A Hornet's Life Cycle
You may from time to time come across a hornet. These insects are generally peaceful by nature and very social. They have their own colony where the queen lays eggs to produce offspring, thus, extending their colony. Although peaceful, they are stinging insects which can cause painful wounds leading you to be admitted to the hospital and can in extreme cases death. These insects are united in a manner that sees them loyal and protective of their colony. Therefore, there are guardian hornets which watch the hive every second; they will immediately attack anything that looks like threat to them or the hive. In many ways they are very organized insects. Their instincts are very strong, they simply do what they are supposed to do when they are born. Without considering the pain they can cause, these insects are fun to look at, but of course, you can never go near their nest in broad daylight without risk of attack.
Identification:
Generally, hornets are considered wasps, only larger. Usually, for the bald-faced hornets and European hornets, they measure 25 millimeter to 37 millimeter; that is the normal size of the hornets. However, the Asian Giant hornets really live by their name. They measure 50 millimeter to 56 millimeter which is more than 2 inches in length. They have a slender body and long legs.
Functions:
The queen is the only female that lays eggs. Its only function in the colony is to reproduce to have another set of workers when the grown hornets die. The workers look for food for the whole colony to survive. They also help build the hive as well as guard it from dangers. The drones are male hornets which don't have sting at all since they develop from unfertilized eggs. Mostly, they build the hive and repair those which are damaged or do some extension for the newly-hatched eggs. They also help in looking for food.
Life Span:
A colony can be built with only one hornet; the queen. It starts to mate in autumn and thrive underneath the barks of wood or soil to survive the spring. By spring, the queen will emerge to look for a place to nest; this is the start of a new colony. In the nest, she will lay eggs as many as she could and look for her own food. She usually hunts predators which are commonly mantises. After 6-8 days, the eggs will evolve into larvae which will go through another five stages for the next 15 days. At the last stage, the larvae will come out from their protective layer; they are now the new hornets but still unable to do anything. Seven days after they are out, new worker hornets will emerge. By this time, the queen ceases to hunt for food; the ordeal will be passed down to the workers.
The queen will continue to lay eggs until there will be new queens and male hornets. The life span of the workers is only four weeks, and they die. But new workers will emerge every 15 days replacing those older workers. Workers will feed the new queens and male hornets while the first queen will leave the colony and die. When the time comes that the new queens are ready, male hornets will mate with them and soon die after the mating. The workers will die during the start of the fall; they will be the last batch of workers. The new queens will now look for the place to hide to be able to survive the winter. After which, the cycle begins again with new queens to build their own colonies.