Here’s an amazing fact: there are more than 100,000 species of wasps. In general, wasps have little hair, bright colors and a very narrow waist. 

Most wasp species feature black and yellow color patterns. Because of this, people sometimes confuse them with bees. However, there are some key differences that can help you determine which insect you’re dealing with. 

Wasps have very little hair, and their legs tend to hang down during flight. They are much more aggressive than bees and far more likely to sting. 

Additionally, bees are well known as useful pollinators. Not so with wasps. Very few of them aid in pollination.

Paper wasps usually build nests on buildings in locations that are high enough that they don’t pose a significant threat. 

In contrast, yellow jackets, prefer to build in secluded spaces. They’re known to make their way into buildings through openings under shingles or cracks between siding. It’s not uncommon for yellow jackets to construct nest inside walls. These nests will be gone by winter.

Bees are also known to establish colonies inside wall cavities. With most species, only the queen survives the winter. She leaves the nest to wait out the cold in a sheltered place. Honeybees are an exception. They overwinter in their colony. Imagine the impact on your life if a group of honeybees built a hive inside your home’s wall!

You may encounter a bee or wasp nest on the ground. Act slowly and deliberately if a ground nest threatens you or your family:

First, you should observe insect behavior. Different species respond to stimulus in a variety of ways. Solitary species may excavate tunnels for several days, but usually leave the area. These insects can sting, but are usually non-aggressive. Social species—especially yellow jackets—aggressively defend their nests.

If a nest absolutely must be removed, we strongly recommend getting help. You may be attacked by the colony’s guard bees. 

Wasp and hornet stings are a serious threat to public health. Reactions to their stings account for about 225,000 emergency room visits…and up to 100 deaths…per year in the U.S. 

Paper wasps, hornets and yellow jackets are more dangerous and less predictable than honeybees. Bees are seldom aggressive when they’re foraging for food. But if the nest is threatened, the entire colony may launch a coordinated assault on the perceived threat. The attack is facilitated by the release of alarm pheromones, which attract other colony defenders to the intruder.

You can try to solve the problem yourself, but may find over-the-counter spray can’t penetrate far enough into the nest to do much good. Introducing an inadequate mount of spray into the colony only irritates bees, wasps, or yellow jackets, making them more aggressive. 

Rather than risk being attacked by angry flying insects, contact us at KC Pest Control. 

We work with these problems every day and know how to safely handle them.