Wasps are not furry, and have a very narrow connection between their thorax and abdomen. Often, their legs dangle when they fly. Unlike most bees, wasps can sting more than once. Wasps, hornet, and yellow jackets do not make honey and do not re-use their nests. Colonies survive for only one year. Fertile females spend the winter in crevices, but most wasps die in the winter. The females start new colonies in the spring. They never reuse an old nest, but may build another one on top of an old one when the nest is not outside. A wasp can sting over and over. After the colonies die in the winter, the old nests can safely be removed.

Wasps eat insects and are attracted to sweet smells like perfumes and soda. They can be very annoying and can inflict a painful sting. Wasp nests can grow very large in a short amount of time, especially in the late summer. Some wasps are solitary, and some are communal, building large nests that can be found in attics and voids in the house, as well as on the outside of houses, especially behind shutters and at building angles.

Wasps inside a structure can be very annoying and a wasp nest inside a structure will continue to produce new wasps so should be removed.

There are different kinds of wasps in our area. Common pest wasps are paper wasps, mud dauber wasps, bald-faced hornets, and yellow jackets.

Paper Wasps

Paper wasps (also called umbrella wasps) are 1/2 to 1 inches long and are more slender than yellow jackets. They are mostly yellow with small areas of black. They build paper nests shaped like an upside-down umbrella with a single layer of exposed cells often under roof overhangs. They have small colonies of up to 200 workers. They rarely sting.

Mud Dauber Wasps

Mud dauber wasps are 1 to 1 1/8 inches long, with a long thin waist. They are usually black with some yellow patches. Each individual wasp builds its own nest out of mud or clay. They do not seem to defend the nest and almost never sting people. They are predators of spiders which they paralyze and feed to their young.

Bald-Faced Hornets

Bald-faced hornets are 5/8 to 3/4 inches long and are black and white in color instead of yellow and black like most wasps. They build cone-shaped, paper nests in shrubs, trees, and sometimes on buildings. The nests can be up to 24 inches in diameter. These hornets are very aggressive when their nest is disturbed but seldom bother people at other times.

Yellow Jackets

Yellow jackets are 1/2 to 5/8 inches long, and black and yellow in color. They are the original paper makers of the world. Their nests are usually cone-shaped and can be found in walls, or hanging from trees or buildings, and may even be found underground. In the summer there may be as many as 4,000 workers in a single nest. Yellow jackets become more aggressive late in the summer when the new queens for the next season are being produced.

Summary | Paper Wasps | Mud Dauber Wasps | Bald-Faced Hornets | Yellow Jackets | Top of Page | Pest Guide