Ants and mosquitoes at a backyard barbecue can be annoying, but Yellow Jackets, well, they hurt. If you’ve ever been stung by one, you understand the pain they can cause. Yellow Jackets aren’t particularly aggressive unless provoked. Then they can become down-right mean, actually chasing their victims for long distances and stinging them multiple times. Don’t put up with this. Call Squash-A-Bug for swift and quick Yellow Jacket control.

Yellow Jackets have famously become unwanted barbecue and picnic guests because of their ability to detect proteins. These carnivorous wasps scavenge during the spring looking for protein, not only at barbecues but also near garbage cans or where ever proteins may be found, to take back to the nest to feed to their larvae. Later, as the season changes and they are no longer protecting their off-spring, they feed off sugary foods only to return again to carnivores when food becomes scarce.

Many people believe Yellow Jackets create nests in high corners of awnings and doorways like many other common wasps, but more often yellow jackets will instead build their nest in or near the ground in rodent burrows, under porches, or in cement cracks. Once the nest is built, the queen will lay her eggs which she feeds until they mature and turn into female worker wasps. Later, as the season ensues, males will appear and mate, fertilizing the females. As the weather turns cold, the males die off, and the females hibernate until the next season when the process begins again.