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What's growing in my shed?

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  • 23-06-2020 11:12am
    #1
    Mollyb60
    Registered Users Posts: 6,602 ✭✭✭


    Anyone have any clue what this nest/chrysallis is? Found it hanging from our shed roof yesterday. Indoors, about 50mm high.
    It's making my skin crawl even thinking about it.
    517473.jpg


Comments

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    #2
    punisher5112
    Registered Users Posts: 24,647 ✭✭✭✭punisher5112


    Hive....


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    #3
    Mickeroo
    Administrators, Computer Games Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 32,262 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Mickeroo


    Wasp nest I would think.


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    #4
    Butterbeans
    Registered Users Posts: 490 ✭✭Butterbeans


    Hard to gauge size from the pic but if very small, it'll be a solitary wasp. Have the remnants of 2 in my own shed, never did any harm


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    #5
    Masala
    Registered Users Posts: 3,489 ✭✭✭Masala


    Might be best to get rid of it and seal / tape up the doors to the shed for a few days to keep the wasps getting in to populate it.

    Wouldn't like to be accessing that shed with a hive over my head....


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    #6
    Alun
    Registered Users Posts: 21,464 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    Wasp nest. They start off very small, just the queen, who hibernates during the winter while all the other wasps die off. She lays a few eggs that turn to worker wasps which continue the building process making room for the queen to start the real work of laying eggs and increasing the size of the colony.

    It looks very small now, so now is the time to strike before it gets any bigger. I'd say, knock it off with a broom handle and give it a good stamp.


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    #7
    Effects
    Registered Users Posts: 9,760 ✭✭✭Effects


    It looks like wasps, and I personally wouldn't want it in my shed.
    I love wasps, and they do great work in the garden, but I would not want my shed to be off limits to use.


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    #8
    Alun
    Registered Users Posts: 21,464 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    Masala wrote: »
    Might be best to get rid of it and seal / tape up the doors to the shed for a few days to keep the wasps getting in to populate it.
    That's not the way the hive is populated. The queen lays eggs in the nest.

    https://www.nbcenvironment.co.uk/residential/wasp-lifecycle/


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    #9
    amadangomor
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,148 ✭✭✭amadangomor


    Alun wrote: »
    Wasp nest. They start off very small, just the queen, who hibernates during the winter while all the other wasps die off. She lays a few eggs that turn to worker wasps which continue the building process making room for the queen to start the real work of laying eggs and increasing the size of the colony.

    It looks very small now, so now is the time to strike before it gets any bigger. I'd say, knock it off with a broom handle and give it a good stamp.

    Wow, this is a disgraceful comment.


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    #10
    dazed+confused
    Registered Users Posts: 1,010 ✭✭✭dazed+confused


    Or take it off cleanly with a paint scraper and drop into a paper bag, then relocate it somewhere wooded and dry.

    Which option you choose depends where you appear on the "likely to become a serial killer" spectrum of course.


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    #11
    Harry Palmr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 40,061 ✭✭✭✭Harry Palmr


    Get it out now or have a stingy summer. It happened to me, I ended up committing mass murder with a wasp killer spray.


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    #12
    Alun
    Registered Users Posts: 21,464 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    amadangomor wrote: »
    Wow, this is a disgraceful comment.
    Why?


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    #13
    Masala
    Registered Users Posts: 3,489 ✭✭✭Masala


    Alun wrote: »
    That's not the way the hive is populated. The queen lays eggs in the nest.

    https://www.nbcenvironment.co.uk/residential/wasp-lifecycle/

    wow... didnt know that!!!

    When the above happened in my shed..... I saw 'the wasp' coming and going through the gaps in my shed door. So I taped them up.

    Saw 'her' flying up and down the door trying to get in for a few hours. i presume she abandoned it and moved on.


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    #14
    Mollyb60
    Registered Users Posts: 6,602 ✭✭✭Mollyb60


    Guys, thanks a million for the help. We did see one or 2 wasps there but thought it was too small to be a wasp nest.

    Apparently I'm very close to being a serial killer judging by some of the comments because I will not be relocating the poor unfortunate wasps.


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    #15
    Alun
    Registered Users Posts: 21,464 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    Masala wrote: »
    wow... didnt know that!!!

    When the above happened in my shed..... I saw 'the wasp' coming and going through the gaps in my shed door. So I taped them up.

    Saw 'her' flying up and down the door trying to get in for a few hours. i presume she abandoned it and moved on.
    I understand not every single nest started by a queen is successful for some reason or another, not sure why. Often they never get bigger than the size of a large acorn.

    If you ever find an old abandoned full size wasp nest though, they're amazing things. You can slice them open and see how they're built, and they weigh practically nothing.

    Bumble bees are the same, every single bumble bee, apart from the queen, who has already mated before hibernating, dies off every year.

    Honey bee colonies are different and can overwinter if they have somewhere to do so.


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