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Yellow jackets become more aggressive in the Autumn as temperatures drop and food sources dwindle.
You may notice them flying around trash, your BBQ picnic, or your hummingbird feeders looking for
something to eat. Late summer and early Autumn are when yellow jacket nests reach their peak
population size—they can have around 1,000 or more workers!
It is also when they leave the nest to find a mate, which means you’ll see more of them around. Fall and
early spring are good times to set up or make wasp traps around the yard. Not only will it help keep
pesky wasps away from your outdoor gatherings, but it will also help diminish the size of the population
next year.
Yellow Jacket Life Cycle
When winter comes around, male yellow jackets die off as they’re no longer needed to sustain the
yellow jacket population. Fertilized females find a place to hibernate for the winter. Next spring, they
will turn into the queens of new yellow jacket nests.
When they’re mating is the time to capture as many as possible. It can help reduce next spring’s
population. Yellow jackets are beneficial to the environment (they eat insects we don’t like!), but when
there are too many of them, it can be detrimental to the health and safety of our loved ones! Yellow
jackets, unlike bees, can sting multiple times. If you’re allergic to stinging insects like wasps and bees,
you should be especially careful during Autumn when they become aggressive. Sometimes they’ll even
sting you without provocation!
Capture Yellow Jackets
Yellow jackets are attracted to sweet things and proteins. Even though they are meat eaters, you may
find them trying to get into your soda pop, beer, and other foods. You can make a DIY wasp trap,
purchase one at your local store, or call a professional like Atlus Pest Solutions for help.
A quick and easy wasp trap is to cut a used plastic bottle in half. Flip the top of the bottle where you
would drink from, so it creates a funnel into the lower portion of the bottle. This funneling trick makes it
so that wasps can’t escape the trap! You’ll want to fill your trap with some water, sugar, and maybe
even a banana peel if available. Usually, sugar water works just fine!
Leave a few of these traps around the yard or where you noticed the most yellow jacket activity. If you
happen to stumble upon a yellow jacket nest, it’s best to leave that to professional removal.
Professionals like Atlus Pest Solutions have the protective gear and supplies needed to remove yellow
jacket nests.
If you keep finding yellow jackets in your home and can’t find a way that they might be entering, it may
be that you have a nest in your attic or even the space between walls. Call your Huntsville pest control professional for removal as
soon as possible to ensure your family stays safe!
Call Atlus Pest Solutions
Atlus Pest Solutions uses the safest pest products in Huntsville and Madison Alabama and offers unparalleled service with a money-back
guarantee. Call today for a free estimate!
