Insects Are Amazing

Jen and I cleaned up some of the yard yesterday. This included tearing down last fall's chicken yard. As part of their yard, I had taken an old 500 gallon steel tank (which I normally use for hauling water to transplanted trees) and tipped it on its side so that the hens could use it as additional shelter.

While cleaning up, I tipped the tank upright and saw a wasp nest that had been hanging from what was the top. It was about the size of one of those oversize softballs (I think they are 16" in circumference). I grabbed it, gently twisted it, and it just kind of popped off, cleanly severed from its home base. I never saw one quite like this before.

The walls of the outer "paper" nest part were labyrinth. Because of the smooth lining of the tank, and since it came off so cleanly, the structure was incredibly preserved. I also noted that there was a lot of spider web material around the hole of the nest. I broke the nest apart to reveal the puppa chambers and found more spider webbing and a number of dead wasps. Later I also found out that they weren't wasps, but hornets (or at least I think so). So I offer some really cool photos. What I find fascinating is how quickly and completely insects make everything their homes. And I love the progression here. I take an old tank. The chickens use it for day shelter. Hornets decide it's perfect for their use. Spiders come along and figure that the nest is a perfect fall vacation home. I wonder who would have claimed it next?