Bulbs
Flower Basics
Flower Beds & Specialty Gardens
Flower Garden
Garden Furniture
Garden Gnomes
Garden Seeds
Garden Sheds
Garden Statues
Garden Tools & Supplies
Gardening Basics
Green & Organic
Groundcovers & Vines
Growing Annuals
Growing Basil
Growing Beans
Growing Berries
Growing Blueberries
Growing Cactus
Growing Corn
Growing Cotton
Growing Edibles
Growing Flowers
Growing Garlic
Growing Grapes
Growing Grass
Growing Herbs
Growing Jasmine
Growing Mint
Growing Mushrooms
Orchids
Growing Peanuts
Growing Perennials
Growing Plants
Growing Rosemary
Growing Roses
Growing Strawberries
Growing Sunflowers
Growing Thyme
Growing Tomatoes
Growing Tulips
Growing Vegetables
Herb Basics
Herb Garden
Indoor Growing
Landscaping Basics
Landscaping Patios
Landscaping Plants
Landscaping Shrubs
Landscaping Trees
Landscaping Walks & Pathways
Lawn Basics
Lawn Maintenance
Lawn Mowers
Lawn Ornaments
Lawn Planting
Lawn Tools
Outdoor Growing
Overall Landscape Planning
Pests, Weeds & Problems
Plant Basics
Rock Garden
Rose Garden
Shrubs
Soil
Specialty Gardens
Trees
Vegetable Garden
Yard Maintenance
How to Identify a Queen Wasp
How to Identify a Queen Wasp. Queen wasps are the center of a wasp nest, and the rest of the wasps in a colony exist to feed and care for her. She is the only female in a colony able to lay eggs, so the colony's survival depends upon her. Queen wasps look basically the same as worker wasps, making it difficult to identify them. However, some basic...
Queen wasps are the center of a wasp nest, and the rest of the wasps in a colony exist to feed and care for her. She is the only female in a colony able to lay eggs, so the colony's survival depends upon her. Queen wasps look basically the same as worker wasps, making it difficult to identify them. However, some basic knowledge of the life cycle of a wasp gives you all the information you need to recognize a queen wasp when you see one.
Note the time of year. If it is early spring, any living wasp you see is a queen wasp -- queens are the only wasps that survive the autumn, and new worker wasps do not hatch from their eggs until later in the season.
Approach the wasp in question carefully and compare it to other wasps. Queen wasps and worker wasps look alike except for their size: queens are noticeably bigger. If you can see multiple wasps and one is clearly bigger than the others, she is the queen.
Identify a queen in the fall by looking for solitary wasps. The queen departs her nest at the end of the summer, so none of the insects remaining in a hive or swarm during the fall are the queen.
Identify a queen in the winter by finding a dormant wasp. The rest of the nest is dead, so any living wasp is a queen. She hibernates, or overwinters, in a small, dry space, such as inside a rotting tree trunk or under wooden trim in a house. If you see a solitary, overwintering wasp in the winter, it is a queen.
