# What is up with all of the yellow jackets!?!



## wannabapro (Feb 26, 2003)

They say the extreme winters the past two years is why we haven't seen any paper wasps, but damn the yellow jacket wasps are everywhere! I have never seen this many. Would guess they are up by 500%. All over the house, flower beds, following us around in the yard... They should be all queens right now looking for places to build a nest. Wow! Anyone else notice this?


----------



## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

Not a bit. I usually notice LOTS of Yellow Jackets toward the end of Summer - Aug & Sept. However, I get a kick out of all the different varieties of bees that people call Yellow Jackets. Actual Yellow Jackets are very similar to Bald-Faced Hornets (Paper Wasps?), but are a lot smaller. They build paper nests, but also will build nests in logs, or other wood structures. Mean little buggers, with a fierce pack mentality.


----------



## Radar420 (Oct 7, 2004)

No, thankfully!

I got stung twice last year and developed an allergy and now I have to carry a stupid epi-pen :rant:

I have been seeing a lot of oversized bumble bees though.


----------



## sylvan19 (Sep 13, 2009)

Radar420 said:


> No, thankfully!
> 
> I got stung twice last year and developed an allergy and now I have to carry a stupid epi-pen :rant:
> 
> I have been seeing a lot of oversized bumble bees though.


I know the feeling!! Got stung on the lower lip last year and spent two hours in the West Branch Hospital ER room. First time I have ever had a reaction to a sting now I also have the epi-pen.


----------



## man vs. fish (Sep 6, 2010)

LOTS of hornets at my house right now. All over the hummingbird feeders and grill, hopefully i never develop a reaction to the stings. Im 21 now and probably have been stung 30-40 times in my life


----------



## wannabapro (Feb 26, 2003)

You see lots in Aug and September but those are not queens and the nests are at their peak size that time of year so that's why. I am seeing the queens now. They are huge - almost as big as a bald faced hornet. They are not foraging they are looking for places to build a nest. Checking out the house, windows, etc. This tells me there will be a huge population this summer in northern Michigan. Going to have to be alert come August around any old ground squirrel hole, woodpile, etc.


----------



## jasonvanorder (Feb 23, 2009)

Radar420 said:


> No, thankfully!
> 
> I got stung twice last year and developed an allergy and now I have to carry a stupid epi-pen :rant:
> 
> I have been seeing a lot of *oversized bumble bees* though.


Sounds like carpenter bees. We have a few of them around our place. Kind of fun. They act aggressive but we never had a problem with them. Very territorial. If you toss a pebble near one it will chase it.


----------



## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

wannabapro said:


> , following us around in the yard.
> {/QUOTE]
> 
> That sounds like a carpenter bee to me also. They are much larger than a yellowjacket.
> ...


----------



## Josh R (Dec 4, 2010)

I haven't seen any bees of any sort around my place. Haven't even hardly seen any around work, I work a bunch outside as an electrician


----------



## Radar420 (Oct 7, 2004)

man vs. fish said:


> hopefully i never develop a reaction to the stings. Im 21 now and probably have been stung 30-40 times in my life


I was the same way until last year. I was up north last summer and got stung at night while I was in bed right on the nose and had a typical reaction. Then at work a month or two later I was working on a tree and didn't notice the nest at the end of a branch I was working on and had one hit me in the chin. Within a couple minutes my hands started itching and I got hives all over so off to the ER. I'm hoping it was just a reaction to being envenomated twice so close together or it was just a reaction to that specific wasp but can't take that chance now so an epi-pen it is. And they aren't cheap, ~$350 for 2 and they expire in a year.

Haven't seen too many stinging insects up north either - usually the barn is full of nests. Mosquitoes, however, are horrendous :rant:


----------



## Radar420 (Oct 7, 2004)

BTW for anyone who may start to have a reaction from a sting, my dad's bee keeping mentor said to take 2 Benadryl, crush them up, and keep it under your tongue. And if you have coffee drink that as well and get to a hospital.


----------



## eucman (Jan 24, 2009)

Radar420 said:


> I was the same way until last year. I was up north last summer and got stung at night while I was in bed right on the nose and had a typical reaction. Then at work a month or two later I was working on a tree and didn't notice the nest at the end of a branch I was working on and had one hit me in the chin. Within a couple minutes my hands started itching and I got hives all over so off to the ER. I'm hoping it was just a reaction to being envenomated twice so close together or it was just a reaction to that specific wasp but can't take that chance now so an epi-pen it is. And they aren't cheap, ~$350 for 2 and they expire in a year.
> 
> Haven't seen too many stinging insects up north either - usually the barn is full of nests. Mosquitoes, however, are horrendous :rant:


You might be on to something in regard to the different species. I got stung in the hand by a yellow jacket when I accidentally disced up the nest. By the end of day two the swelling had reached all the way up to my elbow. The nurse pract. said no allergies, local reaction.

A month later I was trimming a tree and got nailed on top of the head by a bald faced hornet. That only swelled to about 1/2 ping pong ball size. Different species or different doses?


----------



## Ranger Ray (Mar 2, 2003)

I have just the opposite going on. They are nonexistent here. I am usually plagued by them because of my deck. Not this year. I am seeing a big increase in honey bees. Maybe a correlation between the two? Not sure.


----------



## ridgewalker (Jun 24, 2008)

If a dog lives in your backyard, most likely you will see yellow jackets. The yellow jackets love the protein in the material that the dog leaves behind each day. Unfortunately that is why the wife gets after me to pick up after the dog each day and take the stuff further back in the woods. It is also why they will come around the grill when the good stuff is sizzling and dripping. Those things are a real pesky nuisance.


----------

