PEST CONTROL LIBRARY
Pest Library > Pest Library: Bees and Wasps
Bees and Wasps
Bees and wasps are beneficial insects, but their ability to sting and disrupt outdoor activities makes them real pests.
Our pest control professionals have the expertise to perform an inspection of your property, looking for situations that are likely to attract stinging insects to your home. We will then determine how best to prevent future infestations, as well as safely eliminate the current infestation.
However, before getting stinging insect control and nest removal, it is important to distinguish between bees and wasps, since each requires a specific treatment method. In New England, there are several different types, including Bald-faced Hornets, Mud Daubers, Cicada Killers, Carpenter Bees, Paper Wasps, and Yellowjacket Wasps. To learn more about some of these particular pests, click on the profiles available for each type below.
Bald-faced Hornets are about 5/8 to 3/4+ inch in length, and queens are generally a little larger. They are mostly black with a white pattern on the face, along with a few white markings on their body.
What is the Bald-faced Hornet Diet?
Adult bald-faced hornets feed mainly on fruit juices and other sweets. The adults feed the larvae pre-chewed meat or insect parts.
What is the Bald-faced Hornet Reproductive Cycle?
The inseminated bald-faced hornet queen uses chewed-up wood fibers to build a paper nest. Eggs are laid in the cells, and as they hatch, the larvae are fed by the queen. As the colony grows, the workers take over enlarging the nest and feeding the larvae, leaving the queen to produce eggs.
Where do Bald-faced Hornets Live?
The bald-faced hornet queen picks the location of the nest, which can vary between shrubs, trees, houses, sheds, utility posts, or other structures. Nests are normally in exposed areas and they can be quite impressive in size.
Adult carpenter bees are rather large, between a 1/2 – 1 inch in length. They are robust in size and resemble a bumblebee. The difference between the two lies in the coloring of the abdomen – the carpenter bee’s abdomen is shiny and black, while the bumblebee has a hairy abdomen with yellow markings. The male carpenter bee can be distinguished from the female by a bright yellow spot on its head.
What is the Carpenter Bee Diet?
Carpenter bees primarily consume nectar.
What is the Carpenter Bee Reproductive Cycle?
After overwintering, adults emerge in the spring to mate. The females bore holes into wood to create tunnels to lay their eggs and raise their young. Each year, they will either create new tunnels or expand on an old one. After the tunnels are prepared, the female lays an egg on a mass of pollen mixed with nectar. She will produce 6 – 8 eggs. The development from egg to adult takes about 36 days.
Where do Carpenter Bees Live?
Carpenter bees do not live in colonies as they are not social insects. Females will nest in a wide variety of wood, but they prefer wood that is weathered and unpainted. The male is normally aggressive and will buzz around humans, but since the male has no stinger, it’s all for show. The female has a stinger but rarely uses it.
**Cicada Killers are not currently covered under our traditional Homecare Service. We have custom plans on how to address these pests. Please call for more information regarding this service.
Cicada killers are very large and reach sizes of up to 1 – 9/16 inches or 40mm in length. They have a black abdomen with pale yellow markings on the last three abdominal segments.
What is the Cicada Killer’s Diet?
Cicada killers usually feed on beetle grubs in the ground. When they find a meal, they will sting to paralyze it, then deposit an egg on it. When ready, the hatched young will feed on the paralyzed beetle grub.
What is the Cicada Killer’s Reproductive Cycle?
Cicada killers are solitary wasps. The females build their nests (to which the paralyzed prey is brought) in dry sand where vegetation is sparse.
Where do Cicada Killers live?
Cicada killers appear in the early morning and fly over lawns most of the day, leaving later in the evening. They generally do not attack people.
Adult mud daubers can be as large as 1/2 inch to over 1 inch in length. Mud daubers are long and slender in shape and can be a variety of colors, including an iridescent blue.
What is the Mud Dauber Diet?
Mud daubers feed on spiders.
Where do Mud Daubers Live?
Mud daubers are solitary, and their mud tubes act as their nests. Mud daubers select a sheltered site to build their mud tubes. You will most likely see them under eaves, porch ceilings, garages, or sheds left open. Nests typically exhibit round holes as the wasps emerge, usually signifying that the nest is old and inactive.
