- 1). Note the time of year. If it is early spring, any living wasp you see is a queen wasp -- queens are the only wasps that survive the autumn, and new worker wasps do not hatch from their eggs until later in the season.
- 2). Approach the wasp in question carefully and compare it to other wasps. Queen wasps and worker wasps look alike except for their size: queens are noticeably bigger. If you can see multiple wasps and one is clearly bigger than the others, she is the queen.
- 3). Identify a queen in the fall by looking for solitary wasps. The queen departs her nest at the end of the summer, so none of the insects remaining in a hive or swarm during the fall are the queen.
- 4). Identify a queen in the winter by finding a dormant wasp. The rest of the nest is dead, so any living wasp is a queen. She hibernates, or overwinters, in a small, dry space, such as inside a rotting tree trunk or under wooden trim in a house. If you see a solitary, overwintering wasp in the winter, it is a queen.
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