Grown Here at Home: Couple discovers huge hornet nest on farm in Wythe County

WYTHE CO., Va. (WDBJ) - Sherry Shaverdi and her husband live on a 60-acre sheep farm in Wythe County. In July, they noticed a hornet nest on their dog’s house.

“It is quite amazing. It just showed up. We’ve had them before but they’ve always been fairly small; really about the size of a grapefruit or a little bigger. But all of the sudden this one showed up and just took off,” Sherry explained.

The nest kept growing and growing. Sherry started doing some research after seeing how big the nest had gotten. She said she believes it’s a bald-faced hornet nest.

“They make a specific kind of nest and this is definitely that kind of nest. The large nests generally get to be a basketball size, and [this nest] probably pushing 3.5 feet long, maybe 4 feet. It’s big,” Sherry said.

If you’re curious about the dog. Sherry said their dog isn’t using that dog house, and she’s doing just fine. Sherry explained the reason they didn’t get rid of the nest when they first saw it is because the field it’s in isn’t one they work in often, and they just figured, let’s just leave well enough alone. Plus, as she did some digging, she found out the last thing they should do is try to remove it.

“This particular hornet from what I read is an aggressive hornet. They will protect their nest. They will attack you. They will sting you multiple times because they don’t have barbs on their stingers, so they have the ability to sting you more than once,” Sherry said.

When winter rolls around the hornets will leave the nest, and they’ll never come back. At that point they’ll remove the nest, and possibly sell it; because apparently, they’re works of art.

“We started looking into it and even the basketball sized ones were going for $600 - $700,” she said.

Sherry explained how she’s taken several pictures and, if you look closely, you can see the artwork. In her words, “It’s quite amazing.”

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