For social wasps, such as yellow jackets and hornets, the arrival of winter triggers the end of the colony’s annual life cycle. Unlike honeybees, which maintain a perennial colony, the entire social structure of a wasp nest is seasonal and temporary. The fate of the colony’s thousands of inhabitants contrasts sharply with the specialized survival mechanism employed by the next generation’s queen.
The Seasonal Collapse of the Wasp Colony
The decline of the wasp colony begins in late summer and early autumn as daylight hours shorten and temperatures drop. The old queen ceases to lay eggs, which stops the production of new sterile female workers. This cessation of new brood means the workers no longer receive the sugary, protein-rich secretions from the larvae, which serve as their primary food source in the nest.
Lacking this internal food supply, the remaining worker wasps become foragers for external sources of sugar and carbohydrates. This is why wasps seem particularly aggressive and bothersome around human food and drinks in the fall. As the weather grows colder, the worker wasps and the male drones, which are not built for cold tolerance, perish outside the nest.
The original queen, the founder of the colony, also dies as the cold intensifies and her biological function ends. This mass die-off leaves the elaborate, paper-mache nest structure completely empty by winter. The nest is made from chewed wood fibers and is never reused.
The Queen’s Specialized Winter Survival
The only wasps to survive the winter are the newly produced, fertilized female wasps, which will become the future queens. Before the colony collapses, these new queens gorge themselves to accumulate substantial fat reserves. These stored lipids act as the sole energy source for the entire dormant period.
The queen enters a state known as diapause, a period of suspended development and significantly reduced metabolic rate. This metabolic suppression allows her to conserve her limited fat stores, using only a tiny amount of energy to stay alive until spring. She must find a location that is cool enough to keep her metabolism low, but insulated enough to protect her from freezing solid.
To endure the season, the mated queen seeks out sheltered, temperature-stable microclimates away from the elements. Common overwintering spots include:
- Loose tree bark
- Hollow logs
- Rock piles
- Insulated cavities within man-made structures like attics, wall voids, and sheds
She typically tucks her antennae and legs close to her body and secures herself to the substrate, remaining motionless until the environmental cues change.
Emergence and the Beginning of a New Cycle
The queen’s diapause is broken by the rising temperatures of spring, which signal the return of favorable conditions and the availability of food. Once awakened, the queen emerges from her sheltered location and immediately begins foraging to replenish her depleted energy reserves. Her first task is to locate a suitable, protected site to establish a new colony.
Working alone, the queen constructs a small, initial set of brood cells using wood pulp, forming the foundation of the new paper nest. She then lays the first generation of eggs within these cells. These initial eggs will develop into sterile worker wasps, a process she must manage entirely by herself, from foraging to feeding the larvae.
Once the first cohort of worker wasps matures, they take over tasks, including nest expansion and food collection. This shift allows the queen to focus exclusively on laying eggs for the rest of the season, rapidly increasing the colony’s population and restarting the annual social cycle.