Bees, Wasps and Hornets in New Jersey
Watch out! These pest sting!
As the weather gets warmer in New Jersey, people spend more time outdoors, it’s also the time of the year when stinging pests such as bees, wasps and hornets are looking for ford and increasing their colony size. Some of the most important stinging insects include Bald-faced hornets, European hornets, paper wasps and yellow jackets. You can help avoid attracting stinging insects and reduce your risk of being stung by; closing up garbage in plastic bags, not leaving partial cans of soda around outside, being careful around flowers and by not wearing strong floral perfumes or colognes outdoors;
Stinging Pest Types
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Baldfaced hornets are 5/8” to ¾” long wasps are black with light yellow to white markings |
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European hornets are ¾” to “ long wasps and are brown with yellow abdominal stripes and a pale face. Bald-faced and European hornets build large usually grayish or brownish-colored “paper carton” aerial nest, often as large as a basketball. Bald-faced hornets’ nest usually hang in an exposed location such as from a tree, while the European hornet is often located in some protected area, like a wall void, an attic or within the branches of a bush, workers of both species protect their nest and give a painful sting, sometime repeated stings, if they or their nest are disturbed, control of hornets and removal of their nest should be left to a properly trained and equipped NJ Pest Control professional. |
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Paper wasps are 5/8” to 34” long with narrow bodies, usually brownish with yellow marking. some have red markings. They build a grayish colored, single layer, paper-like comb with cells opening downward, and attached by a single ling pedicel to a twig tree branch or horizontal surface such as a window frame. The workers are quite protective of their nest and will give painful stings if disturbed. |
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The honeybee, bumblebee and carpenter bee belong to the same family. The bumblebee is a docile social insect living in a hive that may contain a population up to 80,000 bees. The honeybee and bumble are beneficial insects that produce honey and wax and are the pollinators of many crops and plants. Often the honeybee and bumblebee build nests in the walls of homes or businesses. It is then when these useful insects become pests. Honeybees and bumblebees can sting and often cause allergic reactions in animals and humans. Although most bees will not attack humans or animals unless disturbed, the proximity of a nest to living or working quarters increases the likelihood of a sting. Honeybees are among the most beneficial insects, however, they can be pest when they end up in our living space after they build hives in walls or in nearby bushes, the problem is honeybees can sting and some people react violently. The much published Africanized honeybees sometime called: killer bees,” are now well established in warm areas of the U.S. and are gradually moving farther north each year. |
| Carpenter Bees are closely related to the bumblebee, a solitary bee which builds it’s nest in wood such as trees, fence posts, rafters, siding, gutters, and beams of houses. Although the carpenter bee has the ability to sting, it rarely does. The potential for harm for this insect is in the structural damage cased by nesting and chewing or drilling of wood. | |
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Cicada killer wasp are large wasps which almost never sting people, They are about 1” to 1 5/8” long dark brown with some yellow cross stripes on their abdomen and have orange-brown wings. They get their name because females specifically catch sting to paralyze and bury individual cicadas in ¾” diameter tunnels that they have previously dug in sandy soil, After they drag a paralyzed cicada deep enough into a tunnel, they lay a single egg on it and then fill in the tunnel. Their lava will feed on that cicada until it is mature, it will then dig its way out and emerge as a new adult wasp. People often became concerned because there will usually be about six or more of these wasps flying low to the ground around and above any small patch of open sandy soil which they need for digging more brood tunnels, there is usually no need to control these wasps, but eliminating open patches of sandy soil; covering them entirely with heavy screen covering such areas over with sod or as a last resort possibly drenching that soil with a properly –labeled residual insecticide will reduce or eliminate a local population of these wasps. Such a treatment can often stop their activity or keep others away from that spot at least temporarily. the most important thing is to correctly ID these and make sure they are not the European hornets described above, which can pose a serious stinging threat. |
| Yellow jackets, like the honey and bumblebee, are mainly beneficial because they eat other insects considered pests. Plant fibers are chewed and mixed with saliva to produce the nesting material, which has a paper-like consistency. In colder areas, including New Jersey, the nest is abandoned over the winter. A new site is selected in the spring and, over the course of the spring and summer, the nest population increases so that a colony may consist of 300 to 100,000 cells. Yellow jackets usually nest in the ground, creating underground cavities. They can also be found in attics, shrubbery or the eaves of houses. Yellow jackets will become aggressive and sting repeatedly when defending the nest. Yellow jackets are 3/8” to 5/8” long depending on the species with their respective queens being about 25 percent linger. Most are black with yellow stripes, but some have red markings and some are black with white markings. These are day-active predators insects. Like the hornets, they build paper-like nest containing several layers of cells. a mature colony may have 2,000-6000 cells and 1,000-4,000 workers, nest are sometimes built in open aerial spots or within bushes, but most species build their nest in a cavity dug out below ground. Abandoned rodent burrows are common nesting sites, the entrances are guarded as they are vet protective of their nest. They can quickly become aggressive if their nest is disturber. Workers can repeatedly inflict painful stings. |
What You Should Do
Midsummer is the time of year when the bee population reaches its height in New Jersey. Because of the potential of stinging and undiscovered allergic reactions, a Professional New Jersey Pest Control Expert should be called. Residents of homes and businesses often fog the premises creating a situation where the bees depart only to have the nest re-filled by ‘robber’ bees. Interiors should not be fogged if honeybees are found living there, because other bees may reoccupy the hive, thus perpetuating the problem, instead a pest management company should be called to correct the problem with maximum care and minimal risk to the occupants.
Taking Control
A professional should only handle control of yellowjackets. Proper destruction of the nest is a necessary component of wasp control. Because of the aggressive nature of the yellowjacket, only properly trained and equipped New Jersey Pest Control Professionals should be called.
If you should find any of these stinging insects in or near your home, contact a reliable professional, pest control services for residential, commercial, and industrial clients such as, Terminator Termite & Pest Management who has been providing complete Pest control services since 1988. 'Quality First' is the motto and hallmark of the trained professionals at Terminator.