Deep into the HIVE!

I have this Bald Faced Hornets Nest on my soffit that has had my curiosity for some time. It is about the size of a Soccer ball and gorgeous to look at in an ugly, yet fascinating way. These are really nasty bugs and it is best to give them respect and space.



The Wasp makes these beautiful habitats by chewing wood and mixing it with Saliva. They feel like a very brittle and rough paper but surprisingly, it is resilient and strong for what it is.

Anyway, my goal is to cut this thing in half and check out the inside. I have never seen the inside of a Wasp's nest before. So, I do what every cold blooded Canadian Photographer would do in this situation… I CHECK OUT THE NEST… to make sure no one is home.

Kids, don't try this at home, leave it to the trained professionals to do this …...




Seems like no one is home…. except this one soul….



But not to worry,



He's DEAD!

The inside is amazing. Passages, honey combs and layers upon layers of the paper stuff, with tiny gaps for air to circulate through. Really, an amazing structure. The honeycomb was extremely difficult to cut through. I was very surprised, almost tough as wood! Had to struggle to get the knife through it.



Please read up on Bald Faced Wasps before you have similar ideas…. these are NASTY CRITTERS. Never mind the joking, these bugs are extremely dangerous. This nest was abandoned in the fall and it has been freezing here… so I opened it up. Even so, I was concerned and took care to make sure there were no surprises.

​Enjoy.

Cool! Man I was getting the willies seeing the photo with your finger in the intrance! Lol
Your braver than I am! Lol I couldn't talk myself into doing that! Those stings hurt like hell!
Very cool shots! Great catch!

Bill16 said:

Cool! Man I was getting the willies seeing the photo with your finger in the intrance! Lol
Your braver than I am! Lol I couldn't talk myself into doing that! Those stings hurt like hell!
Very cool shots! Great catch!

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::what::

LOL

I did it for shock value. Trust me, I am about 90% sure there is nothing in there because we have had some brutal freezing weather. So, I stuck my finger in. I figured, since I was handling it, the Praetorian Guard would have attacked me for sure well before I put my finger in, if any of them were still left.

I will tell you, I was shocked when I saw two carcasses inside!! I was expecting to find nothing. Inside some of the honeycombs, there were other dead wasps. Guess they hung around a little to late inside.

Yes, these are nasty critters. I want to repeat this again, don't muck with these wasps, they will mess with you pretty good. This particular type swarms!!

NASTY NASTY business.

​Thanks for the comments.

Interesting. I have a couple of tiny hivess (empty) as we do regular checks everywhere to get the nests when tiny. A couple years ago we had a terrible year of them but not so bad this year. While out at a lake yesterday we noticed quite a few big nests up in the empty trees. Glad the lake isn't in our neighbourhood

Great shots, Mother Nature at its finest. Very cool

That's very cool.And you are right.These guys have a bad attitude. And they hurt like hell when they sting you.

I know they're nasty. I had a small nest under a mailbox. When I put the lid down and disturbed them, they attacked and got into my shirt. A dozen stings to my belly before I killed them. A daring me would have tried to get a shot also of the hive.

A word of warning indeed: my 43 year old brother-in-law got out of his bath in England, stepped on a hornet, was stung, immediately went into anaphylactic shock, went down hard, slipped into a coma and died a few days later. He was survived by his wife and three young children. If you have anything like this near your home, make sure you have an EpiPen close by just in case.

Jonathan said:

A word of warning indeed: my 43 year old brother-in-law got out of his bath in England, stepped on a hornet, was stung, immediately went into anaphylactic shock, went down hard, slipped into a coma and died a few days later. He was survived by his wife and three young children. If you have anything like this near your home, make sure you have an EpiPen close by just in case.

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My mother carries one. She's very allergic to bee and wasp bites. Which is bad because she loves her flower garden.