If you’ve noticed yellow jackets around your home in Hartford, get ready for an increase in activity. In late summer and early fall, yellow jackets are their most active, for a couple of reasons:
- Their food supply is dwindling, and they're looking for food.
- The population of the colony has grown as the young have hatched.
At this time of year, yellow jackets are looking for sweet food. Fruit, sodas, and other sugary items will attract them, so if you’re having a barbecue or party outdoors, beware. Foods like barbecue sauces and catsup are sweet enough to attract insects.
Keep sweet items inside until you're ready to serve them. As soon as everyone has finished eating, take the food and dirty dishes in so you’re less likely to attract yellow jackets.
Yellow jackets also visit trash cans looking for food, so it’s best to keep your trash bagged and the trash can tightly covered to keep the stinging insects out.
They also like flowers, and the flowering plants around your home may also be attracting them. If yellow jackets are a problem, consider relocating these plants to a location that’s not too close to the house.
Among stinging insects, yellow jackets can be some of the most aggressive. They swarm and attack when their nest is threatened. (Since they sometimes build their nests on the ground or in shrubs, it’s possible to disturb a nest without being aware it was even there.)
A yellow jacket can sting more than once, which can make the attack even more vicious and dangerous. Even if you’re not allergic to the sting, repeated stings can cause you to become sensitive to the yellow jacket's venom.
Leave the Nests Alone
If you’ve noticed yellow jacket activity around your yard, it’s likely they’ve built a nest. However, it is not a good idea to go looking for it. As mentioned, if you go near their nest, you can provoke an attack.
The best course of action to rid your Hartford property of yellow jackets is to call in a pest control professional. At American Pest Solutions, we can create a customized solution to your stinging insect problem. All of our solutions are environmentally responsible because we realize that yellow jackets are important pollinators—they’re just pollinators you don’t want nesting on your property.
Call us today to discuss what we can do to solve your yellow jacket problem before it gets worse.