Black Hornets: Nest Life & Defense Tactics

Usually coming in a size a little bigger than a basketball and in the shape of an egg, the black hornets’ nest is where nearly 100 to 400 black hornets reside at one time. Black hornets are very protective of their nests and if they sense any kind of danger or disturbance from your side, they will come out and attack you. Most of the time, there are a few black hornet female asexual guards also known as laborers who are always there for security as well as roaming purposes, so they will be the first ones to attack anyone who gets too near the nest to make the hornets uncomfortable.

Another very important thing to note at this point is that the black hornet’s first attack would be to hit you head-on and sting you. Moreover, if they get a hand on whatever it is that is in their proximity that might be a threat. They will keep stinging that living creature for as long as it stays there. If it is a small insect of some sort, it is dealt with quite some ease with only the help of a few laborers who then go on to take it as food within the nest, where it is either fed to the queen, the younglings or is eaten by the

Inside The Nest

The inside of a black hornet’s nest consists of multiple cylindrical-like shapes and cells. The queens (children-bearing female black hornets ) are usually the ones that get the most room and are mostly near the center of the nest. Moreover, the young children who still cannot fly or roam around are placed in various small cells where they are fed by the queen and the laborers. The queen’s most important focus is to bear children and to keep a look at them whilst the laborers ( the female asexual black hornets) are the ones who bring in the food for the queens and the babies along with doing everything else that requires major effort like maintaining and expanding the nest as the members of the nest grow.

Laborers can roam inside the nest wherever they want, but they usually only meet the queen to fulfill her needs and provide her with essential

Fun Fact

Moreover, the guards of the queens are also held to a certain standard of upkeep and often replaced if there is a problem.

The duties given by the laborer are of the utmost importance and require them to work nonstop more than anyone else in the nest. Moreover, they often end up getting way less sleep ( nearly half the amount of sleep that the queen gets ) which is also one of the reasons that they don’t live as long as the queens.

Male Black Hornets’ Role In The Nest

The male black hornets are the ones that do the least work around the nest. The only main purpose they serve is to grow healthy and then when they are mature enough to impregnate the sexually female black hornets who will then become queens and give birth to the next generation of black hornets. Moreover, another very interesting thing to note at this point is that the male hornets usually have a smaller life span than the female black hornets as they usually end up dying after impregnating the female black hornets. This is either because they naturally have shorter lifespans and die of old age or because of the cold weather in which they do not take refuge, while the impregnated now queens are treated with quite some esteem within the nest

Male hornets cannot sting and also do not work well as attackers in the case of black hornets, so while they are alive all they do sometimes is work as a communicator of the queen or keep an eye on the younglings and see that they are being fed alright

The Opening Gate Of The Black Hornet’s Nest

The gate of the black hornet’s nest is usually between 6 to 10 inches in diameter, it is where they come out and go in from whenever they need to. Moreover, there are always a few laborers near the entrance to always keep an eye out. The only time during which the movement becomes minimal is during the nighttime. Black Hornets cannot see clearly in the dark and hence prefer to stay inside at night and then go out searching for prey when the sun comes up and it becomes feasible for them to see outside clearly

Rain And The Black Hornet’s Nest

Again during the rain time, the overall movement of the nest becomes quite less, but this is not due to black hornets not being able to fly in the rain as they are capable of doing that, it is just that rain makes it difficult for the black hornets to navigate where they are going, and they will have to fight off the extra burden of rain. But this does not mean that they do not fly during the rain, just not as much as in the clear weather, so even in the rain if you disturb the nest of black hornets, they will try to hit and sting you as hard as they possibly can