See What Happened When 3,000 Yellowjackets Invaded an Elderly Couple’s House

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In another crazy video from The Hornet King, we join the experts opening up a huge yellowjacket nest. There was a little too much insect activity in the living room of this elderly couple’s house for them to cope with! Once some panels above a doorway were removed, the full extent of the huge nest was revealed. Wearing full protective clothing, the experts vacuum up as many of the yellowjackets as they can. They estimated that this particular nest had anything between 2,500 and 3,000 individual yellowjackets. Quite a few of them ended up inside the vacuum!

What Exactly Are Yellowjackets?

Yellowjackets are not a single species of wasp. They belong to Vespula and Dolichovespula wasp genera. This is part of the Hymenoptera order of insects which includes bees and ants along with thousands of other species.

The term yellowjacket is the common name given to insects like this in North America. In other parts of the world, this term is not used – they are simply called wasps. Some of the types that you are most likely to encounter are the Western yellowjacket (Vespula pensylvanica) and the Eastern yellowjacket (Vespula maculifrons). Not all yellowjackets are yellow! Some are black and white.

How Do Yellowjackets Normally Behave?

Yellowjackets live in colonies that create nests like the one we see in this footage. The colony has a hierarchy and is very organized. At the center of the community is a single queen served by males and non-reproducing females called drones and workers. Each worker has a specific job to do. Males are required to be ready to mate with the queen who is larger than the workers. Not all yellowjacket colonies are as large as this one, some only have a few hundred insects in them. Some nests, however, are many feet in length.

What Do Yellowjacket Nests Normally Look Like?

Yellowjackets use hollow spaces to build a nest. This could be a decaying log but it could just as easily be your attic, roof, or a void in your walls. As you can see in this clip, the nest is made up of layers of paper cells set out in a honeycomb-type pattern. The nest is made from chewed-up plant and wood fibers mixed with wasp saliva. Once the yellowjackets have finished with the nest, it usually crumbles and decays. However, there is also the possibility that it will be taken over by another queen!