Wasps construct “nests,” not “hives” like honey bees. The confusion often stems from visual similarities and the general association of communal insects with shared dwellings. Understanding their distinct architectural and social behaviors helps differentiate wasp nests from bee hives.
Social Wasps: Architects of Paper Nests
Social wasps, such as yellowjackets, hornets, and paper wasps, build the most recognizable structures often mistaken for hives. They create nests from a paper-like material by chewing wood fibers and mixing them with saliva. This paste hardens as it dries, forming the nest walls. The material’s color can vary, often appearing in shades of gray and brown, depending on the wood sources. These nests typically house thousands of individuals.
Yellowjackets often build their nests underground in cavities, such as old rodent burrows, or within wall voids. Hornets usually construct large, football-shaped nests above ground, sometimes hanging from tree branches or inside hollow trees, protecting them with a paper envelope. Paper wasps commonly build umbrella-shaped nests under sheltered overhangs, like eaves or in attics.
Social wasp colonies operate on an annual cycle. A single fertilized queen initiates a new nest in spring, laying eggs and caring for the first brood until they mature into workers. These worker wasps then take over foraging, nest expansion, and brood care. The colony grows throughout summer, producing new queens and males in fall, with the entire colony, except for new queens, dying off by winter.
Solitary Wasps: Diverse Dwellings
Not all wasps live in large colonies or construct paper nests. Solitary wasps exhibit a wide range of nesting habits. Each female typically builds her own nest, provisions it, and lays eggs.
Mud daubers, for instance, construct nests primarily from mud, often shaping it into tube-like or organ-pipe structures. These mud nests are frequently found on sheltered surfaces like walls, under eaves, or in garages. Each cell within the mud structure is provisioned with paralyzed spiders or other insects. Potter wasps, another type of solitary wasp, create distinctive vase or jug-shaped nests from mud and saliva, often attaching them to twigs or man-made objects.
Other solitary wasps, like cicada killers and many digger wasps, excavate burrows in the soil. Cicada killers dig tunnels up to a foot deep and several feet long, with multiple chambers where they deposit paralyzed cicadas for their larvae. These underground nests are marked by a visible pile of excavated soil at the entrance. Grass-carrying wasps utilize existing cavities, such as hollow plant stems or window tracks, lining them with blades of grass to create individual brood cells.
Wasp Nests vs. Bee Hives
Wasp nests and bee hives differ in construction, internal structure, purpose, and colony longevity. Wasp nests are typically made from a papery material of chewed wood fibers and saliva. In contrast, honey bee hives are constructed from wax produced by specialized glands on their abdomens.
Internally, wasp nests often feature hexagonal cells for brood rearing, appearing more open or enclosed by a paper envelope. Bee hives, specifically honey bee hives, consist of highly organized hexagonal wax cells, known as honeycomb. These wax cells store honey, pollen, and house developing brood.
A significant functional difference lies in food storage; bee hives are designed to store large quantities of honey and pollen, essential food reserves for winter. Wasp nests, conversely, do not primarily function as long-term food storage facilities. Most social wasp colonies are annual, establishing a new nest each spring and largely perishing by winter, with only new queens surviving. Honey bee colonies are perennial, surviving multiple years in the same hive, continuously expanding and maintaining their structure.