Wasp, Hornet, and Yellowjacket Treatment

Yellow Jackets

• Yellowjacket is the common name for predatory social wasps living in colonies with workers, queens, & males (drones). Most are black with yellow stripes, but some include red markings, & some are black with white markings (the Bald-Faced Hornet, which is the black & white marking type, is a sub-type of Yellow Jacket wasp).
• They can be roughly ⅜” to 2” long, depending on the species, with queens and drones about 25% longer.
• There are at least 14 different varieties of Yellow Jackets in New England alone. They can nest “anywhere” -in the ground, bush, house exterior, eves, soffit, tree, in railroad ties, & the list goes on. An average nest can reach 4,000-6,000 by the end of the Summer, with each insect having the potential of multiple stings. A mature nest may typically have 2,000-6,000 cells and 1,000-4,000 + workers.
• They are scavengers eating roadkill, trash, bugs on trees, & even your hamburger at the family picnic. They can damage fruit when they create holes by eating the flesh. These are day-active, beneficial, predatory insects -they eat common insects such as flies & caterpillars.
• They build a paper-like nest containing several layers of cells. Nests are sometimes built in open aerial spots, or within bushes. Some build their nest in a cavity hollowed out below ground. Some workers will act as guards at the entrances to below-ground nests, & they are very protective of their nest. Usually only fertilized queens live over the winter, with the old queen & workers dying out by the first frost.
• Nests are seasonal, gray paper in nature with a condo structure inside covered by a thick papery substance for added protection. They form by scraping old or weathered wood & secreting this substance back at their nest site.
• They will attack when unprovoked; they can quickly become extremely aggressive if their nest is disturbed. Their sting is very painful & may sting repeatedly: they use their retractable needle-like stinger to hunt & kill their prey daily, which means that they never lose it, each time injecting enough venom to kill an insect, unlike a Honeybee-whose stinger pulls out and the honeybee dies.
• After the new fertilized queens have gone into their overwintering sites, the remaining workers begin to seek sweets & garbage near places where humans are active outdoors, or around garbage cans; this is also the time when you might find them near your drink or soda cans during picnics or outside gatherings.
• Just before Winter, the new daughter queens’ mate & find a suitable place to overwinter (attic insulation, wood pile, or anywhere warm they can find). During the Spring, the multiple new queens that were produced last Fall will come out of hibernation, begin feeding, & then start searching for a new nest location site to begin her new colony. Once she finds a place to call home, nest building begins. The sole responsibility of the queen is to reproduce, & the workers begin hive maintenance. There is nothing but nursery comb stored in their nests (no honey, just babies).
• Yellow Jackets Control include keep trash & garbage in sealed containers away from the house; clean up decayed wood, trees, & brush; paint any unfinished wood or stain it; keep bark mulch fresh; avoid areas of standing water in your yard; avoid wearing perfumes or hairsprays; & keep all food & drinks covered when outdoors.
• Never spray insecticide into a hole in your house where you see Yellow Jacket activity; you will drive them further into the framework of the house. Also, never seal up from the outside the Yellow Jacket entrance while they are still active; again, you will drive them into the framework of the home & will find them in rooms of the house. 
• In the Fall, they search for food & warmth, making their way inside your home if there is a wall or ceiling nest. 
• In the fall ceilings & walls nests become heavy. Hive work is vigorous, & workers continue to clean up after the young. During this cleaning process, they often scrape away wallboard & plaster that make up our walls & ceilings. Some homeowners will begin to see a wet stain on their wall, hear scratching & ticking/clicking sounds in their ceiling. This is often described as rice-crispy sounds. Often, if warning sounds are not addressed homeowners find an entire colony falling through the ceiling into their living room, bedroom, or other rooms of their home.
• Nest removal can be dangerous, & professional help is recommended. The risk of attack is great.