Getting rid of yellow jackets doesn’t have to be a frustrating or unnerving experience. Even though these pests are aggressive, intelligent, and pack a punch with their stinger, you can outsmart them and get rid of them in a couple of minutes and by following a few simple steps. It’s time to reclaim your backyard barbecue.
To get rid of yellow jackets, first, locate their nests. Yellow jackets like to build nests in the eaves of homes, garages, or sometimes inside walls. Once you find the nest, spray with a high-quality insecticide such as Cy-Kick or Wasp Freeze. Wait a few minutes for the chemicals to subdue the yellow jackets and then knock down the nest and destroy it. Then, spray the area where the nest was hanging to destroy any yellow jackets returning to their home.
It’s rare for yellow jackets to go away on their own. If you don’t do anything, yellow jackets can cause damage to your home and make your patio, porch, or backyard unbearable to enjoy.
You might also be interested in reading this related article “How To Get Rid Of Carpenter Bees“.
How To Know If You Have Yellow Jackets
First things first. Before we go any further into this blog, I want to make sure we’re all on the same page. Even though the term bees and yellow jackets are often used interchangeably they are most certainly not the same thing.
Bees, such as honey bees and bumblebees are pollinators and are for the most part not interested in what you’re up to. They’re also great for our eco-system.
Yellow jackets, on the other hand, are mean and they have no problem using that stinger if you get in the way of what they want, like that burger you grilled last weekend. They are aggressive!
Yellow jackets are in the wasp family. There are several species of yellow jackets. The most common in the United States include the western yellow jacket, eastern yellow jacket, the ground-nesting German yellow jacket.
You’ll most likely find western and eastern yellow jackets building their nests in trees, under the eaves of a home or a garage. Ground nesting German yellow jackets are most likely to build a nest in a hole under your lawn or in the walls of your home.
Identifying features of a yellow jacket include:
- Black and yellow stripes
- Bald Face Hornets, who are also in the wasp family, have white and black markings
- Medium size body
- Short legs
- Workers have 1/2″ body, while the queen is much bigger at about 3/4″ in length.
- Thin waist
- Nests can be in the ground, walls, or hanging from eaves, trees, or bushes
How To Get Rid Of Yellow Jackets!
Okay, now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s get to the reason why you’re reading this article. Before you begin spraying nests with insecticide, you need to locate the nest.
To do this, stand back and watch the pests flying around. Yellow jackets typically take the same path back and forth to their nest. Think of it like a mini-airport. Once you find where they are at, you can get to work.
Based on my experience, it’s best to spray the nest FIRST with one of the recommended insecticides. Then, wait a few minutes and knock down the nest. The chemicals act like a chill-pill and the yellow jackets are less likely to come after you.
Below is a chart that I put together to explain the pros and cons of the different insecticide options and methods you can use. Each of these are effective, but this chart will help you decide which method you might want to use yourself.
Insecticide Chart
| Best Insecticide For Yellow jackets | How To Use | Pros | Cons |
| Wasp Freeze | This insecticide comes in an aerosol can and will reach up to 15 feet. The spray must come in direct contact with the nest. If possible, spray the queen directly. She is often hanging out on the backside of the nest. | Active ingredients calms the nest and gives you time to knock down without risk of a sting. Inexpensive. | Short acting. It’s only effective if you knock the nest down and destroy it. |
| Cy-Kick | Mix one ounce of CY-Kick with with one gallon of water. Using a special backpack, with a spray lever, spray directly onto the nest. Can also spray around the perimieter of your home. | This insecticide kills yellow jackets instantly and has a residual effect. Yellow jackets who land on the chemical, will take back to nest, where eventually the entire nest will die. | Need additional supplies, such as a Solo backpack, to effectively spray. |
| Baiting | Mix cat food and Onslaught, and place inside a pill bottle with holes in the top. Hang from several trees around your home, where you’re pets can’t reach them. | This is a good technique if you can’t locate the nests. Yellowjackets will take the tainted meat back to nest, and eventually all the yellow jackets and nest will be destroyed. | Slowly kills a nest. If you’re looking for a quick fix, I suggest the other recommended products. |
| Delta Dust | This is a great product to use if yellow jackets are inside your home. Using a hand duster, apply the insecticide, inside wall cavities. | Great and effective for hard to reach areas inside your home. Lasts up to eight months. | After you apply the dust, you’ll still need to remove the nest, which can often involve tearing out drywall. |
As always, I recommend you also follow the manufactures label. Instructions and product warning can change without notice, so take a glance before you start getting rid of yellow jackets.
