Yellowjackets

One of the very few truly dangerous pests in the area, yellowjackets are a poisonous, aggressive social paper wasp. The nests are made of papery material, and can grow to be as big as two basketballs and contain as many as 2500 wasps. The workers are unpredictable when away from the nest, likely to sting if attacked or if irritated. And they are especially aggressive in the vicinity of a nest – anything moving within the attack radius of 7-8 feet may be attacked by several or many workers. Yellowjackets have a smooth stinger, so each worker can sting multiple times. The sting is quite painful, and more than a few stings can be dangerous, as enough of the venom can result in a shutdown of the human heart and lungs. Obviously, care must be used in the vicinity of nests!

Yellowjacket queens may build their nests virtually anywhere – in a hollow in the ground, hanging in a tree, hanging beneath eaves, in an attic or crawlspace, or in a wall void are common locations. When the nest is hidden from sight, the center of the nest is usually within 24 inches of the entry point. Nests are typically started in the spring or early summer. In late summer, the nest has a mating flight, where all the fertile females and males are released. The nests die in the early winter, and are not reused. The species survives the winter in the form of the now fertilized queens, who overwinter in a warm place and emerge in the spring to start their own nests.

Yellowjacket nests are susceptible to many different insecticides, but whatever product is used must penetrate inside the colony and kill the queen. Any workers who do not contact the product will starve within a couple of days without their queen. Dusts, liquids, and aerosols all have their place in yellowjacket treatment, with the selection depending on the nest location. For safety, it is probably best to allow a professional exterminator to treat them, unless the nest is hanging in the open and entirely visible. In that case, an aerosol can labeled for that purpose, that will dispense the material 15 feet or more, would probably be effective.

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