Yellow Jackets

Recently, we had a customer that had some type of bee or wasp issue on their back porch. We dispatched a technician to inspect the problem. Upon inspecting the back porch, our technicians were quite surprised with what they found.

The customer had left two simple, paper bags of charcoal on their back porch next to the barbeque grill. I know that I have personally left similar bags of charcoal outside, next to my grill. That wouldn’t seem like it would become a problem of this size.

Our knowledgeable technician identified the pests as Yellow Jackets. It is often common to confuse yellow jackets with honey bees and also hornets; however, there are several characteristics that differentiate yellow jackets from the rest.

Yellow jackets are wasps that can be identified by their alternating yellow and black body segments and also their small size. Yellow jacket’s bodies lack the amount of hair, rounded abdomen, and the longer back legs (used for carrying pollen) of the bee.

Unfortunately, the first signs of a yellow jacket nest tend to be an encounter with one or many. They are known to be aggressive protectors of their colonies. Because yellow jackets are armed with lance like stingers with small barbs, they are capable of stinging repetitively. Yellow jacket stings may induce severe allergic reactions in some individuals.

To avoid a face to face first encounter with yellow jackets in your area, keep in mind that yellow jackets tend to build their nests in areas such as: under porches, stairs, tree openings, between building voids, or in this situation in a bag of charcoal. Sometimes yellow jackets will build aerial nests in areas such as: shrubs and/or bushes, or along rooflines, on corners of buildings or homes.

If you see any nests, please contact our professionals at (912) 236-5135.