whatever’s bugging you.
This brazen wasp shamelessly pretends to be a hornet.
There are no true hornets native to Minnesota. The bald-faced hornet (Dolichovespula maculate) is really a species of yellow jacket wasp, even though it is black-and-white.
The bald-faced hornet is also called the bald-faced aerial yellowjacket, bald-faced wasp, bald hornet, white-faced hornet, blackjacket, white-tailed hornet, spruce wasp, and bull wasp.
The bald-faced hornet is found in the 48 contiguous states, Alaska, and throughout Canada.
The bald-faced hornet, along with all of the yellow jackets in the genus Dolichovespula, builds gray, football-shaped, papery nests in trees, bushes, and sometimes on the outside of buildings.
Bald-faced hornets are considered to be beneficial insects because they are predators of unwanted insects (including other yellow jackets) and help pollinate flowers. Therefore, unless the nest is within 10 feet of an entrance to a building or in a tree or shrubbery that is in close proximity to regular traffic, the nest can be ignored.
Adam’s Gets Rid of Bald-faced Hornets Fast!
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Bald-faced Hornets Treatment Options
One-time Perimeter Stinging Insects
Adam’s licensed pest management professionals have the training and equipment to safely kill nuisance wasp, hornet, and yellow jacket nests up to 25’ in height in or around structures that pose a threat to people. We apply a proven insecticide directly into the nests and also into holes, cracks, and gaps where an active nest may be hiding. Adam’s treats up to 5 nests for the same low price. Adam’s guarantees that no new activity will be present in any treated nest for 3 months.
Premier Perimeter Stinging Insects
Need to prevent more pests than just stinging insects? Adam’s Premier Perimeter Program includes a minimum of 3 preventive barrier treatments around the exterior perimeter of your home for year-round prevention of common household bugs, including insects, spiders, boxelder bugs, and wasp nests. Your Pest Management Professional inspects for pests, and then applies a season-specific, non-repellent, residual material to control common household pests before they can get inside. The service comes with a 12-month guarantee for all existing and new wasp nests.
Premier Home Pest Prevention
Adam’s best value for prevention and control of common household pests, including stinging insects like wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets! Adam’s Premier Home Pest Prevention service provides year-round prevention of pests with a minimum of four visits throughout the year. Service visits focus on the exterior of your home, where most pest problems originate. And should a pest problem ever occur between scheduled visits, the plan includes additional treatments at no additional charge. This program includes common household pests like spiders, centipedes, and roaches and seasonal pests like multicolored Asian lady beetles, ants, and mice, as well as wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets.
More About Bald-faced Hornets
HOW DO I RECOGNIZE A BALD-FACED HORNET INFESTATION?
- A bald-faced hornet infestation is clearly identifiable by the presence of a nest.
- You will find bald-faced hornet nests at least 3’ above the ground and as high as 60’ or more in trees and bushes, and occasionally on lights, fences, and under the eaves of buildings.
- Nests have a mottled gray paper exterior that can be up to 2’ in length. Bald-faced hornets create this paper covering by collecting and chewing weathered and rotting wood. The wood fiber mixes with their saliva to become a paste similar to paper-mâché that the bald-faced hornet can then form into place.
- There will also be many bald-faced hornets flying around and near the nest.
WHAT DO BALD-FACED HORNETS LOOK LIKE?
- Bald-faced hornets have long, thin black bodies and a predominantly white-patterned face.
- The unique ivory-white or yellow face gives the bald-faced hornet its name.
- There are three white stripes at the end of the bald-faced hornet’s body.
- They are 5/8” – ¾” in length (queens are larger than ¾” in length).
- There is a narrow segment between the bald-faced hornet’s thorax and abdomen (thread-waist)
ARE BALD-FACED HORNETS DANGEROUS?
- Yes! There is the same risk of allergic reactions from bald-faced hornet stings as with other wasp stings.
- A bald-faced hornet’s sting contains venom which can make the stings hurt, itch, and swell for approximately 24 hours.
- Bald-faced hornets are naturally aggressive and will vigorously defend their hives, stinging repeatedly.
WHAT DO BALD-FACED HORNETS EAT?
- Bald-faced hornets kill flies, many other types of insects, and arthropods then pre-chew and condition the protein before feeding it to their larvae.
- As the season progresses and there are fewer larvae to feed, the workers feed on nectar, tree sap and fruit pulp, especially apples.
WHAT IS THE LIFE CYCLE OF BALD-FACED HORNETS?
- In the spring, a new bald-faced hornet colony is founded by a single queen that matured and was fertilized at the end of the previous season.
- The bald-faced hornet queen selects a location for her nest and begins building it with a papery material she makes by chewing up wood mixed with the starch in her saliva.
- She lays a first batch of eggs and feeds and cares for her first brood of larvae.
- Once they are functional, this first generation of workers assume the duties of nest building, food collection, feeding the next generations of larvae, and protecting the nest. The queen devotes herself entirely to laying eggs.
- Bald-faced hornet eggs take 6 days to hatch.
- Bald-faced hornets are in the larva stage for eight days, then an additional 9–10 days as pupae before maturing into adult workers.
- The bald-faced hornet colony grows throughout the summer, eventually reaching 100 to 400 workers.
- At some point, both larvae and reproductives are raised, requiring significant energy by the workers as both depend heavily on solid prey brought in by the workers.
- After pupation, the drones, and new queens (fertile males and females) fly off to mate.
- The old queen, males, and workers die before or shortly after the first hard frost.
- Fertilized queens then overwinter in protected places such as in hollow trees, rock piles, under bark and in the walls and attics of buildings.