Wasp, Hornet, Yellow Jacket, and Stinging Insect Control

A Marietta hornet control job yielded this unusual picture showing the underside of a hornets' nest.

Rid-A-Critter provides professional hornet control, yellow jacket control, wasp control, carpenter bee control, and honeybee control in Atlanta, Athens, Macon, Columbus, Roswell, and throughout North Central Georgia. We have the know-how and equipment to safely remove stinging insects from your property, no matter where they are nesting. Please call us for prompt, professional control of any stinging insect problem.

When most people think about stinging insects, the first species that comes to mind are honeybees or carpenter bees. But actually, most of the stinging insects in Atlanta and North-Central Georgia are wasps, not bees.

Both wasps and bees belong to the taxaxonomical order hymenoptera, but they are not the the same insescts. Unlike bees, wasps do not make honey, and most wasps are insignificant as pollinators.

In addition, wasps vary greatly in their social structure, ranging from none at all (as in the case of solitary wasps) to highly advanced (as in the case of hornets and some other social wasp species).

Wasps do have their place in the natural ecosystem, however. Some, in fact, are considered beneficial, like the cicada killer wasp, the aphid wasp, and several other parasitic wasps that help control destructive insect populations. But no wasp specie is as vital and beneficial as are the bees.

Wasps of Georgia

It seems like the hotter the Georgia sun gets, the more calls we receive for wasp control, hornet control, and yellow jacket control.

There are many species of wasps who vary in their size, coloration, biology, and habits. They also vary in their aggressiveness. Some wasps are highly aggressive. Hornets, for example, often attack and sting in great swarms, for no apparent reason other than that a person walked too close to their nest. Yellow jackets also can be very aggressive. But some other wasps, like many of the "paper wasps," are relatively mellow and usually won't sting unless they are provoked.

The wasps most commonly encountered in Georgia are hornets, yellow jackets, and various species of paper wasps. We provide control of all of these wasps.

Hornets

Hornets are the most fiercely aggressive wasps found in Georgia. Hornets are strong, ever-vigilant, aggressive, and unpredictable. Walking within three feet of a hornets' nest almost guarantees that you will be stung; but some people have been attacked simply for walking past hornets' nests at distances of ten feet or more. Hornets are very unpredictable insects.

In fact, when people say they got stung by a hornet just for looking at it funny, they're probably right. Hornets are fiercely protective of their nests and will attack in great numbers if they feel even the slightest bit threatened.

Hornet stings are very painful and can cause serious allergic reactions. Even people who are not particularly allergic to insect stings have had to be hospitalized after being being attacked by a hornet colony, whose members may number several hundred individuals. Hornets' nests in close proximity to areas where humans live, work, or play must be removed, and obviously hornet extermination is a job for professionals.

Most hornets' nests are built of paper and suspended from from trees or structures. Other hornets' nests are built in the ground or in hollow trees or other voids. Typically, two or three hornets continually circle around the nest opening, constantly on watch for potential threats. These hornets are known as "sentries," and if they sense danger, they will quickly alert the rest of the troops.

When that happens, watch out.

Hornets usually attack in great swarms that may number in the hundreds or thousands of individuals, and they can fly faster than you can run. Because of this, hornet control should only be attempted by professionals.

Yellow Jackets

There are a number of wasp species commonly called yellow jackets. These wasps vary in their appearance, aggressiveness, and habits. As a group, however, yellow jackets are considered very aggressive, although not quite so aggressive as hornets. They can deliver a painful sting and will attack in large groups if their nests are threatened.

Yellow jackets are commonly seen buzzing around trash pails, dumpsters, and discarded beverage containers where they are foraging for food; as well as around their nests, which may be located a considerable distance away.

Most yellow jacket wasps build nests in voids in hollow trees, attics, wall and ceiling voids, soffits, rock walls, abandoned cars, crawl spaces, and other protected areas. They also may build nests in the ground, usually in abandoned animal burrows.

In urban areas of Georgia like Atlanta, Athens, Macon, Columbus, and Roswell, yellow jacket control is often needed around picnic areas, outdoor cafes, golf courses, and other recreational areas. In more rural parts of Georgia, we get a lot of calls for yellow jacket control at farms, campgrounds, children's summer camps, and residences. We have a variety of control methods that can be used to reduce yellow jacket populations in all of these areas.

Paper Wasps

As with yellow jackets, there are many species of wasps known as "paper wasps." They get their name from their practice of building nests made of paper that they manufacture from chewed wood and bodily secretions.

Some paper wasp species prefer to build their nests in hollow voids in attics, roof soffits, wall voids, hollow fence posts, and similar areas. Other paper wasp species prefer building exposed nests, usually under overhangs, on window and door frames, or on the undersides of porch or gazebo roofs.

Most paper wasps are solitary, but multiple solitary paper wasps often build nests in the same areas. But most paper wasps are not considered "social" insects because there is no apparent division of labor nor cooperation between nests.

Most species of paper wasps are not very aggressive. They will attack and sting if threatened or provoked, but they are not as territorial as yellow jackets or hornets and are less likely to go out their way to sting someone who isn't bothering them. Paper wasp control varies in difficulty depending on the size and location of the nest and the aggressiveness of the particular specie of wasp.

Here are a few pictures of wasp and hornet control jobs we've done in Atlanta and throughout our Georgia service area.