Yellow jackets

California yellow jackets are very often mistaken for bees. Even the TV news media has reported on yellow jackets as honeybees. The length of the yellow jacket and honeybee is the same.  However, the wings of the yellow jacket are longer, the body is thinner and the tail is more pointed than that of the honeybee.  Many people call them sweat bees and/or meat bees. The yellow jacket is a protein eater; it eats bugs, and it is the yellow and black insect that is the uninvited guest at your picnics and bar-b-ques, when you eat outside. The yellow jacket has a queen and a colony and builds a very complicated nest with whatever materials it can find. This can include insulation and sheet rock (dry wall). Because of this, if the insect is nesting in your wall or your attic, it will use the dry wall or sheet rock (you might even hear a scratching noise that many people mistake for mice), eventually there will be nothing there but paint or sprayed acoustics materials. This creates a soft spot in the wall or ceiling. Also, small holes appear in the soft spot and instinctively the yellow jacket perceive these holes as another way to come and go from their nesting area. This is why yellow jacket break through your wall or ceiling and end up inside your house or structure. The solution is to call a professional and have the nest or the colony removed. Yellow jackets like to build their nest under things. They will build their nest in the ground, in your attic under your insulation, behind trees that lean against buildings or structures, etc. Yellow jackets are very defensive of their territory and if you disturb their nest, they will come at you in large numbers. They do not lose their stingers and can sting you more than one time.