Adult paper wasps are about 5/8 – 3/4 inch long. They are usually brownish with yellow markings, though some have been known to have reddish markings.
What is the Paper Wasp Diet?
Paper wasps feed on sweet nectar and other soft-bodied insects.
What is the Paper Wasp Reproductive Cycle?
Paper wasps are social, and their life revolved around the paper nest that is characteristic of the insects in this group.
Where do Paper Wasps Live?
Paper wasps will hang their comb nests from branches, twigs, and shrubs. These wasps will sting if these nests are approached or tampered with. You can find nests hung from windows, door frames, eaves, attic rafters, decks, or railings.
Wasps come in a variety of shapes and colors, but they can be distinguished from bees by their smooth, rather than hairy bodies. Their body ranges from a 1/2 – 3/4 inch long.
What is the Wasp Diet?
A wasp’s diet consists primarily of protein, such as spiders and soft-bodied insects.
What is the Wasp Reproductive Cycle?
Social wasps begin a nest with one queen laying all the eggs for the colony. When the queen dies, a worker can take over the egg-laying function until the colony produces a new queen.
Where do Wasps Live?
Most wasps exhibit predatory and scavenging behavior. Depending on the species, some wasps are solitary while others live in colonies that may number thousands of individuals. Social species will often create wasp nests in the walls of houses, sheds, or other wooded areas.
Why are Wasps a Pest?
Because wasps are often aggressive and exhibit territorial behavior, a nest that is located in, on, or near your home can become very problematic, especially if family members have a known allergy to stings.
If you suspect you have wasps invading your home or yard and are looking for species identification and removal, call or contact Modern Pest today!
Yellowjackets are small wasps with alternating yellow and black bands on the abdomen. Workers are about ½ inch long, and queens are about ¾ inches long. They are usually more aggressive than other wasps and will defend their colony vigorously.
What is the Yellowjacket’s Diet?
Adult yellowjackets eat a diet high in sugars and carbohydrates. They prefer fruit, nectar, and tree sap. The adults also provide protein to the growing larvae by feeding them insects, meat, and fish that they have chewed and conditioned. The larvae secrete a sugar material that the adults consume. This exchange is a form of trophallaxis. The reason that they are commonly found flying around garbage cans and picnic tables in the late summer is because natural food sources have become scarce, and they’ve turned to scavenging. They require extra sugar to sustain the upcoming queens.
What is the Yellowjacket Reproductive Cycle?
In late spring and early summer, yellowjacket queens emerge from overwintering and select a nest site. They build a small paper nest and lay their eggs. Once they hatch, the queen feeds the larvae for 18-20 days. After they pupate, they emerge as workers. Yellowjacket workers are small, infertile females that assume the duties of taking care of the larvae. By the middle of summer, adult workers emerge and expand the nest. They forage for food, take care of the queen, and defend the colony. The queen remains inside the nest laying eggs until her death in the fall. The expanding colony can reach up to 5,000 workers by late summer.
New reproductives and queens are produced and remain in the nest, fed by workers. Eventually, the reproductives leave the colony to mate. Afterward, the males quickly die, and the fertilized queens find a safe place to overwinter. The original parent colony workers and the founding queen leave the nest to die, and the abandoned nest decomposes.
Where do Yellowjackets Live?
Yellowjackets are social wasps and live in colonies that contain workers, queens, and male drones. The colonies only last a year; however, the fertilized queen will overwinter in protected areas like logs, stumps, leaf litter, and manmade structures. Yellowjackets build their nests underground and often in rodent burrows. By the end of the summer, a colony can contain thousands of wasps that will aggressively defend their nest.
Why are Yellowjackets a Pest?
Yellowjacket wasps are the biggest concern to humans from August to October. By then, a colony can contain thousands of wasps that will aggressively defend their nest from intruders. Their large populations also scavenge for human food at barbecues, campsites, fairs, and other outdoor activities this time of year. Yellowjackets are easily provoked and can sting multiple times. They will even chase the target for large distances. Yellowjackets are responsible for about half of all human insect stings. Even the vibration from a lawnmower in a yard can incite them to attack.