It is common to find both bees and yellow jacket wasps visiting any Bensalem area home or business. And as bees and yellow jackets look quite similar, it's easy to confuse the two.
Yellow jackets are much more aggressive than bees. While a honeybee stings just once and only when it feels threatened, yellow jackets often stink several times before they fly away. They can feel threatened by things as simple as someone standing too close to their nest.
YELLOW JACKET VS. BEE APPEARANCE
As both types of bugs have yellow and black stripes, it's easy to mistake one for the other. While the black stripes on bees are as dark as the stripes on yellow jackets, bees have stripes in a soft and muted shade of yellow. It appears amber or brown with a tinge of yellow. Yellow jackets get their name from the bright yellow color of their stripes. If you get close enough, you may even see similar stripes on their legs.
Bees are smaller and have wider wings, too. Yellow jackets are long and thin vs. bees, which are round and chubby. Most types of bees are less than one inch long, including honey bees. Yellow jackets usually have longer bodies. The queens that run the nests are the biggest and workers are roughly half a queen's size. Most bees in the same nest are around the same size.
Another difference in their appearance is how the insects feel. You don't need to touch bees to notice the fuzzy surface they have over their bodies. The fuzziness helps them collect more pollen when they land on flowers. Bees then transport the pollen back to the hive. Yellow jackets have smooth bodies without any fuzz.
YELLOW JACKETS ARE MORE AGGRESSIVE THAN BEES
If you have flying insects outside that sting and have yellow and black stripes, you likely have yellow jackets and not bees. Bees rarely sting unless they feel threatened by something nearby. You might bump against a hive when mowing your lawn or if you try to trim/cut down flowers they use for pollen.
When a honeybee stings, it can only sting once. The bee inserts its stinger into your skin. When it tries to fly away, a portion of the bee's nerves, muscles, and digestive tract slips out of its body. If you pull the stinger out yourself, you may see some of these parts come out.
Yellow jackets are more aggressive in terms of why and how they sting. While bees have a barbed stinger that sticks in the skin, yellow jackets do not. A bee can only sting once before the barb becomes stuck, which usually causes it to die. A yellow jacket can sting you multiple times and survive to sting another day.
Caring for a sting requires removing any of the stinger left behind. We found that cleaning the wound and holding an ice pack against it helps with both pain and swelling. As they live in the ground, they see more threats than bees do. They see any small motion as a threat and will attack.
Yellow jackets become even more aggressive in the fall due to temperature changes. As the weather grows colder, the hive suffers from a lack of food. The queen lays more eggs in the summer, creating young yellow jackets that grow to adulthood by the fall. They remain aggressive as they search for food until they die during the late fall and early winter.
YELLOW JACKETS EAT HONEYBEES
Don't assume yellow jackets are just aggressive toward humans. They act the same way around honeybees and actually eat them. Many people around Bensalem who keep hives go to great lengths to protect their bees. Yellow jackets view honeybees as their competition. They fight for the same space in your yard and compete over the available food sources.
Often called raiders due to how they act, yellow jackets can cause a lot of damage to a beehive. When food is scarce, yellow jackets send swarms to the hives to raid the food inside. They can take pollen and nectar they carry back to their nests as well as larvae. If yellow jackets see a lot of bees, they will attack, kill, and eat them to cut down on their competition. Attacks are also common during droughts and other periods when food is rare.
YELLOW JACKETS DO NOT PRODUCE HONEY
Honeybees produce the same honey you keep in your kitchen cabinets. Most of the flowers in your yard produce nectar, which is a sugar substance that attracts bees. Bees draw in nectar through their mouths before it moves into their stomachs, which remove any bacteria. The bee then carries the substance back to the hive and regurgitates it. A single hive can collect enough nectar within three weeks to feed the entire ecosystem through the winter. Bees can build nests inside walls and in areas of your garage as well as outside.
Yellow jackets do not produce honey, but they do have some other benefits. They are natural predators known for attacking other insects. Yellow jackets collect nectar from beehives, which causes pollen to stick to their bodies. Every time they land on a flower or plant, they help pollinate it. Another benefit is they feed off dead and dying insects they come across, recycling the bodies back into the environment.
NEST BUILDING DIFFERENCES AMONG BEES AND YELLOW JACKETS
One of the biggest differences between bees and yellow jackets is their nests. Yellow jackets look for paper materials and fibers, which they break down to form a nest. They can pick up old newspapers, postcards, and junk mail from your garbage and any other papers they see in your yard.
The most common place to find yellow jacket nests is under the ground. They often create burrows below ground they reinforce with paper. Yellow jackets often look for spots that have some natural protection, such as old boards or rocks stacked up in your yard. You may see some dirt near the nests, too.
Yellow jackets also build nests in other safe spaces, including in your gutters or walls. The queen breaks down the paper into a pulp mixture the other insects use to create the nest. It's rare for yellow jackets to stick around longer than one season. All of the worker yellow jackets die in the fall and winter. The queen then sets out to establish a new nest.
Bees form hives rather than nests. Worker bees release some natural wax as they work, which they use to build the nest. Once the queen lays her eggs, the worker bees collect nectar they add to the wax to feed the new bees. You'll usually see a large presence of bees when they build a hive.
Beehives aren't always outside though. They can also build a hive inside. You may even see instances of people who saw honey seeping through their ways or coming out of their outlets. Dark spots are a big sign of a bee infestation inside.
HOW TO KEEP BEES AND WASPS AWAY
Looking for ways to keep bees and wasps away will often lead you down a rabbit hole of home remedies. While you can use oils and other products, the best way to get rid of flying insects is a professional treatment. At Newton Termite & Pest Control, we understand how you feel about your infestation. You worry about a yellow jacket attack that knocks you off of your feet or a beehive inside your living room walls that causes some serious electrical damage.
Professional products are the best solution. Not only will the right product kill bees and wasps, but it will also help to ensure that they do not return next season or next year. Give us a call to see how you can exterminate them for good.
HOW TO GET RID OF MOSQUITOES IN YOUR CAR
The C02 your car produces attracts mosquitoes. They can thrive off any soda or other drinks you leave behind and attack when you least inspect it. Mosquitoes can also climb on your clothing and follow you inside in the same way fleas and other insects do. Body heat and strong odors, such as car deodorizers and perfumes may also attract mosquitoes.
Cleaning and using repellents are the best way to get rid of mosquitoes in your car. Try to clean your vehicle at least once a week, getting rid of any foods or drinks that attract them. Apply chemical repellents every few days to both the interior and exterior of your car. Keeping the windows closed may help, too. Leaving the windows open gives mosquitoes easy access to your car. If your vehicle has AC, don't be afraid to run it. Mosquitoes prefer hot and warm climates. When the cabin or interior is cool, they are less attracted to your car.
OUR YELLOW JACKET EXTERMINATORS ARE AVAILABLE
Our exterminators are available to help homes and businesses located throughout the Bensalem area deal with their bee, wasp, or hornet problem.
Here at Newtown Termite & Pest Control, we use a multi-faceted approach for treating hornets and wasps that have become problematic for area homes and businesses. Our methodology involves making use of the most appropriate detection, prevention, and treatment methods available.
Don't settle for home remedies that don't work or barely work when you can get the best professional treatment as soon as today or tomorrow.
