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Facts About Yellow Jackets

Yellow jackets are wasps that can be identified by their alternating black and yellow body segments, small size and distinctive side-to-side flying pattern. They are often mistaken for bees, although their bodies lack the hair and rounded abdomen of the bee. These social wasps live in colonies that may contain a thousand insects at a time.

A queen yellow jacket builds her nest in order to lay eggs. After hatching, these eggs are fed by the queen until they are ready to pupate and mature into adult yellow jackets. Adults live through one season and feed on caterpillars, grubs and other insects. They also enjoy nectar and sweet substances such as fruit and tree sap. Yellow jackets are attracted to garbage and other human foods.

Yellow jackets are very protective of their nest and their stings can be painful. Because they are equipped with lance-like stingers without barbs, yellow jackets are capable of stinging repeatedly.

How Big Does a Yellow Jacket Nest Get?

Queen Yellow Jacket

Yellow Jacket Bees

Western Yellow Jacket Wasps

Yellow Jacket Life Cycle

Yellow Jacket Stings

Yellow Jacket Traps