Yellow Jacket Queen
Yellow Jackets are a common pest problem to your home. These pests are identifiable by their yellow and black and smaller sizes than a honey bee, as well as an aggressive disposition. Starting in the spring, Yellow Jackets begin building their tell-tale mud nests. Nests are commonly found in areas such as near your pool pump, home entrances, the eves of your roof, and around your garage area. You will often see several mud nests around your home in the spring or summer.
Lifecycle of a Yellow Jacket
The Yellow Jackets come annually, with Queens emerging in the late spring or early Summer. The queen selects a suitable nest site and begins to build a paper and mud nest in which 30 to 50 eggs are laid. After about 18-20 days, the larvae become wasps and they take over caring for the colony and nest, as well as expansion and colony defense.
Left uncontrolled, a typical colony will reach a size of nearly 5,000 individual wasps between May and August. With Autumn approaching, new queens are produced which build up fat reserves for Winter. As cool weather approaches, the fattened queens move to hollow logs, stumps, and other wood areas until Spring returns, with all of the male wasps dying off, and the cycle begins anew. Yellow Jackets will reuse old nests if they are kept dry – which means all those nests left under the eves of your home will be reused the following Spring if not removed and taken care of quickly.
Are Yellow Jackets Dangerous?
Beginning in 1975, the German Yellow Jacket has become the dominant species. This particular variety is much more aggressive than the Eastern Yellow Jacket, as it will sting repeatedly and painfully. Merely walking within the vicinity of a nest can lead to a painful assault led by winged zealots. Individuals prone to an allergic reaction will require hospitalization.
While a yellow jacket’s main diet consists of insects and sweet fruit, these pests are particularly attracted to human foods such as meat and soda. Combined with an aggressiveness, these are pests one should eliminate from the home on an immediate basis. With mild winters in the Sacramento area, it is not uncommon for yellow jackets to create nests which can take up the entire attic spaces in homes.
As a professional pest control company, we assist many of our customers with Yellow Jacket nests which reside far up on multiple story homes, as well as customers who may be allergic and cannot perform a DIY removal of the Yellow Jacket nests.
For more information or assistance in getting rid of yellow jackets, call Specialized Pest Patrol (916) 987-9559.
