I've had yellow jacket nests before and I just leave them alone. Here's what the USDA says about them:
Yellow Jacket: Yellow jacket wasps (Vespula) are often mistaken for bees. Indeed, some folks call them “meat bees”, but they are in fact social wasps related to hornets and only distantly related to bees. Yellow jackets may on occasion visit flowers (or your water-melon slice) for sugar, but unlike bees, yellow jackets are carnivorous, eating insects, carrion and picnic fare. Hence, they have no brushes or pollen baskets for carrying pollen. They are relatively hairless. Their nests are made of paper, not wax, typically built in shallow underground cavities. In only a few instances are they thought to be pollinators. Like honeybees and bumble bees, yellow jackets have a potent sting.
Seems odd to have such an active nest appear when the weather has turned coldish, but maybe it was out there hiding from me all summer in my not-well-attended-to back garden.
4 comments:
I like honeybees and bumble bees but HATE hornets/wasps/yellow jackets. They are aggressive and scary.
Bees: Pollinators, honey makers, mostly docile.
Yellow jackets: simply assholes.
I want to click "like" on Kathy's comment.
Recently discovered an active nest ... right where Jackson runs to the fence to bark at passers-by. He got stung several times before I figured out what was going on. Lucy has been avoiding that area, but Jackson just believes that bad things simply happen sometimes. No reason to alter your behavior.
Hi Kitt, so nice to see you pop up unexpectedly. And to get a report on Jackson and Lucy. Hope your bees are doing well and that your yellowjackets are now dead. It's still hard for me to accept that they are pure evil but I really couldn't find any evidence, on the Internet, that they are beneficial. They do eat flies so that's something.
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