Something wrong with my wasps

[reed]

Not sure this is a soapbox box issue but didn't know where else to put it. We have wasps here in Indiana, we always called theh red wasps, they build bests of paper under the eves and in the rafters of buildings and the like. The nests can get very large, I'v see them probably 8 inches around covered with probably a couple hundred wasps. Usually by now there are nests big around as pint jars or bigger with probably 50 wasps in the rafters of my shed. 

The biggest nest I'v seen this year is not much bigger than a quarter and only half a dozen wasps. Worse, I'v see them on the ground and floor and around the yard with apparent deformities to one or both wings. I don't know how far they travel for food or even what they eat but there is nothing chemical in nature within 3/4 mile of me so I'm at a loss to figure what is wrong with them.

I know a lot of people probably are not particularly fond of wasps but I have always thought they were pretty cool critters. Has anyone else seen anything unusual with your wasps? 

[diane]

Every year I try to identify where there are wasp nests by May, and mark them so people don't stumble into them.

Last year I didn't have any paper wasp nests, and just one underground nest. That was unusual, as usually I would have at least a couple of each
on my half acre.

This year I haven't noticed any at all.

[zeedman]

I normally tolerate wasps too, since they are really beneficial insect predators... but last year was the worst wasp outbreak I've ever seen. Paper wasps in every pipe and crevice (including the play set), hornets in the shed, and several yellow jacket nests in the foundation. They were more than a nuisance; grandson, daughter, and the wife were all stung. I spent weeks wiping out the nests that were in hazard areas.

This year, very few yellow wasps of any kind, although it is still too early for the yellow jackets & hornets to be noticeable. A lot of mud daubers, though, many more than usual. No deformities in the wasps I've seen.

[philagardener]

zeedman , maybe your lack of wasps this year is related to your very wet weather? I think dry years favor them, but agree there does seems to be a larger trend toward the loss of these pollinators . . .

[mjc]

Wet weather tends to encourage mud daubers, at least around here. The drier years seem to be when the paper types thrive, although I noticed they tend to build their nests higher/more sheltered in wet conditions.

[steev]

Excellent predators, indeed. Once I was watching them hunt caterpillars on my beans when I saw one find prey too large to carry off; moments later backup arrived, they cut the worm in half, and each flew off with its load.

[reed]

Now that you mention it I have seen them carrying away worms and the like. Things have gotten worse here, a couple small nests above my work bench in the shed appear completely abandoned. I know they each had a few not long ago cause they were giving me the evil eye when I reached for my saws. If this is something that happens once in a while I have never seen it before.

[zeedman]

Still have a few paper wasp nests. They are becoming more numerous, but seem to be getting established later this year. The odd thing is that 2016 was nearly as wet here as it was this year... but June was much cooler, I even had to turn the heat back on twice.

Mud daubers are definitely liking the weather, I've never seen so many of them. Good thing they are docile. I believe they prey on spiders, so there may not be as many of those this year, which wouldn't break my heart.

[reed]

My wasp population has recovered somewhat. Still way less than normal but I got a couple larger nests in the shed rafters now and I haven't seen any of the flightless ones recently. Someone mentioned yellow wasps. We used to have yellow and striped ones that looked and lived just like the red ones except for color. I haven't seen either of them in many years.

What I call yellow jackets, that live in the ground and make eating outside dangerous in the fall are numerous. I'm not fond of them.

[steev]

I mostly call paper-wasps "yellow jackets" and ground-nesters "meat bees".

[walnuttr]

Ok, OK, so I only just found this line. Suspet that Reed's wasps had a parasite in the nest much like the varroa mite which does similar nasty things to honey bees, by sucking the juices out of morph-stage bees while they are capped over in their cells. Killed off every feral colony of bees here in NZ. That the paper-wasps managed to repopulate is good news for the gardeners. Ground-nesting aka german wasps or common wasps have also been bad news in NZ; only now doing the reearch on finding some bio-control , hoping for something like a mite parasite. Vaguely remember years ago a newspaper story of a farmer up north end of NZ whose little fergy tractor dropped its back wheels into an underground wasp nest, wheels kept spinning until the fuel ran out a couple hours later. One tidy treatment is neonicotinide ( fipronil ? ) mixed at one part per thousand into mushed fish or other meat. Most of the wasps within a couple hundred yards will eventually find it and take enough home to feed to the young'uns. Slower than petrol fumes, but less effort to find each nesting hole. The active is also used as flea-treatment on cats 'n dogs (without the meat ).

[steev]

While I admit to being unhappy about being stung, I'm pleased, generally, about wasp activity, they are ecologically very useful and mostly not aggressive; valuable allies against pests that would largely need toxic agents to control; just understand that they don't know when we're being stupid, not threatening. They're insects; we're supposed to be the sapient ones.

[reed]

I haven't noticed any more wasps with the problem with their wings that I reported at start of the thread. This year I just noticed almost no wasps at all. No nests in my shed, not more than 1/2 a dozen flying around and landing on the warm south facing wall of the house. None at all that found their way inside the house like they generally do. Also almost no lady bugs, very few flies. A single solitary ground wasp, what we call yellow jackets visited our outdoor cookouts this fall.

[diane]

Wasps had a hard time of it here. One paper nest was destroyed while it was still very small by something unknown. Then a very large paper nest was destroyed by tree branches hitting it in a wind storm.

The two underground nests safely carried on till last week when we got a frost.

[reed]

Expanding from wasps I'm also seeing far less birds at my feeder this year. Tit mouses are abundant as usual but chickadees, various little wood peckers, nuthatches and others are probably less than half what they normally are. Almost no red birds at all, used to be here by the dozens.

A flock of robins stopped by the other day for a drink from my little garden pond. More than half of them had some kind of severe condition on their legs, I'm guessing it's mites, like you sometimes on chickens. It looked really bad on several of them, only a few seemed not to have it at all.