Re: Where do hornets go in the winter when they vacate their nests?

Hello Lauren Sykes

Yes, it is really puzzling. Hornets and other wasps are around all summer 
and more or less suddenly disappear in autumn or winter. 

What happens?

Most of them all simply die. All the workers (that you can see flying in 
summer) and all the males die with approaching winter. There is only the 
young queen that lives through winters. I do not know exactly where she hides. 
Maybe in some holes in trees, in the ground, in houses ... I really do not 
know.

In spring the queen starts alone to build up the new colony. She starts building 
the nest, flies to search for food, lays the eggs and feeds the larva ... until 
the workers are born to help her. Then she stays in the nest, "only" laying 
eggs.  Thus your suggestions were not far from truth. Well done. The only thing 
they do not do: migrating to South America.


Best wishes 
Jurgen Ziesmann