Flower New Shop Utica York

You noticed a yellow jacket here, a yellow jacket there, when the weather turned warm last spring. You probably didn't pay much attention to them because you didn't see very many.

But now every time you walk outside you see these little bees all over the place.

A few days ago I decided to put away my hummingbird feeders for the year. Since I hadn't seen any of those birds around for three weeks or so I figured they'd migrated south for the season.

When I walked up to one feeder I noticed a swarm of yellow jackets buzzing around it. Quick as one bee took off from the feeder another would land to fill up with nectar, then take flight and head for the nest.

I bet they were disappointed when I took the feeder down, and cleaned it for winter storage. Now I have to find the nest and make sure it isn't in a place where the bees might sting someone passing by.

The first step in controlling yellow jackets is finding the nest. The easiest way I found to do that is to watch the bees as they fly around. As they leave a flower, or other nectar source, follow them. They're heading back to the nest so they can deliver that nectar as food to the queen, and her babies.

When you find a hole where a lot of bees are going in, and coming out, you know the nest is inside that hole. And that's where you start your treatment efforts.

Don't plug that hole up though. I recently heard that a neighbor had a yellow jacket problem. She found where the bees were going to and from the nest. It's a hole at the roof of her house. She got some foam and closed the hole off. Not long after plugging that hole with the foam she had a new problem.

When those bees can't leave the nest through their normal "doorway" they go looking for another exit. The nearest way out of the nest the bees at this neighbor's house found opened into her home.

Now she had bees suddenly swarming inside, and she had to get out the fly swatter.

This time of year a situation like that quickly tires you because there are so many bees to swat, and you're constantly swinging at them.

She took the foam back out of the hole, and the bees started using that entry point to the nest again. Thing is they also have a new door to leave the nest from, and some of those bees still head that direction.

The best way to rid yourself of a yellow jacket infestation is to dust the nest.

You must do that in a way that the dust floats around in the nest cavity for a few moments, clouding the air space around the nest.

Learn how to dust the nest using the right method, and you get rid of your yellow jacket problem in a couple of hours.

Joseph Jackson is an experienced pest control technician and author of , a how to guide for performing do-it-yourself pest control for controlling bees, wasps, and hornets.

Find other pest control ebooks by Joe at