always builds a nest shaped like a football, these wasps are dangerous, if disturbed they will attack en masse as i found out when getting rid of one for a good friend who has let me use some of his ground for my bees.

Anyway, i am getting off the topic, after the nest you pictured was built, it is possible the queen deserted it and found somewhere else more suitable, but it is quite possible she fell prey to a bird or indeed a Hornet which enjoys wasps and bees as dinner, I would say with some certainty that the nest was a Common Wasp but as someone else suggested it could belong to a Solitary Wasp

Hornet nests do indeed look like a normal wasp nest but usually are very much smaller as they contain far less workers. The nests are constructed of rotton wood which is chewed up and is turned more or less into papier mache. Very fragile and will fall apart quite easily, they also burn well but not a good idea to set fire to one if it is in your loft. !!

BK