I’ve Sprayed For Yellow Jackets, Now What?
Now, that you’ve located and sprayed the nests. It’s time to wait. Not too long, though, just a couple minutes. After about five minutes, take a long pole and knock it down.
Once the nest is on the ground, you can give it a good stomp or crush. You’ll also want to spray the area where the nest was hanging, to deter another queen from setting up shop in the exact same spot. Also, when the worker yellow jackets come back to where the nest was hanging, they too will get a dose of insecticide and will eventually die off as well.
If you’re trying to get rid of yellow jackets in the ground, use a recommended insecticide and dig out the nest, and destroy it. Also, spray the cavity in the ground with insecticide to make sure any returning yellow jackets don’t stick around.
Protective Gear For Getting Rid of Yellow Jackets
If you take away just one piece of advice from this article, I hope it’s that you will wear protective gear when getting rid of yellow jackets. Trust me, I learned the hard way.
A few years ago, while running my own pest control business, I responded to a call for a swarm of angry yellow jackets outside a home. In an effort to save time, I thought it would be a quick and easy job- and decided to forgo my protective suit.
Long story short and two yellow jacket stings later- one of which was to the Adam’s apple, I quickly put on my suit, all while my clients and their adorable kiddos looked on wide-eyed from their living room window.
A protective bee suit, much like what bee farmers wear, is a great way to ensure you won’t be stung by yellow jackets. You can purchase one online, with prices ranging from $45 to $150.
If you’re not interested in looking like you’re heading to mars, when you’re just headed to your backyard, a long sleeve shirt, pants, boots, and gloves should be just fine.
What To Do If Yellow Jackets Are Inside My House
If you start noticing swarms of yellow jackets inside your home, chances are they’ve made a nest in a wall and there are a lot more where they came from.
German-nesting yellow jackets are most likely to set up shop inside a wall or in the ground. These yellow jackets are the nastiest and meanest of them all.
These yellow jackets love to be in small spaces, like voids between walls and small cracks and crevices around a home. As the nests grow, and the queen reproduces, it creates a lot of moisture.
All that moisture starts to deteriorate the wall, and eventually there’s hole directly inside your home. That’s typically when I would get the call for help.
So, if you have yellow jackets inside your walls here’s a few steps to take:
- Spray the Delta Dust inside the hole
- Wait a few minutes
- Vacuum out the yellow jackets
- Treat wall void with CY-Kick
- Cut out hive from the wall
- Repair wall
Related Questions
How to Get Rid of Yellow Jackets Naturally
If you’d rather take the all-natural approach to getting rid of yellowjackets, you have a couple options. Perhaps, the most preferred natural method, is to build your own trap out of a mixture of sugar, apple cider vinegar, water, and a banana.
Using a plastic pop bottle, mix the ingredients together, and cut a hole at the top. The banana will attract the yellowjackets and then they’ll fly in and become trapped. If the fruit doesn’t do the trick, try cat food instead.
How to Get Rid of Yellow jackets without Killing Them
Unfortunately, there really isn’t any effective way to get rid of yellowjackets without killing them. By nature, yellowjackets are aggressive, and will build a nest where the queen sees fit.
You can trap yellowjackets, as mentioned above, however, that’s only putting a band-aid on the problem. If you want a long term solution to yellowjacket pest control, you have to go to the source and eliminate the nest and the queen.
What are Yellow Jackets Attracted to?
Yellow jackets are meat eaters. This means these pests love a good hamburger, which explains why they always seem to show up when you fire up the grill.
Yellow jackets also eat other insects, sweets, and garbage. So, ideally, if you can eliminate any source of meat or sweets while you’re outside, you are less likely to have a swarm of yellow jackets dive bombing your next family picnic.