whatever’s bugging you.
Nobody quickly forgets a painful encounter with a yellow jacket.
The name “yellow jacket” (or “yellowjacket”) is often applied to the whole genus (Vespula spp.) of 14 species of yellow and black wasps found in North America. Because of their similar coloring, yellow jackets can be mistaken for honey bees. However, yellow jackets do not have fuzzy body hairs like honey bees and there is a narrow segment between the yellow jacket’s thorax and abdomen (thread-waist) that is not present with honey bees.
Yellow jacket nests are largest in the late summer and early fall, when yellow jackets become more aggressive foraging for sweet substances like fruit, human food, and drinks.
Yellow jackets can be aggressive and will sting repeatedly if threatened.
Adam’s Gets Rid of Yellow Jackets Fast!
Fast, Local Response
Competitive Pricing
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Licensed Professionals
100% Satisfaction
Yellow Jackets Treatment Options
One-time Perimeter Stinging Insects
Adam’s licensed pest management professionals have the training and equipment to safely kill nuisance wasp, hornet, and yellow jacket nests up to 25’ in height in or around structures that pose a threat to people. We apply a proven insecticide directly into the nests and also into holes, cracks, and gaps where an active nest may be hiding. Adam’s treats up to 5 nests for the same low price. Adam’s guarantees that no new activity will be present in any treated nest for 3 months.
Premier Perimeter Stinging Insects
Need to prevent more pests than just stinging insects? Adam’s Premier Perimeter Program includes a minimum of 3 preventive barrier treatments around the exterior perimeter of your home for year-round prevention of common household bugs, including insects, spiders, boxelder bugs, and wasp nests. Your Pest Management Professional inspects for pests, and then applies a season-specific, non-repellent, residual material to control common household pests before they can get inside. The service comes with a 12-month guarantee for all existing and new wasp nests.
Premier Home Pest Prevention
Adam’s best value for prevention and control of common household pests, including stinging insects like wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets! Adam’s Premier Home Pest Prevention service provides year-round prevention of pests with a minimum of four visits throughout the year. Service visits focus on the exterior of your home, where most pest problems originate. And should a pest problem ever occur between scheduled visits, the plan includes additional treatments at no additional charge. This program includes common household pests like spiders, centipedes, and roaches and seasonal pests like multicolored Asian lady beetles, ants, and mice, as well as wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets.
More About Yellow Jackets
WHAT DO YELLOW JACKETS LOOK LIKE?
- Yellowjackets are 3/8″ to 5/8″ in length
- Yellowjackets are typically shiny, bright yellow with black stripes
- Color patterns, including some red, vary depending on the species
- Yellow jackets have a hard body with few hairs
- Some species may have spots, triangles, or diamonds on their abdomen
- The wings fold onto the top of the abdomen
WHAT DO YELLOW JACKETS EAT?
- Yellow jackets will kill spiders and insects like caterpillars, flies, and crickets to feed their young.
- Workers pre-chew and condition the food before feeding it to the larvae.
- The larvae, in turn, secrete a sugary substance that is eaten by the adults.
- Once the larvae mature, adult yellow jackets feed on sugar such as the juices of ripening and overripe fruits and honeydew… and your favorite outdoor food.
WHY ARE YELLOW JACKETS IN MY YARD?
- Yellow jacket queens locate new nests each spring. Your yard may have provided a suitable location, such as a former rodent burrow or protected cavity, for a queen to establish her new nest.
- Yellow jackets also enter yards because they are attracted to food.
- Anyone who eats outdoors, particularly in the late summer, knows picnics, grilling on the patio, open beverages and garbage are open invitations to be visited by yellow jackets
ARE YELLOW JACKETS DANGEROUS?
- They certainly can be. When left alone, yellow jackets are not quick to sting. However, yellow jackets are aggressive defenders of their colonies and will also sting while foraging for food if they are threatened.
- Because they have lance-like stingers, yellow jackets can and will sting repeatedly.
- Yellow jacket stings are known to induce severe allergic reactions in some individuals.
WHERE DO YELLOW JACKETS NEST?
- Yellow jacket nests are usually located underground in pre-existing burrows or in protected above ground cavities, such as hollow logs, wall voids, attics, cracks in masonry work, or woodpiles.
- Yellow jackets build their nests with a mixture of plant fibers and saliva similar to paper-maché.
- Nest size varies depending on the species involved and the region.
CAN YELLOW JACKETS CAUSE DAMAGE TO STRUCTURES?
- Typically, yellow jackets do not cause damage to structures.
- On rare occasions, yellow jackets may chew through drywall to enter living spaces from a wall void.
WHAT IS THE LIFE CYCLE OF YELLOW JACKETS?
- Yellow jackets go through a complete metamorphosis: egg, larva, pupa, adult.
- In our area, yellow jacket colonies live only one year. Only the new queen survives the winter.
- Queens find shelter from the winter in buildings, under siding, under loose tree bark, or in old rotten stumps.
- If you see a yellow jacket indoors in the winter months, it is not coming from an active nest.
- The yellow jacket queen emerges from her winter shelter in late winter or early spring.
- By April or May, the queen has become active and selects a location to construct her new nest. (The old nest will not be reused.)
- Yellow jacket queens lay a single egg in each hexagonal nest cell.
- The first offspring are the workers (sterile females), who look for food and care for the larva while the queen produces more eggs.
- By late summer, new queens and males are produced.
- After mating, the new queens fly off in search of a place to spend the winter.
- Temperatures in the mid to upper 20°s F will kill the nest