Yellow jackets are pesky, flying insects that can invade your outdoor space, chase you indoors, and ruin your next barbeque or gathering.
Fortunately, you don’t have to live like this!
Here at Pest Dude, we’ve been teaching our clients to DIY pest control for more than 20 years, and knowing what they eat is the best way to get these pests to buzz off.
In this post, we’ve compiled everything you need to know about the diet of yellow jackets and provided some tips to get rid of their favorite food sources.
Key Takeaways
- Yellow jackets eat protein, sugar, and more.
- Yellow jackets eat sugary foods like fruit and honey, as well as protein like meat, pet food, and trash.
- The diets of yellow jackets change with the seasons and the availability of food.
- If you’re having trouble getting rid of yellow jackets on your own, contact a professional pest management company for more help.
The Feeding Habits of Yellow Jackets
Yellow jackets are omnivores, meaning they eat both protein, sugar, and organic matter. Yellow jackets feed both day and night, usually near their nests.
Like many insects, their diet changes throughout the year depending on the nutritional needs of the colony and the availability of their different food sources.
In spring and early summer, yellow jackets hunt other insects, like caterpillars and flies, to feed their growing larvae.
By the late summer and early fall, yellow jackets start looking for high-energy, sugary foods, like nectar, ripe fruits, and even human foods like sodas and sweets.
The Top Foods That Yellow Jackets Love
Sugary Foods
Yellow jackets love sugary foods, and it’s not uncommon to see them swarm spilled soda or sticky hummingbird feeders.
Here are a few examples of their favorite sugary snacks:
- Soft drinks, fruit juices, and sports drinks.
- Ripe and overripe fruits like apples, watermelon, grapes, cantaloupe, peaches, and plums.
- Sugar-rich condiments like ketchup.
- Ice cream and frozen desserts.
- Nectar from blooming flowers such as clover, goldenrod, and milkweed.
- Honeydew produced by aphids and other insects.
- Jams and jellies.
- Sugary baked goods like cakes, cookies, and pastries.
- Honey and syrup.
- Candy, especially discarded hard candies and lollipops.
Control Tip: Keep sugary foods covered or sealed, especially during outdoor activities. Set up traps around your outdoor space to catch and deter these pests.
Proteins
In the spring and early summer, yellow jackets need high-protein foods to feed their larvae and support the egg-laying females.
Here are a few things they love:
11. Pet Food
Wet cat and dog food, as well as dry kibble, especially if left outdoors.
12. Insects
Yellowjackets eat various insects like caterpillars, flies, and grasshoppers for protein.
13. Spiders
Spiders are also part of their diet and provide good nutrition.
14. Meat
Yellowjackets love outdoor BBQs and picnics, where they find leftover meats like chicken, beef, and fish.
They’re happy to eat both raw and cooked meat.
They will also scavenge dead fish near water sources in the wild.
15. Wet and Dry Pet Food
Yellowjackets are attracted to both wet and dry pet food and will often scavenge from pet bowls left outdoors.
This additional source of protein and nutrients makes pet food a popular target for these insects.
Prevention Tips
Yellow jackets are crafty and persistent, so getting rid of them involves a combination of prevention, monitoring, and treatment.
Here’s what we recommend:
Prevention
- Seal Entry Points: Check for cracks, holes, or gaps in your home and outdoor structures and seal them to prevent yellow jackets from entering and building nests.
- Store Food Properly: When you eat outdoors, cover your food and drinks and immediately clean up any spills or crumbs. Keep garbage in tightly sealed containers and avoid leaving pet food outdoors.
- Reduce Attractants: Avoid wearing strong fragrances and bright colors, as they attract yellow jackets. Dispose of ripe or fallen fruits quickly.
Monitoring
- Regular Inspections: Inspect your property for new nests and colonies often. Pay special attention to eaves, attics, and tree limbs for signs of yellow jacket nests. If you find new nests, destroy them at dawn or dusk when the wasps inside them are less active. Make sure to wear protective clothing to avoid stings. You can use a commercial insecticide made for wasps and yellow jackets and spray it right into the nest entrance. Make sure you always have an escape route ready and that you can get away from angry yellow jackets easily. If the nest is large or the insects are aggressive, it might be a good idea to call in professional pest control for help.
- Use Yellow Jacket Traps: Set up traps around your property, especially in the early spring, to catch queens before they start new colonies and reduce the yellow jacket population. Decoy nests are also a great option to deter new colonies from setting up shop.
Intervention
- Professional Pest Control: If you find a nest, especially a big one, call a professional pest control company to remove it safely and get rid of the infestation.
- DIY Nest Removal: For smaller nests, use a commercial yellow jacket spray at night when the wasps are less active. Once the yellow jackets are dead, bag and dispose of the nest.
Get Help From a Pro Today
To prevent yellow jacket infestations, it pays to be proactive.
If your DIY methods aren’t working, or you need additional assistance, contact a professional pest management company for more help.
Here at Pest Dude, we work with various pest management professionals around the country.
Contact us, and we’ll connect you with an expert in your area: (844) 532-0076.
Get a Free Quote
Give us a call today to receive your free, no-obligation pest control quote.
FAQs
Yellow jackets are wasps with yellow and black stripes. They are more aggressive than bees and have painful stings.
Unlike bees, they can also sting multiple times, making them more dangerous when threatened.
Yellow jackets live in large colonies and build nests in various places like underground burrows, wall voids, and tree cavities.
They are scavengers and are attracted to sugary foods and drinks, often becoming a nuisance at outdoor events.
While they help control other insect populations, they can be aggressive, and their stings pack a punch.
Yellow jackets build nests in a variety of places.
They often nest underground but can also build nests in wall voids, attics, and trees.
Some wasps also make aerial nests in tree cavities, dense shrubs, or under building eaves.
Since yellow jackets are so good at finding hidden, protected sites for their nests, it can be tough to figure out where the colony is living – until they become a major issue.
During the summer, yellow jackets are very active, and they need a lot of protein. During this time, they eat insects like caterpillars and flies.
As summer goes on, their need for protein decreases, and they start seeking out high-carbohydrate and -sugar food sources, like nectar, fruit, and human food.
During this time, they’ll seek out sugary drinks, ripe fruits, and even trash, which is why you tend to see them at barbeques and outdoor gatherings.
During the winter, yellow jackets’ eating habits change a lot because their activity and food sources change.
Worker yellow jackets die when it gets cold, while the fertilized queens survive by overwintering under tree bark and in other sheltered spaces.
These queens enter a dormant state called diapause, during which they don’t eat. Instead, they rely on stored energy reserves.
In spring, these queens feed on early blooming flowers and nectar to regain their strength before starting new colonies.
Yellow jackets, like many pests, can be deterred by certain scents. Essential oils and plants are excellent natural repellents.
They dislike the strong smells of peppermint, eucalyptus, and citronella, which is great news for people looking for chemical-free pest control options.
